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PP and the new road to KohKong


dddave

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I did a quick visa run to Phnom Penh last week: flew in on Air Asia.

P.P. continues it's rapid pace of change, a 40 story skyscraper is going up along with several lower ones. New bars, restaurants and hotels seem to open every month and more and more newer model and expensive cars compete for sidewalk space with pedestrians.

The Riverfront sucks this year: they are rebuilding and replanting the entire length of the riverfront park and have erected a high construction wall the length of the waterfront, completely blocking the view of the river from the street... ugly!

Prices are up for everything: I couldn't find a happy hour beer for less than $1.25, $10 rooms are now $15, tuk-tuks are asking about 50% more and so are the lady's: no $10 s/t's with anyone you'd want to look at sober. Walkabout had a lot of familiar faces and more than a few new ones but the place has such a hard core feel about it. At this time of year, 90% of the customers are resident regulars who shmooz, play pool and drink but generally don't provide a lot of income opportunities for the girls, therefor I got a lot of attention. Stopped into Martini's on a rainy night, very quiet around 9pm but picked-up a bit later. Lots of very cute Viet's and the usual pestering Mama-sans. Beers and soft drinks now $1.50. $20 seemed to be baseline for s/t.

I stayed out of Sharky's because of somebody I didn't want to re-encounter. Mikado and La Cyrcie no longer provide in house services.

I stay away from the hostess bars: the bar tabs quickly add up and you can easily end up with nothing to show for it.

 

Rather than returning by air, I took a 7am bus from the riverfront to Koh Kong via the new, direct highway just opened last month. It's a nearly six hour trip ($11, a/c bus) the last half of which winds thru really beautiful, sparsely populated mountainous countryside. Being new, the road is in great condition and so far, carries little traffic. The bus stops for a food break halfway along at a typical Cambodian roadside joint; pretty rough looking food that tempted me not at all, a can of Pringels and a Fanta sustained me.

Koh Kong also seems to have a lot of new buildings. I decided not to stay and after taking a moto to the border (Now B100, up from B50) took a mini-bus to Trat. They now drop you at the new bus station just out of town. The Bangkok bus was just leaving but waited for me to grab a sandwich before starting the six hour trip to Bangkok: a long day travelling made longer when it turned out to be heading for Mor Chit rather than Ekkamai which is much closer to my apartment...groan!

Total cost for the land route: P.P. to Bkk was about B800, flying Air Asia, if you include the $25 departure tax and surcharges runs close to B4000.

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I could see it coming. The prices in PP have been going up for some time. A friend rebought a bar that he had there and they want to raise the rent by 50%. And he had to reburbish it.

 

Doug, the guy that owned the Cathouse in Nana Plaza and I and others were going to get a 10 year lease on a hotel in PP and the owners backed out. It would have been a windfall if it had gone through.

 

What do you think the economic effect of this is on the Cambodians?

 

I have been there a lot of times (about 25) but not lately.

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I remember that hotel deal. LaoHuLi was trying to broker it but it turned out to be pretty much a pipe (or more accurately; a vodka-tonic) dream of Franks. The Patriarch of the family that built it never had the slightest interest in relinquishing control.

 

Poor Cambodians are being hurt the same as all poverty stricken people in developing nations are being hurt by the affect of skyrocketing energy costs and perceived food shortages. The diversion of grain producing agricultural land to land devoted to methanol production is already being felt and will soon become a major world issue.

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I'm thinking of doing an overland like that next fall but spend most of the time in Snooksville beaches.

 

I was told that the Koh Kong-Sihanoukville road has also been improved. No longer necessary to take that miserable speedboat: fare now $25.

 

If you spend time around Sihanoukville, consider taking a trip to Kampot and Kep, beautiful steps back into time.

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I remember that hotel deal. LaoHuLi was trying to broker it but it turned out to be pretty much a pipe (or more accurately; a vodka-tonic) dream of Franks. The Patriarch of the family that built it never had the slightest interest in relinquishing control.

 

 

Was that the Flamingos Hotel? Frank was working there and got the owner to embrace the internet. Frank also used to get on the boards to market the hotel. Used to be a Flamingos Hotel banner ad on this board which I'm sure Frank was involved in.

 

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I remember that hotel deal. LaoHuLi was trying to broker it but it turned out to be pretty much a pipe (or more accurately; a vodka-tonic) dream of Franks. The Patriarch of the family that built it never had the slightest interest in relinquishing control.

 

 

Was that the Flamingos Hotel? Frank was working there and got the owner to embrace the internet. Frank also used to get on the boards to market the hotel. Used to be a Flamingos Hotel banner ad on this board which I'm sure Frank was involved in.

Yes; Flamingo's it was. Though Frank (LaoHuLi) signed on as General Manager, it never quite worked out that way for him. He did do a lot to bring Flamingo's to the attention of the Thailand expat and -uh- hobbiest community and was always available for a chat barside, never reluctant to voice his opinion of whatever the topic was at hand. Eventually, the family hierarchy controlling the hotel appreciated his opinions less and less. Promised renumeration never really materialized, his free room became a small hovel out back and his health deteriorated, not that it was any good to start with.

He was finally tossed out the door and was picked up by Ed, an Ohio native who was opening a nearby bar. Ed gave Frank a room in his apartment and put him to work helping to set up the bar.

The opening night party, pretty much arranged by Frank was a great success, he was back in his element as host and raconteur. Not long before closing time, he said he was tired and went to his room. The next morning, he couldn't be woken-up. He was taken to a local hospital and it was clear that his already fragile heart had given out.

Hospitals in Cambodia are pay-as-you-go and the cardiac ICU that Frank was in cost almost $400 per day. Through the amazing generosity of friends, many of them members of THAI360, Frank received the best care available and managed to hang on long enough to regain consciousness several times. Unfortunatly, the damage was too great and he died after five days but he died knowing that he had more friends than he ever knew.

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