Life as an English Teacher in Cambodia
The practical reality of living in Cambodia — climate, culture, food, community, travel, and the things most guides don't think to mention. Read this before you go.
What Cambodia actually feels like to live in
Most teachers arrive with Angkor Wat in their minds and leave with something harder to describe — a sense that Cambodia got under their skin in a way that tidier, more comfortable postings never did. It is a country with a genuinely complicated recent history, warm and resilient people, extraordinary ancient heritage, and a daily rhythm that rewards curiosity and patience.
It is not a destination for people who need comfort at every turn. Infrastructure is improving fast in Phnom Penh but can be rough in smaller cities. Heat and humidity are relentless. Traffic in the capital can be chaotic. Bureaucracy moves slowly. Some schools are excellent; some are not. None of this stops hundreds of teachers from arriving each year and choosing to stay far longer than planned.
The teachers who thrive here share a few qualities: they're curious rather than cautious, they treat local culture as something to learn from rather than tolerate, and they don't need the expat bubble to feel safe. If that sounds like you, Cambodia is likely to be one of the most formative years of your life.
"I came for one year and stayed for three. The money isn't the point — you stay because the life is genuinely good and the work feels like it matters."— English teacher, Phnom Penh, 2025
Understanding the Cambodian climate
Cambodia is tropical — hot and humid year-round, with a distinct dry season and wet season. There is no spring or autumn. Knowing the seasons before you arrive makes a real practical difference.
November – April
The best time to be in Cambodia. Skies are clear, humidity drops slightly, and the countryside is accessible. March–April are the hottest months — 38–40°C is not unusual. Khmer New Year falls in April.
May – October
Daily afternoon rainstorms — usually heavy and short, clearing within an hour. Lush, green, and beautiful. Roads flood in some areas. Tonle Sap Lake swells dramatically. Temperatures slightly cooler but humidity peaks.
November – February
The coolest and most comfortable months. Evenings drop to 22–25°C. Festivals include the Water Festival (Bon Om Touk) and Christmas–New Year. This is also when most schools do major hiring.
Practical note on heat
If you've never lived in sustained tropical heat, the adjustment takes 2–4 weeks. Stay hydrated, give your body time to acclimatise, and invest in a fan or air conditioning in your room. Most classrooms are air-conditioned; most commutes are not. Cotton clothing, a light helmet for motorbikes, and an early morning schedule help significantly.
What you eat and how you live
Khmer food — what to expect
Cambodian cuisine is subtler than Thai food — less chilli heat, more reliance on fresh herbs, fermented fish paste (prahok), and lemongrass-based broths. Core dishes include amok (fish in coconut curry steamed in banana leaf), lok lak (stir-fried beef with lime and pepper sauce), and bai sach chrouk (grilled pork with rice, a breakfast staple at street markets).
Local market meals cost $1–2 and are genuinely excellent. Most expat areas have a strong restaurant scene covering Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, and Western food at $5–15. Street food culture is central to daily life — teachers who engage with it eat better and more cheaply than those who stick to tourist restaurants.
A typical teaching day
Most language centre positions run a split shift: morning children's classes (roughly 7–11am) and evening adult classes (5:30–8pm). This leaves long, free afternoons — which most teachers fill with private tutoring, café work, gym time, or exploration. International school teachers work conventional 8am–4pm days. The split schedule is unusual at first; most teachers come to love it.
Getting around day-to-day
In Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, the main options are Grab (ride-hailing, $1–4 for most trips), PassApp (Cambodian equivalent), tuk-tuks (negotiated fare, $2–5), and rented motorbikes ($50–80/month). Cycling works well in Siem Reap and quieter neighbourhoods. Most teachers rent a motorbike for daily commuting once they're settled — it's faster and cheaper than ride-hailing for regular routes.
International driving licences are technically required for motorbikes but enforcement is inconsistent. If you plan to ride, take time to practise in quiet areas before joining main road traffic. Traffic in Phnom Penh operates by its own logic — confident, calm, and very different to Western traffic norms.
