Today I traveled by bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. The trip took a little over 6 hours, with one stop near the midpoint. I saw a range of living conditions with lots of apparent poverty. I also saw indications that houses along some sections of the route were marked for removal, perhaps to facilitate expansion of the road although I couldn’t find an official explanation of this particular relocation project. I’m not sure what kind of compensation the families might receive or where they’ll be relocated, but other recent relocation projects have drawn criticism (see also) for inadequate planning and insufficient compensation. (The official photo essay of the railway rehabilitation project provides an interesting contrast to The Cambodia Daily articles.)
Despite obvious signs of poverty, everyone I saw seemed genuinely happy. In addition, few people were idle; even children were busy at work doing something to harvest or prepare food, etc.
A member of the Hotel Be Angkor staff met me at the bus station. The hotel was an oasis and worth the splurge (less expensive options are available, but Hotel Be was comparable to many of the larger resort hotels in the area). I stayed in the Saffron Room with an occasional lizard friend.
After getting settled at the hotel, I met Roy Clark for dinner and Hun Pich soon joined us. Roy is a Canadian national who settled in Siem Reap in 2003. With his adopted son and a friend, he runs Raison d’Etre Endeavors, an organization that works with young adults to develop plans their prodigies can implement to improve their lives. Pich, tuk tuk driver extraordinaire, is one of their prodigies.
An Elon colleague, Martin Fowler, introduced me to Roy, and Martin met him through Jim Brown, also an Elon colleague. Roy suggested that we collectively form the CAmbodia CLub at Elon (or CACLE)!