I'd be happy to stay in K. Cham for a couple of weeks sometime. In my early visits, the majority of people I met always felt resigned to their fate, like mere hard work had no chance to improve their lot in life. Very different to Khmer in the NW. In the NW, there was a palpable push to move up the ladder, not just among the returnees relocated by UNTAC, but almost everybody. I'm sure K Cham must have a very different energy now, and I'd like to see what it feels like.
The colonial area downtown was always broken and rundown, but nice. Big rivers calm and cool. Some OK sites for visits quite nearby, and the hallway in the Mekong Hotel were so wide they were good for rainy day frisbee.
(A side note about one mid-nineties K. Cham visit.
A lot of the old Cambodian prisons were, forgive me for saying this, interesting places to visit. When there was enough water and food, and they weren't suffering through some disease, they seemed quite OK. At least not greatly overcrowded, violent, or dangerous like USA prisons on TV. Most had substantial food gardens between the outer and inner walls, so prisoners could supplement their basic meals with fresh vegetables. K Cham Prison, on the contrary, felt VERY grim. More like Toul Sleng than the strangely friendly colonial relics in the rest of the country at the time. (I know 'friendly' sounds really weird, but most prisoners, and quite a few guards, were.)
Like Toul Sleng, it was in a bricked up former school (near the 60's era sports and swimming complex I think.), and it was seriously overcrowded. I recall in K. Chnnang, an old prisoner, or two, were allowed to walk over to the market to buy smokes, but in K Cham the prisoners were almost 24/7 confined to fairly small cells, 3-4 per walled off classroom, with 15-20 prisoners per cell. It might be because prisoners weren't milling around in common areas, or I might simply forget some details, but it didn't seem a very mixed prison, i.e. with a notable number of women and children. Anyway, I was very happy to leave. Spent the next few days sleeping in guard quarters in T5, nearly on the Vietnamese border (now in Cambodia's newest province) and then the country's largest prison by far. No one claimed to be there for politics, but as well as the biggest prison population, they had the highest number of 'lifers'.)
Anyway, anyone living K Cham now, or anyone who stayed there a while in the last few years, want to comment about the "energy" of the place? Does it now feel forward looking, or still mired in the past?
K Cham: Mired in the past, or striding forward?
I always thought it was an inconsequential place. No different from any other provincial city. Lovely setting. Last time I went lots of new shop houses on the riverside. Just like Battambang. I bet Kompong Chanang hasn’t changed one bit. Never saw any construction there at all.
They remain sleepy places to be sure, and you are mostly correct about construction. Yet, the Chinese look to be putting up statements of intent in many provinces. I see the shadows from new tall buildings on Google Earth in both Battambang and K Cham. Maybe significant Chinese investment will never broaden out beyond PP and Sihanoukville, but, though the pace of provincial development is slow, it looks to me like they do want to cover the country. Saw the recent Snooky video on TOF, WOW!
Airports, various factories, tall buildings, casinos, casinos, casinos. Seems crazy to me, looks horrible and feels sad, but I'm not Chinese and Cambodia is not my country. However, just going by Facebook, few Cambodians are thrilled to feel they are losing control of their country.
Sihanoukville looked mostly the same till suddenly, a few years ago, it became unrecognizable. We have a minimum of 15 years before Battambang or K Cham appears on the surface a small Chinese city, but that is not to say it surely won't happen. (To double the negatives!)
That said, I was more asking about the attitude of the Cambodian inhabitants. Wondering if young K Cham folk are now more motivated to reach for their future, or more inclined to laze in hammocks?
Airports, various factories, tall buildings, casinos, casinos, casinos. Seems crazy to me, looks horrible and feels sad, but I'm not Chinese and Cambodia is not my country. However, just going by Facebook, few Cambodians are thrilled to feel they are losing control of their country.
Sihanoukville looked mostly the same till suddenly, a few years ago, it became unrecognizable. We have a minimum of 15 years before Battambang or K Cham appears on the surface a small Chinese city, but that is not to say it surely won't happen. (To double the negatives!)
That said, I was more asking about the attitude of the Cambodian inhabitants. Wondering if young K Cham folk are now more motivated to reach for their future, or more inclined to laze in hammocks?
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