Healthcare
Private international clinics in Phnom Penh (Sunrise Japan Hospital, Royal Phnom Penh Hospital) are reliable for most issues and English-speaking. GP visits cost $30–60. For anything serious, Bangkok is a 1-hour flight and has world-class medical facilities. Most experienced teachers carry basic expat health insurance ($50–100/month). Malaria risk is very low in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap but exists in rural and forested areas.
Understanding Cambodian culture as a teacher
The sampeah and respect
The traditional Khmer greeting — hands pressed together, slight bow — is used between students and teachers and in formal settings. As a teacher you are a respected figure. Students stand when you enter. This formal respect is genuine and creates a positive classroom dynamic, though it can also make students hesitant to speak up or question.
"Saving face" in the classroom
Cambodian students are often reluctant to answer incorrectly in front of peers — cultural values around face-saving mean public mistakes feel significant. Effective Cambodia teachers create low-stakes opportunities to practise (pair work, group activities, chorus responses) and celebrate effort explicitly. Patience and encouragement go a long way.
Khmer history and sensitivity
Cambodia's modern history includes the Khmer Rouge period (1975–1979), which killed an estimated 25% of the population. This history is present in daily life — the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is in central Phnom Penh, and many older Cambodians are survivors or descendants of survivors. Approach this history with respect, learn about it properly, and never treat it as a curiosity.
Khmer festivals
Khmer New Year (April), Pchum Ben (festival of the ancestors, September/October), and Bon Om Touk (Water Festival, November) are the three major celebrations. Khmer New Year shuts down much of the country for a week. Pchum Ben is a deeply important spiritual event. Participating in these is one of the most rewarding parts of life in Cambodia.
The expat teacher community
Phnom Penh has a large, active expat teacher community — Facebook groups, teacher meetups, trivia nights, language exchanges. Most new arrivals feel socially settled within 2–4 weeks. Siem Reap has a smaller but tight-knit community. Loneliness is rarely a long-term issue for teachers who engage socially, though the first 2 weeks can feel disorienting.
Your students' lives
For many Cambodian students, English is a direct route to better employment in tourism, hospitality, and international business. The stakes of learning are real. Students in evening adult classes are often working full days before coming to your class. Recognising this investment — and the respect they're showing you by showing up — makes for a more grounded teaching experience.
Using Cambodia as a regional base
Cambodia's location in the heart of mainland Southeast Asia makes it one of the best regional travel bases for teachers. Most of your neighbouring countries are within a short bus ride or cheap flight, and Cambodia's low cost of living means you can save money for travel even on a language centre salary.
5–6 hours by bus | $7–12
The most common domestic trip. Bus services run multiple times daily. Easily done on a long weekend — most teachers visit Angkor Wat in their first month.
6 hours by bus | $10–18 | border crossing
Vietnam is Cambodia's most popular cross-border destination. The Moc Bai border crossing is well-trodden and efficient. Great weekend or long weekend trip.
1 hour by air | $40–100 | or 12hr bus
Bangkok is the regional hub. Most teachers fly at least once. If you're considering a future TEFL career in Thailand, spending a Bangkok weekend scouting schools makes practical sense.
3 hours by bus | $5–8
Cambodia's relaxed coastal south. Kampot is a favourite weekend retreat for Phnom Penh teachers — riverside guesthouses, kayaking on the Kampot River, and some of the best seafood in the country at Kep's crab market.
2–3 hours by air | $50–120
A popular longer trip for teachers with a school holiday week. Northern Thailand's cultural capital offers cooler temperatures, trekking, elephant sanctuaries, and excellent food.
School holiday windows for longer trips
Most Cambodia language centres close for Khmer New Year (1 week, April), Pchum Ben (3–5 days, September/October), and the winter holiday (1–2 weeks, late December). International schools follow a more conventional academic calendar with longer breaks. Plan longer trips — Bali, Japan, India — around these windows. Most teachers do at least one major regional trip per contract year.
