RE: 🛺💨 Well, I Guess This Is Now A Three-Wheeled School Bus Driver Blog 🚸👨‍✈️

I'm super behind on comments, sorry for a late reply. In the time since you wrote this comment I have come up with a partial solution. The drive to and from school is roughly one and a half to two hours, and done twice a day it accounts for a lot of fuel and wasted potential productive time.

We ultimately bought the land because of the location, and if something like this were near a town, it would be full of trash, and we'd be swimming in styrofoam, used diapers, and instant noodle package wrappers. There is land set aside for a school in our village, and once the international border crossing with Thailand is completed, it will change this economy overnight.

The town where our daughters study is on the border with Thailand, and because of this the Chinese are already busy buying everything. Land prices in Thmor Da are minimum $10,000 USD per square meter regardless of property depth, much more expensive than most places in the USA, even though I can't seem to convince even one Cambodian than total monthly living expenses are cheaper in Indiana than in this town.

The border situation creates an inflated economy, and even in this town things always cost 10% to 30% more than regular just because of the Chinese presence. I thought about renting a room in the town to use an office space for more comfort when I come, and usually this would be $30 to $50 in a similar sized town anywhere else in Cambodia. Here a plain room without furniture is upwards of $350 a month, and the Chinese don't mind this price at all.

There is also a lot of illegal stuff going in Cambodian border towns, and often a large part of the local population is engaged in illegal activities. There is always a casino involved, and of course some social problems come with that. Just the other day while waiting for the kids to get out of school, a VIP from the capital stopped his car in the middle of the highway, and violently opened his door to hit a dog in the head that was standing in the middle of the road, not impeding his path in any way.

There are already a couple locals that want me to teach and English class during the time I spend here waiting for the girls, and they've offered free spaces for use, so this could be a future option once the logistics are all worked out.