Does China Ruin This Cambodian Paradise? (Sihanoukville, Cambodia)
I am in Sihanoukville Cambodia a city transformed by Chinese investments into one big construction site with casinos and hotels Rising everywhere with over 500 ghost buildings abandoned projects and the reputation as a lawless playground for Chinese gangsters this place has become infamous for human trafficking and money laundering I am here to see what it's really like to visit Sihanoukville and the nearby Paradise Island Koh Rong as a tourist are these Chinese Investments making Sihanoukville and the island a better place or is it as dangerous as the headlines suggest is it safe to explore here with the camera or will I be stepping into something dangerous let's find out feel free to join so I am right in the city center at the moment and just from here I can see 1 2 3 four five empty buildings that look like they are either half finished or actually will never be finished so I think it's going to be quite interesting to explore around the city now and what I can also see from here is every single building around me has Chinese characters on it so it feels a bit like I am in China and not really in Cambodia and this right here is the first Casino already you can see on top of there it's called Atlantic entertainment City casino and right over there is another casino with the golden stripes on the side and yeah look at this just a huge half finished abandoned building right here and in total there are about 500 of these ghost Towers spread all around the city and that gives a bad and weird VIP to the city I have to say if almost like every third building or so is left abandoned and half finished that gives the whole city a very strange feeling I have to say and yeah the reason why there are so many abandoned buildings here or half finished buildings uh there are actually two reasons for it because a few years ago the Cambodian Government tried to crack down all the illegal things that are happening here and that led to many Chinese investors pulling out and then also covid happened which also led to even more investors pulling out and it seems like many of these investors never return and that's why we have so many unfinished buildings here in the city like this one right here and right here is another casino the Jin Bay Casino which I think is one of the biggest casinos here in the city and also the hotel where I'm staying is it's half Hotel Half Casino so as soon as you enter the lobby there are like advertisement everything in Chinese for for gambling for winning money something like that good afternoon but I have to say the people here in Cambodia are really friendly my first impressions here I arrived here yesterday afternoon are really great but it's actually quite hot today so walking around here is maybe not the best idea and I want to go to a beach there the beach uh on the other side of the city so I would say it's probably a good idea if we maybe find the Tuk Tuk and then go to the beach and on the way we can get some more impressions of the city hello can I get a right here okay I would like to go to Hawaii beach H Hawaii beach Hawaii beach yeah and how much in dollar huh dollar $3 uh three $3 one 2 three $3 okay okay byebye all right byebye guys $4 tget $4 oh now the price goes up okay uh $4 is okay okay I will give you $4 okay by yeah you maybe notice that uh here in Cambodia you can also pay with US dollar also when you go to the ATM you can choose if you want to withdraw the local currency or you can also withdraw US dollar and US dollar is accepted basically everywhere here you know Hawaii beach Hai Beach yeah you know okay okay thank you very much this ride is actually a lifesaver it's I guess like 35° here so walking around with a black T-shirt was not the best idea and yeah let's get some first impressions of the city so this is the casino we already saw actually the building looks quite cool I have to say it's called Temple oh there's some fancy cars standing right in front of it did you see that and then we also have lots of street food here quite similar to tiand for example where you can also find street food everywhere that's also the case here in Cambodia oh the door oh is this a little boy driving this vehicle did you see that that boy looked like 10 years [Music] old yeah some things you see in Southeast Asia quite unusual from a rester perspective and here another casino it's literally Casino after casino here and you will notice uh throughout the whole day here probably that almost every building has Chinese characters written on it so you can clearly see who is the Target customer group uh of tourists here and here's another empty building by the way that actually looks quite huge probably was supposed to be a very big hotel which was never completed I have to say the door here is always open the door always open and now it's closed I think okay and here on this side we actually have some construction sites that still look like something is happening here so not every construction site is left abandoned here in the city they are still building right now as well as you can see here so actually I see workers on there Chinese s everywhere Chinese characters China construction Midland standing on the Fortune 500 maybe if you're from China you know this company I don't but once again this city is so interesting to explore because it feels almost like a country inside a country I have been to a similar Place recently in La maybe you saw that video from there and here we have the ocean front some palm trees some coconut trees vendors selling their food and drinks right here and here we're actually passing by my hotel this is my hotel right here which is also a casino the one Majestic hotel