I have been living in Sihanoukville, Cambodia since January 2007. These have been the hardest 5 years of my life. Do I regret my decision to start over in Cambodia? Not for a minute.

I thought I came to Cambodia with a pretty solid plan. I had backup money and a fall-back employment plan in the then unlikely event that my original plan, to build and sell homes, fell through. I had taken an ESL (English as a Second Language) in Australia and even worked in the industry in Australia for a time, so I thought getting a job as an English teacher would be easy.

In 2007, someone offered me $90,000 for my half-completed house in Sihanoukville. Since property prices were going up 40 percent per annum, I declined the offer, holding out for $110,000. Then, just about the time I finished building in early 2008, the bottom dropped out of the property market here in Cambodia, just as it had in the United States. My two storey, 3 bedroom brick home was no longer such a bargain and besides, those who would have been interested in buying it were unable to sell their homes in America.

Seeing the writing on the wall, I started looking for work as a teacher. Well, I could have found some part time work at $3.00 per hour, but that wasn\’t nearly enough to feed my new family and their job prospects were even worse. My savings were being depleted at a rate of $2000 per month and within 6 months I would be broke in a country that had no welfare system and, as I had discovered, no employment opportunities. What was I to do?

The answer came in an email from a friend who had returned to the United States to find work. \”Why don\’t you do what I\’m doing?\” he suggested. He had found a job distributing content for a SEO company in the US. While he was working in-house, there was no reason why I couldn\’t do it from home or from an internet cafe in Cambodia.

I did that for about 6 months, but then Google introduced Panda and internet marketers who got traffic by flooding social media with content found themselves out of luck. I was abruptly let go and had to start looking for something else. It was then that I discovered writing.

The first year was horrible because as an inexperienced writer with no portfolio other than some magazine articles I\’d had published years before, I had to complete with Indian writers who were willing to write 500 words for $2.00. However, the learning experience was invaluable and by 2010, I was starting to see my earnings improve.

2011 turned out to be a good year for me. With several regular clients who pay me decent money for my work, survival is no longer a major issue and I can even afford a few luxuries, like meals out.

Had I known how hard it was going to be, I probably wouldn\’t have had the courage to make the move to Cambodia. Had I not been desperate, I would never have worked 60 hours a week for around $600 a month writing. Forced to push myself beyond what I thought were my limits, I grew in a way that would never have been possible in the safe haven of a familiar culture.

I\’m now able to enjoy living in a fascinating culture, surrounded by a large, loving family. There are still major challenges almost every single day, but what would I be doing back in Australia or the US? I suppose I\’d have found something to do with my time, but I can\’t imagine anything more rewarding on so many levels as Cambodia has been.

Rob Schneider moved from Australia to Cambodia in 2006. His blog, Sihanoukville Journal is an \”insider\’s view\” of a very misunderstood part of the world. Rob\’s book-in-progress, This Could be Heaven, is an intimate account of life in Cambodia.

Rob Schneider moved from Australia to Cambodia in 2006. His blog, http://www.sihanoukville-cambodiajournal.com is an \”insider\’s view\” of a very misunderstood part of the world. Rob\’s book-in-progress, This Could be Heaven, is an intimate account of life in Cambodia.

Author Bio: Rob Schneider moved from Australia to Cambodia in 2006. His blog, Sihanoukville Journal is an \”insider\’s view\” of a very misunderstood part of the world. Rob\’s book-in-progress, This Could be Heaven, is an intimate account of life in Cambodia.

Category: Advice
Keywords: expat living,living abroad,cambodia