Been in kompong saom the last few days,tooling around on the moto.
Some things are improving here.
The footpath along occateul beach has been completed and the shacks moved back behind it.
Now there is much more beach and a nice walk along it.
Not many tourists though which means too many vendors to go around.Now there are many sulky young men selling bracelets as well,they have far less charm than the young girls.
I have seen two incidents where boys verbally abused young women tourists and one of these tourists was slapped in the face by a boy!
Otres beach is being developed but not as we expected.Most of the shacks have been allowed to remain for about 750 metres then there is a steel fence.
On the opposite side of the road amongst the walled blocks there are three new bungalow complexes,built of permanent materials.
One of these developments has circular buildings in white masonry with thatched roofs like something out of africa.They have used bottles to create walls in places and the bar is built of beer cans cemented together like bricks.
As their landlord is a hun sen acoltye I assume that they are there to stay.
Once past the first fence there is an excavator,bulldozer and truck working to level the area behind the beach for 1.5 kilometers.
A large sign shows a grassed area with a walkway behind the beach,with gardens,more trees and gazebos.
There is another fence at the end of the works with a few surviving shacks and then the estuary.
This is a beautiful spot with some fisherman camping,several weatherboard buildings belonging to the army coastal defence unit and a broad estuary in which is moored a very nice barang yacht,speedboat and a new aluminium dory.
The city fathers of snooky have actually made a start on a nice public beach,probably eventually the only public beach.
Further back over the headland occateuls ambitious sokha golf course,hotel and unit development has stalled again after doing the concrete piling.
The lovely artists impression of the resort on a huge sign has fallen down,just like the project.
At the back of town the pearl city shophouse project with hundreds of shophouses is finished as are the shophouses on the old bus station site.
Apparently the chicken farm at the port survives but blue mountain is no more.
The immense russian bridge is still stalled,but their website shows lovely properties about to be built.
Their acronym is unfortunate though, KPIG.
No one knows anything about building on the other islands,has anything actually happened on the song sa islands?
Or is it another large pie in the sky.
When one considers the provision of fresh water,electricity,sewage disposal and rubbish disposal it would not be easy.
And how does one shop,a trip on a boat to the town once week?
Speaking of shops,the new lucky ocean supermarket on the old poco loco site is about to open.
planning to head down there next week sometime for a few days ... prolly wander down to otres beach for a bit and see what's changed ... curious about the afrio-cambodian beer-bottle gazebos ...
The Pearl City shopping centre should be opened in the next couple of months. Residential housing there is on sale now but shopping space hasn't been rented out yet, unless very recently. The new bus station will be adjacent to the shopping centre. There are plans for a 5 star resort hotel on the complex also. Access will be via a number of roads - from downtown past the Khmer Broneth resort, from Sokha and from the road off Ekareach to Independence Beach.
Occhateul is quite pleasant now except for the brats. Independence Beach furthest from the hotel is being developed. I hope it doesn't go like Occhateul and Otres.
M.L. Thanks for the report. I haven't been back to Snooky for 18 months, so its nice to get a run down on whats going on.
I have several friends in Business in Snooky but they are all saying business is very quiet.
Cheers.
Banker