Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Our first port of call after leaving Bangkok was Sihanoukville, Cambodia. We figured that the cruise ship had to stop somewhere along the way between Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), but other than that, we could think of no compelling reason for stopping there!

Sihanoukville was presumably a quaint beach resort/fishing village at one point in time, but it has been the target of massive Chinese investment into casinos and hotels in the recent past. It was expected to become the next Macau. Then the bottom fell out of the Chinese real estate market and Covid hit, and Sihanoukville was left high and dry. There are literally hundreds of half-completed high-rises all over town, and that’s not good.

One can imagine workers being drawn into the city to work as laborers, only to become stranded after this. One article says “Fleeing Chinese investors leave Cambodian resort littered with ‘ghost buildings’”. Another article says “Chinese exodus leaves Cambodia boomtown with 500 ‘ghost buildings’”. It is estimated that it would take over $1 billion dollars to complete the unfinished buildings.

So the place looks a mess. But there are some pretty beaches, and old temples to see, so it’s not all bad – but you’d never really choose to go there. And we had to spend two days here!

We did get to visit one Buddhist temple – Wat Krom, and it was interesting to see (especially in contrast to seeing the temples in Japan and Thailand, which were meticulously maintained). It looked a bit run-down, and there were several children begging for money, and stray dogs roaming around. And, like Thailand, it was unbearably hot and humid!