Kampong Saom

We visited Sihanoukville, Cambodia and with only 1.5 % of 18 million Cambodians living here, we did not get a representative view of the Country. Sihanoukville is a province in southwest Cambodia known for its beaches and the mangrove jungles of Ream National Park and is set around Cambodia’s only large deep-water port since 1950 on a peninsula jutting into the Gulf of Thailand.

The port was the last place to be evacuated by the US Army, only days before Khmer Rouge guerrillas took control of the government in April 1975. The events surrounding the taking of the US container ship SS Mayaguez and its crew and the subsequent 2 day fighting and rescue operation by US Marines happened off the coast of Sihanoukville. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 and the subsequent opening of the economy, the port of Sihanoukville resumed its importance in the development and recovery of the country. Cambodia which once the center Khmer Empire is now a very small player on the world stage and remains a rural society with not much changed.

The area WAS growing rapidly and then fast forward to the 2019 ban on online and arcade gambling, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese capital quickly withdrew from the city. Since 2019 and the abrupt end of Sihanoukville’s multi-billion dollar boom of hotels, casinos and condos (under pressure from Beijing to curb criminality and corruption) when gambling ended. The city now has 1,155 unfinished buildings, according to official figures. Chinese developers are working for beneficial tax and lease arrangements with landowners but from the articles I read on the corrupt landowners, this is unlikely to happen.

Our visit here was not fulfilling for anyone we spoke with on the ship. The people here were very aggressive for sales and money from the little bit of tourism they get but there was nothing to see or do here. City sites were minimal, water and beach activities by those they try to do them were poorly organized and did provide any enjoyment.

We went for a bus ride to mall as well as another bus ride to town/market and to a beach (Independence, Sokha, Ochheuteal) and after looking out the window, did not even get off at any of these places. We did see a few sites from the bus like the Golden Lion monument (see photo) and the Wat Krom Buddhist pagoda.

We wish we had a better experience at this port and in general in Cambodia since we had never been here and there is much history with Vietnam, Cambodia and the US but currently there is a weak outlook for US relations as well as tourism.Read more