and casino and to be honest I am the only guest in there that is not Chinese yesterday I was sitting there at the dinner in the restaurant and every other tourist around me was Chinese I was the only non-chinese person there except from the the staff Inside the Hotel the staff is usually local but all the guests all from China and here once again another building left abandoned okay we are actually near the beach where I want to go but I have the feeling that this beach is not really worth visiting because every building around here is abandoned yeah according to a Google Maps it's here okay actually you know what we were driving by a place that looked pretty nice and busy earlier and that was called Independence Beach yeah this is apparently the entrance to the to the beach but uh I don't think this is a beach where I want to go to yeah have a look at this this place has seen better days um I think we can turn around I want to go Independence Beach I think here not good oh no no uh uh this one Independence speech okay of course I'm going to pay a bit more now because the right gets longer because we're basically driving back a few hundred met from where we came from yeah here here's good yes that looks like a good place here okay okay thank you so much thank you very much let's see I hope he can change a $20 bill because that's the smallest one I have you can change $20 no oh fu I only have $20 you can change if not maybe we go ask for change by the way he just said that he would like to have $5 for the ride so $1 extra for the the turn around and driving 2 minutes back okay looks like she can change oh actually there are some dark looking clouds over there I hope it won't rain soon how much is this gets a bit more difficult when you have to uh think in your head with two different uh currencies wait I just want to check how much is $20 $20 is 82,000 okay and you get $55 $5 [Music] is 20,000 right so this okay okay 20,000 yeah okay have a good day bye bye thank you thank you it gets a bit complicated when you have to deal with two different currencies and always have to think in your head how much is $20 and then he gets $5 and then convert it into the local currency actually it's good now I have a larger amount of a local currency because yeah if you go like to the restaurants or in my hotel the bigger shops you can always pay with US dollar and you get change with US dollar but some of like the the street vendors or the Tuk to drivers they sometimes struggle to have change in US dollar and let's have a look at the beach here okay there's something that I don't want to judge too early and I don't want to point my camera there but um there's an Very Old Man a Reston guy in the water with a young Cambodian boy now yeah I don't want to uh speak out my thoughts now but uh this area of the world is notoriously known for things like this going on you know so I'm having an eye on the situation now because that looks a bit sketchy I don't want to point my camera there now because maybe this is something uh legit going on there maybe that's his granddad or something also like he's uh he's having his hands on the pants of the boy it looks like he wants to close the pants to be honest yeah I know that uh some places in this part of the world un known for that but this is actually the first time that I see something like that with my own eyes and oh it's difficult to see that to be honest it's an old man he's like 60 70 years old western now and the boy looks like he's maybe maximum 10 years old and he looks like a local boy Tri okay let's enjoy the water for a second here before I we have an eye again on the situation over there but the water here is actually quite nice and I have to say right over there in front of SE nuk about half an hour away by boat there is one of the most beautiful islands I have ever been to in my life I have been to this place before in 2019 5 years ago I was in sanville back then for a one night layover before before I took the ferry to the island to be honest my Impressions back then of sanville were very very bad it was a city very dirty back then and also already in 2019 I could see like half of the buildings were left abandoned and empty so my Impressions back then of sanville where not the best but then I took the ferry to the island and yeah the island that is over there which is called korong one of the best Islands I've ever been to and actually tomorrow I'm going back to the island which will be later in this video because I heard that also the island is affected by Chinese Investments apparently many things have changed on the islands hotels Resorts being built there we're going to investigate that on the island later in this video but this is already quite a nice place here we have a beach here and then we have the huge skyscraper buildings in the background some of them are abandoned and empty ghost buildings okay update about the situation with the with the guy and the boy um they're just playing in the water now so could be a normal legit situation I don't want to judge too early and that's also why I don't want to point the camera there because maybe this is something legit going on and he's his granddad and I don't want to like say something wrong you know but uh yeah the first interaction between them when he was like having his hands on the pants of the boy looked a bit weird to be honest and I'm still having a bit of an eye on the situation but at the moment everything looks all right so uh let's continue walking to the area over there which looks quite busy maybe I can grab a drink or a snack as well by the way this seems to be a local place here I don't see a tourists here I guess that the people here are all locals so yeah this city also has