Cambodia - The Chinafication

What you are about to read is based on current ground truth, many visits over the years to Cambodia and a “FINAL” one month tour of Cambodia in June 2018.

This is not written to say, “do not go” to Cambodia, but instead, to provide a real life account on how the country has changed and the effects on tourism.

When travelers think of Cambodia, the first things that come to mind are the UNESCO temples at Angkor Wat, which are, without a doubt, one of the amazing ancient constructions of the world.

However, after visiting these temples and maybe staying long enough to enjoy the city of Siem Reap, the question becomes where to go next.

Cambodia as a whole is not a very populous country nor is it a wealthy country like its neighbor Thailand.  It is comprised of mostly rural villages, fishing villages, smallish cities, rice paddies and in certain areas, it is mountainous.

The people of Cambodia are extremely friendly with many in the main tourist areas having the ability to speak relatively good English due in most part to tourism by western tourists.

Cambodia has its own currency but the currency of trade is mostly in US Dollars and when using an ATM machine, US Dollars are usually dispensed though you can request the local currency.  Change of less than $1USD is given in the local currency when making purchases.

The country is connected by relatively good bus systems and there are three main airports, one in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville.  Road ways have improved over the years but these improvements are for the major transportation arteries connecting the major cities.

Obtaining a tourist visa is easy and the government has an excellent web site for online e-Visa applications which can be paid for using a variety of credit/debit cards.

Costs of living in past years has been relatively low and as such, there were many ex-pats from across the world that moved to Cambodia to either live or open some type of business.

Cambodia also hosts a large number of NGO (Non Governmental Organizations), some are larger organizations and some are operated by smaller more independent groups.  All do about the same work, assisting the more poor rural communities to rise out of poverty.

The country is also host to a LOT of manufacturing of goods and products which are bound for export worldwide.  However, the vast majority of these companies are Chinese constructed and owned. This has led to what I term as “The Chinafication” of Cambodia.

China is like other countries; when their cost of manufacturing begins to increase, they look to more poor countries to do the work and Cambodia is one of their major bases of manufacturing operations. Relatively cheap labor sources and the Cambodian government is more than happy to sell land for these major manufacturing complexes which in many cases has resulted in the local population being forced to move without much compensation if any.  In some cases these are nothing more than land grabs by the government so the Chinese will build their facilities.

In basic terms, Cambodia has become a low cost manufacturing location for what we think of as Chinese products and the two countries are very closely aligned politically as well.

With such close ties to China, this has an effect on tourism in Cambodia and once you are in the country, it will be very obvious.

Discussing the tourism aspects of Cambodia, there have been traditionally 3-4 main locations to visit.  Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Kampot-Kep area and Sihanoukville.

Siem Reap with the Angkor Wat temple area has been a major attraction for travelers from all parts of the world; however, it has been the Chinese, which over the years, has been the major source for tourism.

This is well demonstrated when you go visit the Angkor Wat temples, especially during the high season.  Chinese tour companies send literally thousands of tourist to Siem Reap and when visiting Angkor Wat, it is bus load upon bus load of Chinese all following their tour guide who is holding some sort of marker in the air so each group knows where their tour guide is.

Having been to Siem Reap many times, I have personally witnessed the changing dynamics and if you arrive there during high season, prepare yourself for a mass of unruly and somewhat rude Chinese tour groups.

The city of Siem Reap itself is small and compact and easily walked with many different costs of hotels, guesthouses and hostels.  It has a nice area known as “Pub Street” which is comprised of nice restaurants, night clubs and bars for all travelers to enjoy.

Because the Chinese travel in large tour groups, they usually stay at larger hotel establishments, eat at these hotels or other locations favored by the tour operators and do not usually venture to Pub Street at night.  Pub Street is more favored by the western tourists or other Asian tourists.

Earlier I mentioned one of the main tourist locations was Sihanoukville which is in the south of the country along the coastal area and has the only deep water port.

