Job Discussion Forums

jamesallan · Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 36

any general advice on which country to try next?

I spent 1 year in Taiwan which was quite alot more " Western " than I thought it would be.

Just to clarify I did enjoy the Taiwanese culture and was happy with the mix of western influence.

marklatham · Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 12 Location: perth WA

Try cambodia,it is unique.

Proffeshnial Teachman · Joined: 10 Jan 2006 Posts: 60

To work in Taiwan legally I assume you must have a degree, if so Vietnam is the best for money. You'd pull in 14-16 USD without much difficulty and it certainly has a more traditional asian feel than Taiwan (I was in Tainan for a year). I found the Vietnamese great students.

Thailand is great for the lifestyle but the pay is pretty poor.

Cambodia is unique, but be aware that it's very third world. Electricity goes off quite regularly, the hospitals are apalling, it's more dangerous than either Thailand or Vietnam (surely the safest country in the world if you take out the road kills) but only at night and only in some areas of PPenh or SReap.
It's also got other 'issues' and is similar to Burma in that you should stop and consult your conscience before commiting yourself. Avail yourself of the recent political history of the place and if you're still happy with it, or can isolate yourself from thinking about it too much then you should go ahead.

I'm sure you'll have a great time whichever country you choose Wink

marklatham · Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 12 Location: perth WA

I beg to differ about the relative safety of cambodia v thailand.
Thailand seems to be a more dangerous place than it used to be with lots of guns.
There were two shootings recently and a disproportionate number of mysterious deaths in pattaya.

Proffeshnial Teachman · Joined: 10 Jan 2006 Posts: 60

cameron.mayo · Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Posts: 81

I would agree, Thailand to me was very, very safe. There is a definate edge to Cambo that hints danger is lurking.
The Thailand Pattya sex-pat deaths hint 2wards expats snuffed by their betrothed for finacial reasons...your average first time English teacher is not going to get embroiled, intitially, in this type of senario...

gulam2 · Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 137

I have worked in Vietnam and Thailand (which I love - but dont love the pay).
How does one get work in Cambodia?

ShaggyZ · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 25 Location: Alberta

I lived in Bangkok for a year and felt safer walking around there at night than I did in Canada. Thailand's safe, except maybe in the extreme south.

norbdemn · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 128

I have been living here in Thailand over a year now and would have to agree it is safe for the most part, except for the deep south - which I believe will take awhile (at best!) to resolve.

I have been to Vietnam for a few weeks and thought that it was generally preety safe eventhough it is more third world than Thailand in my opinion - people seemed more pushy in markets. They seem to be more prone to rip people off here.

As for Cambodia, I have only visited for a few days to see Angkorwat, but my first impression was that it had a 'ghost town' vibe which gave me the creeps!....LOL. The people were very pleasant though like thais. The towns seemed very run down. Hence, I would not consider teaching/living here.

I am not knocking any country here, just throwing in my 2 cents.

Good luck with whatever you decide!!

Micro67 · Joined: 29 May 2003 Posts: 297 Location: HCMC, Vietnam

Just a quick note that Cambodia, while it is 'like a whole 'nuther country' is getting closer and closer. The border at Moc Bai (Vietnam/Cambodia) has recently undergone upgrades and is much faster to get through. 5 hours from doorstep to doorstep for my last trip to Phnom Penh and that record is likely to be broken on this next trip (knock wood).

specialsauce · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 34

Thailand is not safe on many levels. First, the insidious and innane way they drive leads to tens of thousands of throughly avoidable deaths annually. Second, dope. there are lots of deaths related to meth and heroin in/directly. Third, there is lots of petty mafia/thuggery. i would not be surprised if 25 people die a week in th ecountry over really stupid turf wars that are avoidable. Next, you have guns. I recently saw a photo in the Post in some nowhere province of a police gun round up. I was shocked by the type/number of weapons. Finally, the southern thing which Thais are to petty and self absobed to solve.

Thailand has a pathetic drinking problem. It seems like every middle class and below male that is not ethnic Chinese is a drunk. The women are not much better. The divorce rate is insane for a poor country.