some local sites not everywhere it's uh Chinese tours and Chinese Resorts and casinos some areas are also still in in local hands oh W this is lovely like a proper beach front here some seating areas here away from the Sun hell good afternoon maybe later maybe later okay thank you uh no it's like this is fine okay I think he was asking if I need ice cubes uh because I think uh num cake is uh what you call ice cubes In tha and he said something similar and I think the Cambodian language is similar to the Thai language anyway I don't need ice cubes for my beer here we go by the way I didn't choose a local beer I choose a tiger tiger Crystal which I think is a beer from Singapore actually cheers guys I decided to take a little break here because it is indeed starting to rain now I can already feel some sprinkles on my head so I think a quick pit stop here might be good let's hope it's only going to be a quick shower and then we can hopefully continue and yeah my arrival here in Cambodia yesterday was actually quite stress free and one reason why it was so stressfree was that I didn't have to care about getting a local SIM card you probably notice when you arrive in a new country the first thing you want to do is get connected to the internet so you need to find the shop to get the local SIM cards and that can be quite annoying and stressful especially when you just had a long flight and you just want to get to your hotel as soon as possible and yeah the reason why I don't need to get local SIM cards anymore is because I started to use eims and an eim is basically a digital SIM card that you can install to your phone even before you start the journey so yesterday morning before my flight to Cambodia I actually downloaded the Cambodian eim installed everything and then I was able to connect to the internet right after I landed here and I am getting my eims on an app called Nomad it works super easy they have over 100 different countries available just choose the country choose a data plan and then the app tells you step by step how to install everything you can literally get it done in like 2 minutes and if you would like to check out Nomad eims as well just click the link in the description on the pin comment and if you enter the promo code that you can see on the screen right now you will get 25% off your first purchase so if you would like to check out Nomad eims as well just click the link down below and make sure that your phone actually does support eims but most phones nowadays do okay thank you very much okay thank you on his people here I thought I gave him 5,000 actually it was 50,000 and he told me that we could have just uh walked away with my 50,000 and I wouldn't have noticed so uh honest people here that's a good impression and yeah luckily uh the rain disappeared already it was only a very short and small shower okay I want to go back to a different part of the town and I actually just called the Tuk Tok via the grab app because here in Cambodia you can get not only taxis like regular cars on the grab app we can also get a Tuk Tok on the grab app let's see if that works should be maybe the guy over there already you're my grab right grab grab yeah okay and what I also noticed is uh the prices on grab are way lower compared to the prices I paid earlier when I paid cash so now I'm going back to a similar area where we started earlier and I'm paying uh I think uh $150 now okay byebye byebye all right here we are oh by the way nice car oh Mercedes-Benz hello hello Hello nice to meet you oh this is a nice place here right by the ocean it's actually near my hotel my hotel is uh the building behind this one and I explored around here yesterday afternoon already when I arrived here we also have quite a nice looking Beach here you have uh street food places all around Street vendors you can get snaks here and you can sit at the these small plastic chairs here and here you can see it especially that there are still a lot of buildings being built at the moment because around here you can see all these uh how do you call it in English a crane I don't know the English word for these things but these high things so these are all active construction sites around here so not every place in the city is left abandoned and uh not being finished still there is a lot of construction going on in the city so I would guess in I don't know maybe two three years the city will look very different compared to what it's looking now so I would say I have mixed First Impressions here so far on the one side you have really like all these abandoned buildings half of the city looks like a construction site but then on the other side you also have beautiful places like the beach we' just been to the beach right here actually also looks really nice areas like this here but yeah now I'm really curious to check out the island like I said already one of my favorite Islands I've ever been to so I'm really curious to see how things are looking over there all right it is the next day and it is raining I would say the perfect weather to go to a beautiful Tropical Paradise looking like Island so I booked my tickets already online I just need to uh pick it up I think it's this company here which video did you see on Tik Tok um I've been watching a lot but the last one that you lose your pant on Thailand oh my pant in Thailand oh she saw me on Tik Tok a very viral video with my pants in Bank oh yeah see your on ticket sure here's my ticket will the fairy go despite the weather sorry uh it's raining so but the ferry will still go yeah yeah it's still going okay yeah I was a bit worried earlier when I saw the the weather conditions we got two different Stu in Kon do you know your hotel name you stay on the island uh