Barang chgout wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 9:45 am Yeah, fair enough but it does suggest that Dara Sakor is hardly Koh Kong's, " First ever airport."!

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Yep bc, i wasn't arguing that point.

I first heard the UN/drug-running story from a Thai guy with a biz in KK, who was also a little bit connected with the Trat area "mafia". Not a bullshitter.
But then I came across some sort of UN report dealing with regional drug traffic at that period. And it was all there in black and white - a process, then agreement between RCG - UN to decommission the airport for that reason.
I have more recently tried to find that doc, or any other reliable source about this - but have been unable to find it. Nevertheless, I am very confident off my recollection, and that the source was good. Interesting story.

If you ever want to research the interesting history of dope growing, and the drug transhipment activities, in KK in the wild west days - you gotta do an awful lot of Googling. It actually seemed easier to find good docs ten years ago. All the hard, but obscure reports have slipped deep down on the google lists by now.

Let us know if you hear any midnight flights over your mountain tops in the middle of a moonlight night.

Lol! We're directly under a flight path in and out of Bangkok. There's ALWAYS traffic above us and yes, sometimes small planes and choppers at low altitudes at strange times.....

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SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 9:38 am Choppers only.

Nope

Phnom Poon wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2019 8:28 am

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 9:38 am Choppers only.

Nope

Choppers only at Koh Kong city (Khemarak Phoumin City) airport since 2001

"The old airport in Khemarak Phoumin City, Koh Kong Province, virtually abandoned since 2001, may be resurrected, according to reports."
Also see eye witness reports

The airport photograph posted above by clemen is the new airport being built to service the huge Chinese integrated Dara Sakor resort.

Some poeple fear this airport is for a military base. there is no evidence of any military purpose so far, nevertheless is is possible that may eventuate.
My concern is that chasing shadows of military takeover diverts attention from the very real and present danger;
ie, the actual fact of this massive portion of the Cambodian coast being gifted to the Chinese.
Economic imperialism not military, is they way China is going to take over. (mostly). Just look at S'ville.

Sorry, I should have posted the sat photo with a comment. The sat photo is of Kaoh Sdach, the story this thread started with was about this airport.

Clemen wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 6:14 pm Sorry, I should have posted the sat photo with a comment. The sat photo is of Kaoh Sdach, the story this thread started with was about this airport.

That's cool clement, we did divert the conversation for a bit, with talk about Koh Kong's FIRST airport at Koh Kong city.
That is probably why Phnom poon got his geography a bit mixed up - understandable.

1/ We have Koh Kong city airport
also known as Khemarak Phoumin City airport (officially)
currently decommissioned, choppers only, now talk of resurrecting.

2/ We have big new airport in Botum Sakor district,
100k's away as the crows fly, 200 k by road.
near Kaoh Sdach
to service Kiri Sakor resort
also known as Dara Sakor resort

Expect Sihanoukville meets Gold Coast, springing up along 70k's of coastline almost overnight.

I went to Kaoh Sdach about a year ago, the road is fantastic, at that time there wasn't much development going on.
My assumption was that someone was smart enough to figure out that shv was a toilet, with no infrastructure, and no way in or out, and it would be easier to start fresh, hence Dara Sakor.

A Jungle Airstrip Stirs Suspicions About China’s Plans for Cambodia

The Chinese military’s “string of pearls” strategy depends on far-flung regional outposts. Some think Cambodia is becoming one.
The runway at Dara Sakor International Airport, which a Chinese company is constructing, will be the longest in Cambodia.
By Hannah Beech
Dec. 22, 2019
DARA SAKOR, Cambodia — The airstrip stretches like a scar through what was once unspoiled Cambodian jungle.

When completed next year on a remote stretch of shoreline, Dara Sakor International Airport will boast the longest runway in Cambodia, complete with the kind of tight turning bay favored by fighter jet pilots. Nearby, workers are clearing trees from a national park to make way for a port deep enough to host naval ships.

The politically connected Chinese company building the airstrip and port says the facilities are for civilian use. But the scale of the land deal at Dara Sakor — which secures 20 percent of Cambodia’s coastline for 99 years — has raised eyebrows, especially since the portion of the project built so far is already moldering in malarial jungle.

The activity at Dara Sakor and other nearby Chinese projects is stirring fears that Beijing plans to turn this small Southeast Asian nation into a de facto military outpost.

Already, a far-flung Chinese construction boom — on disputed islands in the South China Sea, across the Indian Ocean and onward to Beijing’s first military base overseas, in the African Horn nation of Djibouti — has raised alarms about China’s military ambitions at a time when the United States’ presence in the region has waned. Known as the “string of pearls,” Beijing’s defense strategy would benefit from a jewel in Cambodia.

“Why would the Chinese show up in the middle of a jungle to build a runway?” said Sophal Ear, a political scientist at Occidental College in Los Angeles. “This will allow China to project its air power through the region, and it changes the whole game.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/22/worl ... bases.html

frank lee bent wrote: ↑Sat Sep 24, 2016 4:59 pm yet another ghost project to inflate the bubble
when war comes it wont matter anyway be it trade war or hot war.
the Chinese already own this region except Vietnam, now that Philippines has been sold by that sawn off cunt that was voted in by mentally defective Catholics.

I though you were talking about the new british prime minister for a moment there