Finally, places like Pattaya are becoming hugely violent places. You wont know it until it smacks you down -and no one will be there to help. Not the local farng, the cops, the local thais. the bar girls now are 100% about business. Whatever charm that may have been left is now long gone. get what you want clear and priec up front. Do the deed and move on. The girls, in fact any thai will not think twice about beating on you or having you beat for little or nothing. The owner of a travel agency in Pattaya told me younger Thais have lost all manners and the society is now very 'aggressive" -her words. People come to Thailand in a dream with their tongues and *beep*' dragging on th eground tossingmoney around like breadcrumbs to birds. Its all blown up into a really scary mix of bad, desparate people going after fast, easy cash - dont get in the way!

gulam2 · Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 137

The above.

Sad reflection on Thailand.

I have been there many times and have spent three years wotking there.
Never a problem.
I was mugged and robbed - In Vietnam.
I have been cheated big time - 3 times in China
I have suffered racism - Malaysia

Anyway

Anyone know any information about jobs in Cambodia?

[email protected]

Gulam2

specialsauce · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 34

In fact all of Asia is moving in this direction. As the tourist industry with huge windfalls (hotels, food, guides, transport...) soldifies you end up with turf wars. This is very serious business that most do not see the light of as tourist/foreigners.

In 1994 I saw one cyclo driver in HCMC take a huge chain to another. But the stories are endless.

Its easy to avoid mafias and scams - but you have to be willing to go by local transport and not be in a hurry.

Tourism remember is total zero sum - if you give your big cash to X, Y gets nothing.

Personally, I am glad I have seen Asia when I did, its nothing but a scam and a big shopping mall now. I'm going to look for work in China for a few years just to round it all out.

But back to Thailand...now its reported that the election was rigged (so shocked eh?). Thailand will modenize but it is a throughly established autocracy.

Cambodia is no better. Back in 93-6 foreigners were gold. thieves were put on notice, screw with barang and youll be face down in a ditch. no more, cambodia a lovely gem of a nation has become a sordid, ugly, venal little place. again, the poor lose. the guys that live there now think that theyre pretty tough and its all special. back in early days everyone was way too freaked to go in, it was a great time to be in cambodia and indeed to be alive.

junkmail · Joined: 19 Dec 2004 Posts: 377

specialsauce · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 34

junkmail: what you say about thai/vietnam, etc... is true but its all relative so its not. yeah, thailand is far more safe in x part of the city and country than y part in the us. you are right about keeping your wits and far too many tourists stagger around clueless, especially in latter years.

i would also agree about traveling but would say - be very selective about where. s.e.asia is very much over traveled. select parts of vmn, lao, cambo and much of burma. if you are looking for culture you can skip thailand completely.

for the most part thailand has always been looked upon as 'prostitution lite' (even more so the philippines). the women in the bars would rarely be direct/blunt, would often look for a man who would spend his entire holiday with her, perhaps take her back to his home for holiday/send a bit of money and the big one - hook him up for marriage. while the latter is still a tool in the aresenal, the motive is less and less. my statement about the wommen being all anout money is that the women have basically turned into hardend prostitutes. which by thai standards requires: lying, cheating, manipulation and outright thievery as its all part of the con game to seaparte punter from his money. from my experience it used to take a woman working in a bar anywhere from 6 to 14 months to become wise to the game, its now down to a matter of weeks.

they are looking to make as much money as quickly as possible. they would rather go with ten men 1-a-day rather than one man ten days. this is a huge change for thailand. this is so that the con game and be played 10 times despite the risk for hiv (she will be getting roughly same money)-save for money she can grub, she wont be interested in any gifts save for gold). this is also a change, no 'shopping spree'.

one of the major issues is that you are dealing with REALLY low class people. before, there were many families who had little choice than to send their daughters to work in a bar. many were decent women from good families whose only crime was being poor with no possible way out/ip.

as thailands economy has moved along even the poor have figured out a way to keep their women in secondary schools and later sending them off to vocational school and even university. what you have left are just the poorest, least educated, lazinest, coming from bad families and often already involved in really bad behaviour before they even hit the bar scene (using/selling meth for instance which the older women would never do).

anyway - i have obviously highjacked the thread but i wanted to clarify.

finally - DO NOT HAVE SEX IN CAMBODIA if you value your life. further, by my own personal witness much careless behaviour as well as influx of punters will lead to a huge rise in hiv in s.e.asia. i have seen many women with jaundiced eyes as of late and hepb/c is said to be on the rise. in the end ...up to you.