cptrelentless wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 10:26 pm I wouldn't ride a bicycle, unless you enjoy hospitals and premature death. Unless you have ridden a scooter in Asia before I might give that one a miss, too. The Chinese are even worse drivers than the khmers. It's still pissing down with rain so the streets and beaches are going to be covered in rivers of actual shit, what little there is left of the streets. My friend did a trans Africa thing through the DRC and he said the roads were better than the ones in Shv. I guess you could go up to Kbal Chhay, you're probably going to want to stay at Otres village.
If you do need a taxi hit up my neighbour Windy, he speaks Australian. He got kicked out of Australia for sleeping at his job and getting fired. I can PM his number. He does tours and will know a tuc-tuc driver you can use.

I beg to differ on Chinese vs Cambodian driving skill. Best proof of that was during Pchum Ben when SHV roads were free of Cambodian drivers.

bangkokhooker wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 2:42 pm 50 licences but not 50 casinos.

Want to bet on that?

LaudJohn wrote: ↑Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:20 am

bangkokhooker wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 2:42 pm 50 licences but not 50 casinos.

Want to bet on that?

Sure but how would one go about verifying it?
We’d need a list of official licences plus the casinos would need to be operating.

I’ll bet 10,000.

"I'm going because I'm interested in Chinese development/investment/tourism and how it effects the receiving countries."
That's about the only reason to come. I would then suggest, if they aren't on your list already, that you go to Koh Kong and Koh Sdach. Currently the best road in the country goes to Koh Sdach, it's big, smooth, and with little traffic. Unfortunately to get there you need to go on what the government recently called the worst road in the country.
The main market is called Psar Leu, open 7 days a week, from about 6-6 more or less. The Chinese don't shop there, the locals usually go for fruit, veg, meat. The front section has lots of tourist stuff at tourist prices.
Good luck with your research

bangkokhooker wrote: ↑Tue Oct 23, 2018 12:52 pm
I’ll bet 10,000.

And you would lose. 43 open and operating when I left in March. Also, I have a mate who had a poker room in Jin Bai Casino until recently (closest we are going to find to an "expert witness" imo). He tells me that there are at least 50 now and at least another 30 licences have been granted. I know who I believe
And NO, I'm not a gambler in any way shape or form.Don't even bet on the Melbourne Cup!

Hotdigr wrote: ↑Tue Oct 23, 2018 7:18 pm

bangkokhooker wrote: ↑Tue Oct 23, 2018 12:52 pm
I’ll bet 10,000.

And you would lose. 43 open and operating when I left in March. Also, I have a mate who had a poker room in Jin Bai Casino until recently (closest we are going to find to an "expert witness" imo). He tells me that there are at least 50 now and at least another 30 licences have been granted. I know who I believe
And NO, I'm not a gambler in any way shape or form.Don't even bet on the Melbourne Cup!

I was hoping I was wrong.

Damn. All hail Mini Macau.

Clemen wrote: ↑Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:28 pm "I'm going because I'm interested in Chinese development/investment/tourism and how it effects the receiving countries."
That's about the only reason to come. I would then suggest, if they aren't on your list already, that you go to Koh Kong and Koh Sdach.

Why do you suggest these places? What is the relation with the Chinese? As I checked on google maps, Koh Kong is an area north west-ish from Sihanoukville and Koh Sdach is an island?

Thanks for the market tip.

bangkokhooker wrote: ↑Tue Oct 23, 2018 12:52 pm

LaudJohn wrote: ↑Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:20 am

bangkokhooker wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 2:42 pm 50 licences but not 50 casinos.

Want to bet on that?

Sure but how would one go about verifying it?
We’d need a list of official licences plus the casinos would need to be operating.

I’ll bet 10,000.

Dollars or Riel?

Happy either way. If, dollars, name a stakeholder.

BTW, no correlation between licences and casinos. Probably over 100 licences issued in SHV already.

Back in SHV after 9weeks away. Hardly recognize the place.

I predict there will be over 100 casinos open in total within 24 months. I am willing to bet on this and offer odds.

Actually more people goes there now days then before

not according to this recent article
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambod ... 40456.html
note the official source

Decline in tourism

Meanwhile, an Oct. 10 report by Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism has pointed to a sharp decline in the numbers of tourists visiting Sihanoukville during the final days of the country’s annual Pchum Ben Festival, blaming the fall-off on poor infrastructure in the area.

Security concerns focusing on the growing Chinese presence in the traditionally popular tourist destination are more likely to blame, though, Network for Social Accountability President San Chey said.

“Chinese have even been involved in shooting sprees,” San Chey said, speaking to RFA.

In September, outgoing Chinese ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo acknowledged the climbing rates of crime among Chinese living in Cambodia—including drug and sex trafficking and online or telephone scams—and thanked Cambodian authorities for helping to crack down, according to a Sept. 28 report in the Khmer Times.

A surge in Chinese investment and in the numbers of migrant workers in Cambodia’s port city of Sihanoukville has left local beaches polluted and Cambodian residents struggling to meet higher prices as the cost of living rises, Cambodian sources say.

Speaking to RFA’s Khmer Service on Wednesday, Muong Sony—a youth leader in the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association—said following a recent visit that conditions in the city have declined dramatically over the last year.

“The situation in this area has now changed a lot,” he said.

“I visited four beaches and saw pollution and poor sanitation everywhere. There were no garbage containers on hand, and plastic bags were everywhere, along with a flow of foul-smelling sewage.”

Trash now piles up not only on the beaches, but on the city streets as well, he said.

The presence in the city of over 100,000 Chinese nationals, many of them workers brought in from China as Chinese firms set up casinos or operate power plants and offshore oil platforms in the area, has only made matters worse, Muong Sony said.

“I was told by several local residents that most of the Chinese coming to the area are not educated,” he said.

“Many of them were formerly convicted of crimes and were freed from prisons in China, or have bad backgrounds of other kinds. So they just throw trash anywhere they want, and some have even caused security problems in the area too.”

Prices climb higher

Traffic police now try mainly to stop Chinese nationals who break the traffic laws, because they will get more money from the Chinese than from Cambodians, Muong Son said.

“And many Chinese have bought local shops and run them on their own, making the prices of products rise too high for local people to pay,” he said, adding that many of the city’s new Chinese residents take jobs from Cambodians.

“My impression is that China wants to control the city and make it their own economic zone,” he said. “They are building skyscrapers in order to turn the city into a Chinese town in Cambodia.”

Also speaking to RFA, fellow Association member Soeun Piseth voiced his own concern over the influx of Chinese nationals and businesses into the city.

“The Chinese are causing a lot of trouble for Cambodians in the area. They are completely destroying the environment in this coastal city,” he said.

As the world’s second-largest economic power, China sees Cambodia as a source of benefit only for itself, Souen Pisoth said.

“I urge local authorities to enforce the city’s laws and regulations and to better manage the Chinese presence here,” he said.