A - (A little bit about
you and the other members of the collective):
1) How long have you lived in Kampot?
Were you travelling before?
We, the collective have been living
in Kampot for a combine total of over 20 years now. Each and every
one of us have extensive travel experience, though none of us appear
to have gone very far.
2) Why did you move?
Rumours of movement are greatly
exaggerated. In essence the collective has moved to Kampot to protest
the manner in which our home countries have disappointed us.
3) What were you doing before?
We have combined expertise in
electronics and control systems, psychiatric nursing, oil company
procurement, shipping, import export, computer sales and marketing
and bar stewardship.
4) What have you been doing since
Perfecting the art of being
in Kampot
5) A little bit about the Kampot
survival guide - why did you start it? Why is it no more? (boo hoo!)
Rumours of the demise of the KSG are
all false and were perpetrated by our publisher (subsequently demoted
to paper boy). An executive board meeting revamped the way we do
business (if you can in any way call a publication that earns nothing
a business), thus insuring the continuation of the Kampot Survival
Guide forever or until the collective melts down.
B – (About Kampot
province developments):
1) Loved your tongue-in-cheek comments
in the last edition of the Survival Guide - but can you tell us
exactly what's going on development-wise at the moment? I saw that a
big hotel was being built when I was there last - but are there more
(grand) plans?
Once more rumours of or collective
tongues being in any cheeks are all false. Every last word in the
guide is true…really. Without more details we cannot comment on the
big hotel, though it might be the Diamond (now open) which is the
only building in Kampot with a lift. The other big hotel rests atop
Bokor Mountain and has an attached casino (both open).
The Old Market on the front is now
brand new and sports a number of virtually 100% Khmer owned shops.
Plans are afoot to revamp the old fish market/night club into a
riverside seafood restaurant, entertainment venue and recording
studio.
Other grand plans include at least 3
golf courses, a floating eco-village downstream, extending the river
promenade to the fishing village, and a new boutique hotel on the
former site of the Canadia Bank.
We now have freshly resurfaced roads
with lines, reflectors and cross walks, all of which are ignored.
More surfaced roads are being thrown down at a furious pace, water
system improvements, and more government building/refurbishment. The
Kamchay dam is struggling to get above 10% of capacity due to dry
season low water conditions.
2) How long have these developments
been in the making? Who are the initiators? What's the timeframe?
That’s a little like asking how
long is a piece of string? We think the Governor and local government
are at the heart of the infrastructure developments, while the
private sector is investing at a furious rate. In the past three to
five years the city has undergone a rather dramatic make-over and is
no longer looking like a dowager in need of a facelift.
3) What's the ultimate goal?
Our ultimate goal is not to answer
silly questions over and over and over again…thus the Kampot
Survival Guide.
4) What are your thoughts about it all?
What are the positives and negatives?
We try not to
think as we believe thinking destroys brain cells faster than the
local beers. Two members of the collective have business’ that
benefit from increases in tourism, while two of us are on pensions
and think tourism is a dirty word. Regardless, increased tourism, a
vibrant Cambodian economy and government promotion of the area, along
with publications such as yours. Trip advisor, Facebook et al are
having an effect to change Kampot from the undiscovered paradise it
once was into something completely different.
5) What do the locals think?
If you are referring to the local
Khmer community, they are at best blissfully happy or at least
neutral. Barang Sceut, which in essence means crazy foreigner pretty
much covers it. We think for the most part that the local Khmer
community see the growth of Kampot as a positive thing, providing
more employment opportunities than ever.
The ex-pat community on the other
hand prefer not to think very hard or too deeply, which explains the
number of sure fire business’ that open and
close with predictable regularity. The collective are greatly amused
by all the ex-pat activity.
6) How do you think it will impact life
in Kampot in general? What about your own lives? What do other expats
make of this?
We are of the consensual collective
opinion that the more things change the stranger it all becomes. How
these changes effect the collective is currently up for debate. As
long as we can eventually agree on a meeting date we will strive to
arrive at a collective opinion that at the very least is not overly
disgusting to any of us.
Our own lives are for the most part
mundane in the extreme. As long as it is someone else being hauled
off in handcuffs and leg irons we stay amused and emotionally distant
from it all. We are collectively disinterested in the growth of
Kampot, and as long as the price of staples such as beer and
cigarettes remains low we really could not care less.
As to other ex-pats we, as a
collective have a problem answering this question. We are aware that
there are varying ex-pat factions in Kampot, everything from
religious zealots bent on converting the Buddhists to NGO types
living high off the donor hog, to suspected criminals escaping
homeland justice. Obviously no one will have the same outlook.
PS: The KSG collective have voted on
this and we have moved and carried the motion that this is a silly
question.
7) It seems that at the moment, the
whole of the south of Cambodia is being regenerated - Bamboo Island,
Koh Rong... Koh Rong in particular has massive plans in place, having
been sold by the Cambodian Government to a Cambodian-based investment
group called The Millennium Group, who are partnering with a
Cambodian company called The Royal Group, in order to build an
airport and 'ecological' resort. Do you know anything about this/have
any opinion on their plans/collaborations? Is it really going to be
'eco'? Surely they will have to destroy a lot of the natural forest
in order to build an airport?
Well, the collective sighs a
collective “Duh!” The aforementioned floating eco village on the
river is downstream of the city. With a population of around 40,000
and no sewage treatment, how eco can that
village be?
