Sihanoukville , Cambodia 3/20/2018

Sihanoukville Discovery  Included tour  8:30  3 hours  Glimpsed Khmer life in a seaside town and visited a

Buddhist Temple.  Enjoyed an overview of Cambodia’s beachside communities as we visited a temple with murals and sculptures depicting Buddha and a market.  Visited (30 min.) and explored on our own the tiny fishing village of Tumnop Rolok. High level of poverty.  Hovels along the road for people to live in.  Visited (30 min.) the local market with fruits,vegetables meats, fish, snails, larvae, insects and items for daily life, etc.  Walked along Independence Beach which Jackie Kennedy strolled during a visit in 1967.   The drive back to the ship took about 15 minutes from the market.

The countryside and Sihanoukville were covered with debris and people lived in hovels.  Driving down a street, you might see a hovel, next to a beautiful, but small three story house, and then a business which might have scrap metal strewn all over the property.  The biggest and nicest buildings were government buildings.  The fishing village was dirty and depressing demonstrating the level of poverty in Cambodia.  The temple area was beautiful, but amputees and mothers with children were begging in the courtyard.  We were advised to give money to the monks and not these people.  The market was similar to those we have been seeing elsewhere with just about everything you could imagine for sale, but the food tended to be covered with flies.  I did not eat at the market.  Actually, I was very happy to return to the ship and did not extend my time in the marketplace which was an option as there was a shuttle from the ship to the marketplace.  

This country continues to haunt me.  So much poverty.

Sihanoukville Provincial Hall -Sihanoukville is the capital of the province of Sihanoukville.  Named for mid 20th-century king Norodom Sihanouk.  Sihanoukville is a coastal town located on the end of a scenic elevated peninsula.  This picturesque setting offers sandy shores and turquoise waters.  Sihanoukville was developed after the French departed.  Architecture includes less fanciful examples of New Khmer.  Khmer people are very resilient and try to maintain their culture.  

Family mausoleums at the cemetery adjacent to the Wat Krom Buddhist Temple

Golden sculptures tell stories in the courtyard of the Wat Krom Buddhist Temple.

Wat Krom Courtyard

Reclining Buddha at Wat Krom Buddhist Temple

Wat Krom Courtyard

Wat Krom Courtyard

This plant was a pretty thing amidst all the squalor in the fishing village.  

Wat Krom

Wat Krom Buddhist Temple "Khmer people are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Cambodia, accounting for 97.6% of the country's 15.9 million people until the Chinese development started.^[ They speak the Khmer language.  The majority of the Khmer are followers of the Khmer style of Buddhism. "

Wat Krom

Murals tell the story of Buddha's life in the Wat Krom Temple.

Buddhist monk who offered three of us a blessing.  

Sihanoukville Provincial Hall/Government Center for the province

Hovel along the road where people live.

Fishing boats

Fish ready to be shipped out.

Fishing Boats

Fishing boats

The said the children came to the pier area to see all the people from the ship.  

Processing the catch

Fishing Village

Fishing Village - processing the catch

Ice delivery to the fishing boats

Engine shop in the fishing village

Travel includes modern-day tuk-tuks and carriages pulled by motorcycles.  Sihanoukville is one of the leading seaside resort destinations for locals and visitors.  Negotiating with these tuk-tuk drivers was supposed to be quite a challenge and resulted in overcharging frequently.  We were lucky enough to have a bus transporting us.

Sihanoukville Provincial Hall/Government Center -Sihanoukville is the capital of the Sihanoukville Province.

Sihanoukville Provincial Hall - online photo

Family mausoleums at the Wat Krom Buddhist Temple.  

More mausoleums at the Wat Krom Buddhist Temple.

Wat Krom Buddhist Temple Mausoleums.

Sihanoukville Market

Sihanoukville Market 

Independence Beach, one of many beautiful beaches in Cambodia.  It is about one mile long and is named after the Independence Hotel which is located on the northern end of the beach. 

Independence Beach

Fishing Boat

Independence Beach

Independence Beach

Independence Beach Hotel -Jackie Kennedy stayed in the hotel and strolled on the beach during a visit in 1967.

Independence Beach 

Independence Beach   Cambodia has  64? islands that are administered by four coastal provinces.  There are sixteen islands that are part of Sihanoukville Province.  The area near the beach is being developed by the Chinese.  They are building casino hotels.  

Independence Beach, you can just see the top of the Independence Hotel in the trees on the right.

Independence Beach I read that the city's ethnic make up has changed with thousands of Mainland Chinese workers, developers and investors settling in the city,  There is resentment from the locals. Mandarin signage is increasingly replacing Khmer and English signage in the city and crime in the form of drunken violence and organized crime are increasing.  The big building in the distance is a Chinese casino that is under construction.

Wat Krom Buddhist Temple

Wat Krom Temple

Sleeping Buddha at Wat Krom Temple

Sleeping Buddha at Wat Krom Temple

Wat Krom Courtyard

Wat Krom

Wat Krom Buddhist Temple entrance

Wall surrounding Wat Krom Buddhist Temple.  

Wat Krom Buddhist Temple

FACEBOOK A haunting experience in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. It has the most poverty of all the countries I’ve visited. It is a country with many problems. Environmental issues include flooding, deforestation, soil erosion, declining fish stocks, clean water and habitat loss. Economic growth is slow. One of two areas showing progress is the garment industry. The other area is tourism. There is a lot of international investment. The Chinese are building casinos, but sadly along with that comes organized crime. Some of this development has caused slum dwellers and squatters to be relocated to areas without electricity or sewers and often in remote locations far from jobs. I hope some good comes to this country. Due to their Civil Wars in the past, 70% of the population is under age 35 and only four percent is over age 65. 

This picture has fishing boats from Tumnop Rolok, the tiny fishing village we visited. The second stop was Wat Krom, a temple with beautiful murals and sculptures. Next, we went to Independence Beach, which Jackie Kennedy visited in 1967. The last stop was the Sihanoukville marketplace.