Sihanoukville was nothing more than a tiny fishing village until some backpackers discovered it back in the mid 1990’s and as word spread; it became a special go-to spot for travelers from around the world but not the Chinese.

Now, it is being turned into a major tourist destination for the Chinese and with this tourism comes Casinos. Large new hotel complexes with many hosting the casinos. This has totally destroyed the Sihanoukville of old and turned a once beautiful destination into a turbulent mess of construction sites.

It was blessed with kilometers of lovely white sand beaches, warm waters, bars and local restaurants and many ex-pats moved there and opened either a restaurant/bar or accommodations for tourists.

Off shore there are two islands that had either no development or very little and these islands offered an escape to those who wanted a more serene atmosphere.

Sihanoukville was also where the more affluent Cambodians could go for beach time but the most important fact was, there was no real functioning airport.

In simple terms, for many years it was a virtual paradise for tourists. Beautiful beaches, inexpensive seafood barbecue dinners, cheap beer and spirits/wine, warm coastal waters and the kind of place where one could just lay back and enjoy life.

But then it happened!  The airport that had been there and not used, was put into operation, which was the beginning of the end for Sihanoukville of past years.

This now allowed the Chinese tour groups to include Sihanoukville as part of their tour packages and they came in numbers.  The government, realizing the vast potential of this mass of tour groups decided to sell the land in Sihanoukville to Chinese investors and so began the end of paradise in Sihanoukville.

The Chinese investors, realizing how beautiful it was in Sihanoukville decided to build gambling casinos and luxury resorts.  The once laid back beaches with all their charm were demolished; the once peaceful city became a parade of construction and concrete trucks, all to build what I term as a “Mini Macau”, strictly for the Chinese tourists.

The two islands were not spared this mass of development and up sprang numerous hotels, guesthouses and bungalow accommodations.  On one island, the development was so rapid the road infrastructure never developed leaving mostly dirt roads.

Foreign nationals who lived in Sihanoukville or operated a business were forced out by the development and ever increasing land costs or rentals from the land owners.  They either went back to their home countries or many relocated to other areas in Cambodia where the Chinese had not yet overtaken.

Click here for a YouTube video about Sihanoukville's "Rise of The Casinos"

This Chinafication has not been limited to any one particular location either. The northern border city with Thailand, PoiPet, was basically nothing more than a land border crossing between the two countries and the biggest thing that happened was cross border commerce.

Speaking with people that live there, I was told how the Chinese have also constructed casinos in the city forcing rents up. I was quoted the cost for a 3 bedroom condo/house before the Chinese arrived at about $600 USD, after the Chinese arrived, the costs escalated to around $1,100 USD per month.

What was once a fairly laid back and inexpensive country has now become the offshore manufacturing location of many Chinese produced goods and as the casino business continues to expand, land costs continue to increase around the country.

Cambodia can still be a bargain in some respects but locations like Sihanoukville have spiraled out of control and the future expansion by the Chinese is, at this point unclear, but many of the ex-pats who live there are concerned that their location will be the next new development area for the Chinese.

As for the capital city, Phnom Penh, if you observe the skyline, it is cluttered with construction cranes, large new hotels are being constructed and the area around “Diamond Island” has two major casinos and new very large Chinese constructed hotels in progress.

As a final notation, if you have not been to Cambodia, you should still go.  The temples of Angkor Wat are without a doubt something that should be seen, like the Pyramids, because these are works of a great civilization, but as for the rest of the country and cities, there are few options other than the major tourist destinations and for now the least effected is Kampot-Kep area but this is changing according to the local ex-pat business owners.

Click here for a full Youtube video showing the overall impact of "The Chinafication" of Cambodia.

If you do go to Sihanoukville, for now the island offshore will be a more pleasant experience but with time, it too will become overbuilt, congested and more expensive.

Travel Safe, Travel Happy