golden golden Ben Golden Beach I think Golden Beach but they will pick me up at the main Pier the long set Pier okay okay okay will be on time uh if R will be a bit delayed a bit delayed okay thank you okay thank you have a good day hello all right that was easy actually so uh she said Pier number six I think yeah so I'm not really in a bad mood despite the weather because I know the weather is something that I can't change so I don't want to waste my energy complaining about something I cannot change and yeah I will be staying on the island for a few days so I'm not worried that one of these days at least will be a sunshine and better weather condition than this one and yeah a fairy white should be about 1 hour I think M you oh yeah thank you okay okay sometimes I do get motion sickness on uh buses or Ferry or boat rid so I think it's smart for me if I sit in the front and not in the back cuz yeah the boat is a bit small and usually the smaller boats they are a bit more rough okay and about an hour later and we have arrived on Kong Island and as you can see the weather also got better no more rain hello and yeah now I'm trying to find somebody from my hotel because they said they're going to pick me up here and then my hotel is actually on the other side of the island so it should be about I don't know 15 20 minutes on whatever vehicle we're going to use but W we're getting welcomed here with a nice Beach already yeah this is exactly how I remember the island although my first impression here riding by with the boat is that it's more busy than it was uh 5 years ago like more buildings more hotels but let's see hello my friendi hello taxi I have a taxi already my hotel which hotel Golden Beach Resort okay Lely I didn't see the guy here you don't see the guy here yeah the guy with the the driver he nor here but today he's not here are you one but they they told me they're going to pick me up here now yeah yeah how many people you have just one take a Mot mot I don't know I'm waiting for my mot yeah I know but uh maybe okay you can wait but if they don't come I take you by mot what's your price uh to go there uh 30,000 what's that in dollar in dollar uh $750 $750 more expensive than the hotel really the hotel only charge $5 oh because $5 each the hotel $5 each yeah because they have many guest many guest yeah okay let me see if I can find the guy hey I I you see the the the truck with the logo okay oh they have like a like a Tok Tok with the logo yeah oh and the truck okay I didn't see him now you are here yeah right yeah your hotel down here somewhere somewhere down here yeah yeah you go around here oh I remember in 2019 there was no roach here oh now now all concrete road oh really yes oh that's nice because all all the red line is concrete road I remember last time I I stayed here but I had to take a boat to get to this part of Island now I can just take the road oh I can see already a lot of things are changed here because yeah in 19 there were no roads to drive around the island and looks like that has changed this my what car motorcycle Bo for R taxi and tours okay maybe yeah normally the car here but he's not coming here okay let me see let me uh maybe I will text my hotel but you say at the moment more Western tourists here yes more Western yeah I noticed that already that my first impression here is in S I was the only Western tourist around but here many many Western tourists around 80% of the people on my boat where are Western tourists so no many not many Chinese people here more Western tourists so very different compared to cuk also last time in 2019 no Tuk TS on the island everything changed here yes I have the impression already after being here for 5 minutes so I'm really curious now to explore the rest of the island and when did all the hotels be got built like because in 2019 all this many big hotels not here no so when did they get built just bu uh during uh during uh Co after yeah my hotel just texted me that the driver is almost here I should wait at paa Vita Restaurant oh now I feel sorry for you no it's okay it's okay but I booked it already with the hotel yeah yeah but I keep your card maybe if I need a guide or motorcycle yeah I will contact you you can contact me yeah okay okay what's your name Hong okay nice to meet you Hong oh he was a nice guy spook decent English he gave me plenty of information now which probably not all of this is going to be in the video but good guy and now I actually feel bad that I'm taking the hotels right and not uh driving with him but yeah I booked the their transportation already with the hotel and yeah they just wrote me that the driver is almost here and I should just right here so let's do that and yeah the hotel also just texted me actually that they are very sorry that the driver is late and that they won't charge me for the ride because of the driver being late Gooden be Gooden be Resort yeah got yeah yeah you go with him okay okay thank you so much let's make it to the hotel I'm actually really looking forward to the hotel cuz it should be a very nice Beach Resort so uh Curious to check it out oh we're getting on a pickup truck here okay I'm pretty sure that in 2019 there were also no cars on the island no cars no proper roads so I can already see some changes here okay wow the first impression here have a look at the beach this is a nice welcome right right sand beach Blue Water coconut trees all right now I'm very excited to be here okay and I checked into my room and this is what $100 a night gets you here on Kong Island in Cambodia and actually I think I got upgraded because I think when I booked the room it didn't say a ocean or beach view but I do have the beach right in front of my little house here so that is great