Also refer to Bokor Mountain with an
estimated population living atop a national park
of between thirty and one hundred thousand, entailing the destruction
of untold hectares of Alpine forest. The ecology is not the primary
factor in the quest for earning tourist revenue. All one has to do is
look to Koh Samui in Thailand back in 1987 when the airport opened
there. How much consideration to the environment was given when that
decision was made?
8) I believe The Royal Group are quite
powerful in Cambodia in general - anything you can say about this?
Any opinion?
It is wise not to comment on
anything containing the word Royal in the name. The collective are
guests here in Cambodia and smart enough to know that no comment is
the best comment whether that comment is positive or negative.
9) The general word is that investors
have been snapping up long-term island leases as fast as they can. Do
you know anything about this? Who's buying them? What do you think of
it all?
The collective can only assume that
these long-term leases, if in fact they are being registered are
being penned with people with much deeper pockets than we have. There
is an old saying that goes something like, “Make hay while the sun
shines.” Wouldn’t you take a long-term lease on a piece of beach
paradise if you could?
10) What about Kep and Battambang?
Kep is a great place to read a book.
We at the collective recommend that visitors to Kampot make it a day
trip that includes the Kep crab market, the caves and a pepper
plantation. Unlike Kampot, Kep has no centre replete with restaurants
and bars to visit during those long tropical nights.
Battambang is affectionately called
Bottombang by we locals and we believe that is enough said, other
than it does have a river.
11) According to an article on
Travelfish, Kith Meng (the chairman of The Royal Group) has the power
to revoke small business leases on a month's notice. Have you heard
anything about this? What are your thoughts/general consensus amongst
locals and expats?
No doubt this is true and we have no
comment for above noted reasons.
12) Is there a danger that the gap
between the poor and rich in Cambodia will become even greater? Are
there any steps being taken to prevent this?
Again, this being a political
question, the collective collectively have no comment. What we can
say is that the danger of the wealth gap increasing on a global scale
is high and there is no reason to assume that it’s any different
here.
13) Is Cambodian infrastructure/the
Cambodian people ready for such mass potential tourism on this more
upmarket scale?
Our Khmer hosts, despite the horrors
of war and ideology run amok are more than capable of building on
success. The Khmer are resilient and resourceful people for who we at
the collective have the highest respect. At the high end of the
market, the Cambodian business community have proven their
determination and ability to excel.
14) Do you think the Cambodian
government is selling out? Or, was this inevitable in the long run?
Once more, no comment.
15) Is there a danger that certain
places in Cambodia will become yet another haven for the mega-rich
only?
Not unless they go the way of Bhutan
where only high end tour groups are granted visas to visit. The
collective, though they disdain the rock bottom backpacking traveller
do acknowledge that there is money to be made from all ends of the
spectrum. Do the math. One million tourists at $20 each for a one
month visa equals twenty million dollars. If each of those tourists
then spends only $15 a day, that’s an additional four hundred and
fifty million dollars. This four hundred and seventy million is the
minimum every million tourists spend. In 2012 over 2.2 billion
dollars were spent by over 3.5 million tourists.
16) How do you think this will impact
the vibe/the economy/ecology? Won't a lot of natural countryside have
to be destroyed in order to build these big resorts?
Yes, yes, yes and yes. The vibe
cannot not be affected even if big resorts are not so big and
apparently eco-friendly. But don’t forget that as long as the
economic model of globalized tourism (or anything) is based on
growth, everything will be effected and not always in good ways.
17) Do you see yourselves staying in
Kampot? What would make you move on? Where would you go?
The KSG collective have no intention
of abandoning Kampot. It is our home, our chosen promised land. We
agree that short of war, pestilence, starvation or building a
Wal-Mart in the city, we are committed to stay the course. With a
combined age of well over two hundred years, we are becoming too
feeble to seek out a new place that offers us the same sense of peace
and harmony as we find here.
Moving on is only a last ditch
option that none of the collective want to think about. The world is
becoming a less and less undiscovered land. We would like nothing
more than deter too many other’s from coming here and spoiling our
way of life. What’s left? Lao, perhaps but have you seen what’s
become of Viang Vien?
18) What do you think of the future of
Cambodia?
We think that the future is bright
for Cambodia and Cambodians. There is a new generation of young
people who have not experienced the horrors of war and are beginning
to reclaim their nation and their culture. We believe that with
minimal interference from the outside world that Cambodia can
prosper.
19) Will it still be a place for
backpackers/more freewheeling travellers?
Fortunately Kampot has not yet
suffered a massive influx of package tourists. We at the collective
note that although there are still plenty of gap-year backpackers
visiting, often on their way to Vietnam, the demographic is changing.
We have flash-packers and retired hippies on the road for the first
time since the 70’s. We have old and young folks coming here to
live, to set up a business or work for one. We are constantly
surprised that year over year more and more people of all ages are
discovering Kampot.
... Any other thoughts or comments on
anything related (you can include views on related world politics,
whatever you like!) would be great!
Other than the fact the collective
think the world is going to hell in a hand-basket due to hegemonistic
designs the western world has on the developing world, all we can say
is don’t wax too poetic about the charms of living by a river with
a mountain range in the near distance to give form to magnificent
sunsets. There really is nothing to see or do here, so move on. There
is malaria in the mountain jungles, sharks and crocodiles in the
river, dengue fever in the city and rumours that the sea monster is
returning. Let your readers know that there are other, more adventure
driven, way more fun places than Kampot in SE Asia.
Sincerely,
The Kampot Survival Guide Collective
