I think it’s safe to say that whenever you’re in a place, and time moves by very quickly, it generally means that you’re enjoying the place you’re in! Seldom does time seem to “speed up” when you’re in an uncomfortable situation, or a place you really don’t want to be. That’s why I’m happy to report that our first month living here in Siem Reap has flown by! It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in our new house almost a full month. A lot has happened since we arrived, and I wanted to share that with you.
This blog will contain several different topics that, I hope, will be at least a little bit interesting to at least some of you. For those who’s interests have nothing to do with these topics, you have my deepest apologies. For the rest who are proceeding to read on, allow me to start by telling you the things we got done this past month.
The Cambodian Visa Process
Cambodia has one of the easiest “long term” visa processes we’ve seen so far in our travels. Within 2 weeks of our arrival, Michelle and I both received our visas that allow us to stay here for one year, with multiple entries so that we can leave and enter Cambodia as often as we like within that year. Our visas are renewable every year and all we need to do to renew them is to apply at one of several visa agents located throughout Siem Reap. There is almost no paperwork required, no police or FBI background checks, no other documents required other than an original passport (with at least 6 months left before expiration). There is a cost for the visa, and that basically depends on your age. If like me, you’re over 55, the cost for a one year visa is approximately $300.00. If you’re not yet 55, the cost is around $450.00.
There are different types of visas available depending on your individual situation, and whether you simply want to visit or if you’ve made the decision to live here. We’ve gone through both processes, so let me try to explain each one.
Cambodia allows tourists a 30 day visa, either in advance in the form of an “e-visa”, or a physical stamp upon arrival. That means you can either apply beforehand online through their app called “Cambodia e-Arrival” or fly into Cambodia, pay $30.00 at the immigration station located in the airport arrival section and receive a 30 day tourist visa stamp in your passport.
But, what if you want to visit for longer than 30 days? That’s also an easy process. Simply take your 30 day visa before it expires (along with your passport) to one of several visa agents located around Siem Reap, pay another $30.00 and apply for another 30 day extension. Within about a week, your visa extension will be approved for another 30 days (60 days total!). Michelle and I did this the first time we came to Siem Reap and the system worked flawlessly.
But what do you do if you want to move to Cambodia? I’m really glad you asked!
For that you’ll need to apply for the specific visa called “Visa E”. There are 2 types of visas that you can apply for, one is the “Visa T” and the other is the “Visa E”. They are really the same visa, except that the “Visa T” can only be extended for 30 days (for a total of 60 days), whereas the “Visa E” can be extended up to one year. If you want to stay in Cambodia for longer than 60 days, you must apply for the “Visa E”, otherwise you’ll need to leave Cambodia after 60 days and reapply to come back in. Information on the Visa application process for either the “Visa T” or the “Visa E” can be found at the following website: evisa.gov.kh
So, one of the first things Michelle and I did upon arriving in Cambodia this time, was to take our “Visa E” to a local visa agent here in Siem Reap and apply to have it extended for one year. The process is extremely simple. Pay the money, give them your passport, and wait for two weeks for it to be approved and returned to you. It’s a scary thing and seems very unnatural to hand over your passport to someone else for them then to use it to obtain your visa, but don’t be afraid! This is what they do and they are very careful to make sure you get it back to you when your visa is approved. (We first encountered this type of process in Ecuador when we applied for our residency visa there. We were both very leery, and also very stressed until we eventually got our passports back in our hands after about 60 days. Compared to that, the two weeks it took for a long term visa to be approved and our passports then returned to us here was a breeze!)
During this process, I also applied for my Cambodian Driver’s License in order to legally ride a motorcycle larger than 125cc. In Cambodia, it’s perfectly legal to drive a motorcycle up to 125cc on the road without a driver’s license, but we wanted to get a larger bike, so I needed the Cambodian Driver’s license. In order to get it, I needed to give the visa agent $120.00, plus my Florida Driver’s license (which shows that I have a motorcycle endorsement). The visa agent applied for the license for me during my visa application process. When the license came back (along with my visa), it was not quite correct as it only showed that I was only valid to drive a car (not a motorcycle). This was an error on their part so when I showed them the problem, they quickly corrected it. After about 5 days, I had my brand new Cambodian Driver’s license in hand, completely legal for any motorcycle and/or car!.
So, from start to finish, the visa process took about 2 weeks. We are now officially Cambodian residents and couldn’t be happier!
We Rented a Scooter - Then Bought One!
Siem Reap is very walkable and has Tuk Tuks everywhere, so there’s no problem getting around. There are 3 ways to get a Tuk Tuk in Siem Reap and all of them are inexpensive. The first way is to start walking down the street. Within a few minutes a Tuk Tuk will pass you and you’ll hear, “Tuk Tuk Sir?” or “Tuk Tuk Madame?”. This is the Tuk Tuk’s driver trying to gin up business for himself. But beware…this way of getting a Tuk Tuk is generally the most expensive way and some Tuk Tuk drivers will tend to overcharge because they know you’re a tourist which makes them believe you have money! It’s always okay to barter with a Tuk Tuk driver in order to get a fair price. A better way and one that Michelle and I prefer is to download the “Grab” app, or “PassApp”. These are Cambodia’s form of Uber and you can hail a Tuk Tuk without having to worry about being overcharged, or going through the process of haggling for the best price. It also cuts down a lot of the language barrier because you won’t need to try to explain to the Tuk Tuk driver where you are trying to go. They’ll see it on their end, just like an Uber driver does, and you’ll soon be picked up and on your way.
