If you have lived in Phnom Penh more than 3 months, what % of your friends are expats vs local residents? How hard or easy is it to make friends with the locals? Thanks
Phnom Penh Friends Question
phnom penh bound
30 October 2012 07:54:40
104
samwa
30 October 2012 12:13:24
55
i have a lot more khmer friends than expats. i find it fairly easy, a lot of my friends are through work, so there's not much problem there. some friends i have just by going to particular bars/restaurants/cafes etc on a regular basis. i find it difficult to find expat friends, maybe due to my age (i'm 19). earlier in the year i had more, but they all left the country to go to university.
anthonyteo
31 October 2012 06:03:29
55
samwa wrote:i find it difficult to find expat friends, maybe due to my age (i'm 19).
How's that? Do you mean you're too young to find expat friends?!
Anyway, to answer the question, I agree with Samwa - it's actually easier to make Khmer friends, but I guess it depends on what you do as a living. If you work in an organization (e.g. English school) that has expats as colleagues then clearly you'll have more expat friends. If you are self-employed like me, then Khmer people you meet day to day will become your 'friends' - though I'd say they are acquaintances I'm friendly with.
samwa
31 October 2012 06:58:12
55
anthonyteo wrote:samwa wrote:i find it difficult to find expat friends, maybe due to my age (i'm 19).
How's that? Do you mean you're too young to find expat friends?!
just.. i always seem to be in the middle of age groups. i do have expat friends, but for the most part they're either 10+ years older than me or 2/3 years younger and in high school. i don't mind having friends from various age groups, it would just be nice to have more people the same age.
anthonyteo
31 October 2012 07:55:45
55
I see. 
I do agree that it is sometimes comforting to have friends in your age group, but that's the thing with making friends in foreign lands I guess. In PP too, I find that the few expats I knew so far are all older than me. Still, I find that it's harder to find someone who clicks with you than to find someone in your own age group - and I'd think that's the key.
P.S. I also had this feeling when I was at the age of 25, that I was in the middle of nowhere, haha. 19, I think, is comparatively okay.
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