Things Cambodia teachers wish they'd known
The school quality gap is wide
Cambodia's private language school sector ranges from genuinely excellent, professionally run schools with good management and fair employment practices to poorly organised operations where teacher welfare is not a priority. Vetting your employer before signing — speaking to current teachers, asking about the work permit process, checking the physical classroom environment — is essential. The gap between a good and bad school placement makes a substantial difference to your year.
Volunteer tourism and orphanage scams
Cambodia has been the subject of well-documented concerns around "voluntourism" — particularly orphanages that charge foreign visitors or volunteers to spend time with children, despite many of those children having living parents. Be sceptical of any organisation that charges you to teach or work with vulnerable children, and research thoroughly before committing. Legitimate NGO teaching roles exist but require the same due diligence you'd apply to any employer.
The split-shift adjustment
Teaching mornings and evenings with a long gap in the middle is unusual and takes adjustment. Some teachers find the rhythm liberating — afternoons are genuinely free. Others find the evenings difficult to protect for rest or social life. Ask about exact timetables before accepting a role, and think about whether the specific schedule suits your lifestyle.
Phnom Penh's pace of change
Cambodia's capital has been changing rapidly — new buildings, new roads, rising rents, and a cost of living creeping upward in expat areas. The "cheap Cambodia" of ten years ago is not entirely gone, but BKK1 and the riverside are no longer budget territory. This doesn't undermine the financial case for teaching here, but factor in that living costs vary considerably by neighbourhood and lifestyle.
Ready to make Cambodia your next chapter?
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Life in Cambodia — your questions answered
Is Cambodia safe for foreign teachers?
Generally yes. Phnom Penh and Siem Reap are considered relatively safe for expats, and violent crime against foreign residents is uncommon. The main safety concerns are traffic accidents (take road safety seriously — Cambodia has high road fatality rates), petty theft (bag snatching from motorbikes, mainly at night in tourist areas), and occasional opportunistic theft. Most teachers feel comfortable and safe going about daily life. Use standard urban awareness and you're unlikely to have problems.
How easy is it to make friends in Cambodia?
Very easy, particularly in Phnom Penh. The expat teacher community is sociable and new arrivals are welcomed. Facebook groups for expat teachers are active and useful for meeting people before you arrive. Most teachers report feeling genuinely socially connected within 2–4 weeks. If you're moving to Siem Reap, the community is smaller but tighter — it's common to know most of the English teachers in the city within a month.
Can I use my phone and internet from home in Cambodia?
Roaming from home is expensive and unnecessary. Buy a Cambodian SIM card on arrival — Smart, Cellcard, and Metfone are the main operators. Data plans are cheap ($5–10 per month for a solid data package). Home internet in apartments is typically 50–100Mbps and costs $20–35/month. Mobile coverage is good in cities and main towns; remote rural areas are patchier.
What do teachers miss most about home?
The most common answers are: family and established friendships, reliable healthcare access, specific foods from home, and — for some people — seasonal weather changes. The practicalities of living in a developing country (inconsistent infrastructure, variable service quality) can occasionally be frustrating. Most teachers find that these trade-offs are more than offset by the cost of living, the teaching experience, the travel access, and the strength of the life they build in Cambodia.
What's the expat social scene like — is it mostly drinking culture?
Phnom Penh does have a lively bar and nightlife scene, and some teachers lean into that heavily. But the expat community is more diverse than the reputation suggests. There are active running clubs, cycling groups, book clubs, yoga studios, volunteer organisations, and arts communities. The social life you build in Cambodia is largely the one you choose to seek out. Teachers who arrive with other interests — sport, food, culture, language learning — find plenty of community around those too.
Everything you need to know about teaching in Cambodia
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Life as a Teacher in Cambodia