Mikes Thoughts

Visa days

Every year about this time is when I have to get a new retirement visa. Normally it would take about a week except right in the middle of submitting is the Pchum Ben holidays. Cambodian immigration always closes down days before and after. Tue actual steps are pretty simple but there is still the element of the unknown. I guess I’m naturally suspicious or just really want my passport back with another page taken up.

My daughter here does the work for me so it’s usually an easy process and I just must have one thing I don’t have in excess.

patience

Yeah. I never have had this when it comes to visas and passports and just waiting for my daughter to message me saying all done. I guess I also fear not getting it for some reason. There have been rumors of them changing the requirements to making so much per month. I heard they wanted us to make $2500. Then $1500.

If you watch YouTubers here there’s a plethora of how much it costs. Really all those videos are fake. Because what it costs a person over there is not what it will cost another. I met a person from Texas downtown few days ago who told me his story. He lives on $700 a month. His problem was in his life working he never did pay much into social security so his benefits are lower. Yet he has no problems really. Could you live on $700 a month in some place? Doubtful. I could not. We just need more than that to do what we do. Now if I were alone I have done this as a sort of test.

In Hanoi I tried living on $5 a day for food. What can be had for that is a lot. I could have a bowl of pho for $1. A banh mi for $0.70. A coffee for $0.70. You get the idea. My rent for a small room was $155 a month.

This was not difficult or taxing and I could change breakfasts to other local food. Bun cha was a favorite. I do admit to going after my test for Indian food. And I paid about two days worth of food. It was so good!

Lessons and learning

So what in all this did I learn. Visa issuance is stressful. It’s the only time of the year where I deal with immigration. I don’t do it directly. My daughter does. The work for me. It’s also the only time I pay. At $300 a year to live in the kingdom with no check in or money requirements in some bank is a blessing. Multiple entry means we could go and it’s hassle free getting back in.

So I’ve learned how it all works. Or almost. Mostly I just sit like now at a coffee shop. Think on eventualities. Like what if this or that. Truth is it’s easy to just go to Malaysia. No visa. 90 days. Good food. Decent prices. At one time it might have been Thailand. That will never happen again. Vietnam easy too but need a visa. There I know what to expect and how to live. Not necessarily the $5 a day thing again but food and lodging is reasonable. I have friends in Hanoi. Maybe in Saigon.

All eventualities and some little paranoia about a process I cannot look into. It’s visa days and I wander this word a that world. That’s life. Here’s Angkor Wat on some day.

angkor wat

See that smiling face? My favorite scenes there ever. There is nothing in this world like going to the temples. Spending a day. I still have a free pass. Good two more weeks. Then I need to renew it.

So let’s do this coffee and this visa thing.