SIHANOUKVILLE, CAMBODIA

 

 

 Photography by Dennis Phan

 

 

 

 

Cinema  發達之人 <百萬千金> 甄珍 主演

 

 

 

Sihanoukville Cambodia was the only Cambodian port our cruise ship docked during this

Southeast Asian route. This time, we teamed up with four other cruise members to save money.

We hopped on a "Tuk Tuk Car" for the city tour.

 

We first stopped at a "fishing village" which had nothing offered to tourism. The so called

"fishing village" is basically an empty port with several fishing boats docking there with no fisherman. After that, the driver brought us to a "national park". We didn't see anything in that "national park" either. It turned out it was the park office. If we wanted to see the park, we needed to go a bit further. We declined due to our limited time in Sihanoukville. The driver then brought us to see the "waterfall" which looked beautiful from the picture. When we got there, we paid $2 USD each for the entrance fee. We had a hard time finding the waterfall and when we finally found it, it actually looked more like a creak than a waterfall. We then went to several temples for sightseeing. We sadly saw lots of school age children there begging for money. We were told not to give money to discourage them from begging. However, we gave money to a disabled soldier and an elderly beggar. We simply couldn't walk away from those who really need help. Again, there was little to see in those temples designated as tourist points of interest.

 

The Cambodian government has lots of work to do to jump start its tourism! We then stopped by

several beaches. Those beaches reminded me of Nha Trang beach in the 70's: pure and natural.

We met several Vietnamese-Cambodians on the beach doing nail business. They apparently had

no customer. We didn't see how they sanitize their tools after each service! We attempted to have lunch on the beach but backed out due to ridiculously high prices. Those restaurants there were mainly owned and operated by Chinese serving tourists. The menu only listed prices in USD. Aware of the situation, the driver brought us to a five star hotel which offers reasonable lunch menu. Of course, we still paid a bit higher than mom and pop eateries on the street but we were willing to pay a bit higher price for food hygiene, air condition, rest room facilities and beach view.

 

When we were touring Sihanoukville, we saw trash everywhere. There was not a single trash can

to collect trash so people just threw it all over the place. Health will be a serious issue in the long

run if the government doesn't correct the issue. We also noticed the whole city was literally under construction with three main structures being built: casino, hotel and shopping mall. Approximately half of the streets were paved. The rests were dirt streets. We didn't bring a mask so we used beach towel from the cruise ship to cover up ourselves when the "Tuk Tuk Car" was on dirt streets. "Land for lease" signs can be seen throughout the city. I was told only a decade ago, Sihanoukville was a small, peaceful beach town with backpackers going there to enjoy. With heavy Chinese investments in recent years, Sihanoukville will quickly and surely become agambling city in Cambodia.

 

I personally think Sihanoukville is not ready for tourism. The city infrastructures are not yet in

place. This was our first stop at Sihanoukville and we don't see ourselves coming here again in

the near future.

 

 

 

 

Dennis Phan   潘家墉

Khai Minh, UCLA and Investools Alumni

Los Angeles, 20 Jun 2019

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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