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Wednesday, May 20, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Commentary...
A window on enigmatic Cambodia
By Craig F. Eisenbeis
Correspondent
In our memorable virus-
altered odyssey of Southeast
Asia, Cambodia was a
planned stop on the travel seg-
ment that preceded Holland
America Cruise Line9s notori-
ous cruise to nowhere aboard
the cruise ship Westerdam.
Since the cruise had been
scheduled to conclude in
Shanghai, China, we had
no idea that, more than
three weeks after arriving in
Cambodia, we would grate-
fully return there as seago-
ing refugees, because it was
the only country that would
permit us to dock. For, as
we later learned when we
blithely sailed off into the
South China Sea, the cruise
industry would be essentially
shut down by the coronavirus
pandemic.
Prior to visiting Cambodia,
my limited knowledge of
the country was principally
rooted in footnotes to the
Vietnam War and to the ter-
ror of Pol Pot9s Khmer Rouge
regime in the late 1970s,
which I became acutely
aware of because of working
with a survivor of the mass
genocide, which exterminated
a quarter of the country9s
population.
On this initial visit to the
country, however, my atten-
tion was first drawn to the
small, colorful fishing boats
plying the country9s waters
and to my first-ever sighting
of an Indo-Pacific hump-
back dolphin. The one I saw
in the inner harbor was quite
large 4 perhaps 10 feet long,
an off-white color, with dark
speckling.
Ashore in Sihanoukville,
our port of call, the sights
were rather jarring. From
the harbor, the city appears
prosperous and robust. Up
close, it9s a far different
story. Cambodia is very third-
world. As it turns out, many
of the majestic high-rise
buildings are merely hollow,
abandoned shells. The streets
were all dirt, waiting for the
coming rains to turn them
into muddy quagmires. Every
street looked to be under con-
struction, completely torn
up, with open dirt trenches in
front of all buildings, water
and sewer pipes lying on the
ground. But no construction
was taking place.
A dramatic city rebuild
had been underway, with bil-
lions invested by China. But
Cambodia revised its gam-
bling rules to China9s dis-
pleasure, and China simply
abandoned the city in mid-
project. Huge casinos and
fancy hotels were left half-
built, often without windows
and doors, or with walls only
partly in place. The result is
something resembling war
zone wreckage.
Sadly, even when the
construction boom was in
full swing, our guide told
us that the local Cambodian
people did not benefit greatly
because China brought in its
own contractors and Chinese
workers. We met several
people who had visited
Sihanoukville a few years
ago, and they described a
beautiful, quiet, and relaxed
resort city on the beach 4 a
far cry from the current scene
of squalid urban blight.
Our guide told us that
the average wage is about
$1.50 per day, but fisher-
man can make $6-10, so it9s
prestigious work. One of
our principal stops was to
view a fishing village in full
operation. As we elbowed
our way through crowds, nar-
row streets, passages, docks,
and warehouses, the sights,
sounds 4 and smells 4 were
quite vivid.
In today9s Cambodia, liter-
acy is on the rise. During the
reign of the Khmer Rouge,
education was deemed a
threat to despotism and the
educated and professional
classes were systematically
executed or enslaved and
worked to death. Ethnic, reli-
gious, and other minorities
were also eliminated. As a
result, by 1979, literacy was
reduced to about 15 percent.
In 1979, the neighboring
Vietnamese were so appalled
by what was happening next
door that they invaded and
swept the Khmer Rouge from
power. Since then, education
has received a great deal of
emphasis, and literacy has
climbed to about 53 percent.
In that same span of 40 years,
life expectancy has risen
from 52 to 63. Still, we were
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warned that people might try
to touch us, since old people
are considered lucky and are
so rare here. Poor vaccination
rates have contributed to the
short lifespans, but the World
Health Organization has been
working to improve that, as
well.
In Sihanoukville, we also
visited a large and congested
downtown market, reminis-
cent of those in Tijuana; but
the goods are more oriented
toward actual consumables
rather than tourist junk. Also,
the vendors are not even
slightly aggressive; instead
it may be difficult to get their
attention.
Of note were the so-called
<wet markets= with live ani-
mals and sea creatures. Such
Asian markets are widely
suspected to have been
the breeding grounds from
which sprang the COVID-19
virus and the ensuing pan-
demic. Curiously, however,
if the government is to be
believed, the virus statistics
for Cambodia are astound-
ingly low (fewer than 130
cases and no deaths). While
Cambodia has taken rela-
tively aggressive measures to
combat spread of the virus,
there is also evidence that
the government is suppress-
ing the actual numbers and
arresting people who speak
out about it.
Before returning to the
ship, we visited a beauti-
ful city beach, where we
spent some time relaxing
and enjoying a taste of the
resort atmosphere that report-
edly existed only a few years
before. Our last stop was at
a temple, where we learned
that religion in Cambodia is
PHOTO BY CRAIG EISENBIS
Kathi Eisenbeis tries to blend in with the crowd on the grounds of a
Cambodian temple
something of a blend between
Buddhism and Hinduism. In
general the mood in the city
was quite festive, as every-
one was gearing up for the
Lunar New Year. Although
the actual event was still four
days in the future, we learned
that these celebrations carry
on for weeks.
Our unexpected, and
somewhat desperate, coro-
navirus-fueled return to
Cambodia three weeks later,
was the subject of my second
article about the Westerdam9s
<Ghost Ship= cruise and can
be viewed at www.nugget
news.com.
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