But, if you live here and want a bit of freedom, while possibly also saving a few dollars a day, you can rent a scooter for a little over $3.00 per day (if you rent it by the month). Scooters here are plentiful but some shops only rent by the day, not by month. The daily rate can range anywhere between $7.00 and $10.00 per day. We rented ours (pictured above) for a month. We paid $100.00 for the month, plus a $50.00 deposit (which we would receive back when we returned the scooter). This is a really great way to get around and our scooter got about 100 miles per gallon, so it’s very economical. We averaged about $3.50 in gasoline per week and we drove our scooter everywhere.
After a few weeks of renting, we started to weigh the pros and cons of actually buying our own versus renting. Economically, unless we had already decided to stay here long term, it would have made more sense financially to rent. A good used scooter can be bought for around $1500.00 to $2000.00. It’s very possible to find cheaper ones, but they’ll be a bit more scratched up and come with their own sets of problems. We could have rented a scooter for about 15 months for the same money it would have cost to buy a decent used one. But we plan on staying longer than that and besides, who doesn’t want a shiny new scooter to ride around on and enjoy?
So we walked into the Honda dealer and found this one pictured above! There was only one guy at the dealership who spoke English, so he helped us with everything, and we couldn’t be happier! It rides so nice and has enough power to get Michelle and I around comfortably and in style too! We had researched this particular model and also the scooter we rented this month was the same model, only quite a few years older, so we knew this scooter was the one for us. Scooters here seem to last forever and that’s how long we intend to keep this one, so I think it was money well spent.
We Became Foster Parents to these Two!
At the end of the second week in our new house, Michelle saw a post on Facebook about these two female puppies. Here in Cambodia, if someone doesn’t want their dog, or if their dog has puppies and they don’t want to keep them, they will many times drop the unwanted canines off at the local Pagoda, where they will live with all of the other dogs who’d been dropped off earlier. Their thinking is that the Monks will take care of the dogs because, well, that’s what Monks are just supposed to do! And many do, however over time the Pagodas get overwhelmed with all of these unwanted dogs and it’s just too many to take care of. So the dogs are basically left to fend for themselves.
Stella and Piper lived at one of these Pagodas and they weren’t doing well. There is a group of people here in Siem Reap who do their best to come by the Pagodas each day and to feed the dogs and give them water and to do the best they can at providing veterinary care for as many of the dogs as they can. But there are just too many. And some of the dogs don’t make it.
The post that Michelle saw on Facebook was about Stella and Piper. A YouTuber had decided to help by sharing a video of them online and made a pledge in the video to pay for them to be flown anywhere in the world to whomever might be interested in adopting them. He wanted to do what he could to help them. And so did Michelle!
So she showed me the video.
We learned that these two little puppies lived completely outside under a set of stairs and there was a big thunderstorm the night we watched that video..
And we couldn’t just let them just stay out there all alone, because it would have been terrifying to them.
So we agreed to foster them until they could find their fur-ever home. The very next night, they were in our house!
We were told soon after we got them, by the woman who runs the group who helps the Pagoda dogs, that Stella and Piper were going to adopted by a family in New York. They too had seen the Facebook video of them and they wanted to help. The adoption was scheduled to take place by the end of February, so we planned on keeping them until they could start their new lives in the United States. However, that adoption may have fallen through as the cost to fly them there is more than anyone expected. So, until they can find a new home, they’ll be with us.
We both feel that the expectation now is for us to adopt them. However, we aren’t in a position to have two dogs on a long term basis yet. We want them to be adopted because they deserve a loving home to live their “bestest” of lives.
When we first visited Siem Reap, we looked for a gym. Both of us are trying to remain healthy and active, and that’s a little hard in SE Asia when the outside temperature and humidity are so high. It’s not always easy to find a gym with air conditioning, and many gyms although nice, are sweltering hot because their cooling system isn’t more than an open window and a floor fan. So we were so happy to find a wonderful gym in Siem Reap! It not only has great A/C, but it’s got top of the line workout equipment and is honestly more modern than even what the United States has to offer in many cases.
We love Meru Fitness and so we both got a yearly membership. We’ve been going regularly (4 times a week) and I’ve worked my way back up to being able to run 5K without stopping. Michelle started with the elliptical machine and has now moved over to the treadmill as well. The staff at the gym are lovely and we really believe we’ve found the best gym in SE Asia!
Oh, by the way, because I’ve been running regularly, I signed up for my first overseas 5k race that will take place on December 1st at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap. I’m both excited and nervous because it’s been about 3 years since my last 5k race…so please pray for me!
We Love It Here!
So, after one month of living here, the verdict is in. We absolutely love this place and have no intention of leaving anytime soon!
Until next time, SAFE TRAVELS EVERYONE, AND GOD BLESS!