actually so we have a big double bed right here a little area here with a mini bar as well inside and then the bathroom looks like this I think this is a very new hotel everything looks very new and modern and then yeah we have the the pool area right here and then over there is also the breakfast area breakfast is included by the way and now let's have a quick look to my view from here and then we will start to explore the island yeah this is a beautiful can sit right here and enjoy the view to the ocean all right it is actually 2 days later now because the past 48 Hours it was nonstop raining very heavily raining so I couldn't really do anything but today the weather is much better although it still rained a lot in the morning but at least for now it should be okay so hopefully for at least the next one or two hours we do have good weather to explore around so I already talked to some people and I have some interesting places in mind now including uh an airport that is being built here by the Chinese that might be the place we're going to check out first and yeah I just uh got this motorbike here from the hotel actually I asked the guy that we met on the pier uh if he can rent a scooter to me but he said that my hotel is too far away uh to bring it to me so I got this one from the hotel instead $15 for a day so let's see what this island has to offer and I think we have the first big construction site already here this might be already the airport let me park here and then we have a look because yeah at the moment um in order to reach the island you have to fly to sanville and then take the boat same what I did but of course it's more convenient if you can actually just fly straight to the island and that's why there's an airport being built here and I think that's the construction site here so this is a map of the full island and my hotel uh so first of all we arrived um about here and then my hotel is right here and looks like this is the place where the airport is being built and that is actually right here so this is currently looking like a big empty space I'm not sure how long it takes to build an airport maybe a year maybe a year and a half something like that but this is the area where the new airport built by the Chinese will be right here and it's going to be an international airport so that then all the tourists especially the Chinese tourists can fly straight to the island and yeah I already talked to some uh people and the overall tone is that most people here on the island do not like this project so the locals don't really like it that there's a huge construction site here a big airport being built but doesn't airport like this makes the island better or worse I think there are Arguments for both sides right of course then more tourists can come to the island that can be good for the local businesses on the other side an airport like this also destroys the nature maybe some people also don't like it that more tourists will come here leading to an island that will maybe be overcrowded with tourists one day so I can understand Arguments for both sides and yeah I think what we are going to do now is uh following the road on that side and going into the northern part of the island that is actually a part of the island I have never been to before when I was here in 2019 I stayed in the main village which is right here and yeah in 2019 there were no roads to go around the island so I've never been to this part of the island so uh let's investigate the rest of the island and see if we can find some more big construction sites and projects that are being finished here and I'm sure we're also going to see some very beautiful uh places throughout the journey today okay how do I start this bike this is once again one of these motorbikes where you don't need to put in the key so something new but how I'm too old school I I prefer the bikes where I just put in the key I turn the key and then the motorbike starts maybe I'm too old for this new bikes here we have another sign construction site is that meaning I think and there's a name of a company called royal group and then something written under underneath in Chinese so that is probably the name of the company that is responsible for all the the construction sites here on the island Royal group if you're from China let me know if you know this company I to be honest have never heard of this company before but maybe it is a famous Construction Company from China I'm actually quite thirsty and I think there's a little shop here selling some drinks let's see if we can make a little stop here at a little local place hello you have drinks here coconut all let's see I think I see a sign that says coconut coconut and gasoline that's what I see on the sign let's have a look hello good afternoon hello you have something to drink here uh yeah we have a s drink we have coconut no coconut finish coconut finish already we have uh have oh we have beer here yeah uh no beer now it's too too hot for beer if I drink a beer now I will be very drunk in the sun uh we have the coconut H Coca-Cola Coca-Cola yep we have Coca-Cola do you have Sprite oh I see Fanta Fanta oh yeah I get one Fanta please yeah how much uh 3,000 3,000 can I sit here yeah okay perfect no problem thank you so much uh may you can have over here is uh hot it's okay then it's okay but hot I'm only going to stay for a few minutes just want to drink this is hot are you worried about the sun H you need the sun okay do you have a straw yeah you have a straw oh yeah we have yeah and get a straw okay thank you so much camera that's a camera yeah yeah but I make a video about Kong right it's a small small camera from China DJ it's beautiful here you live here y yeah um live here um I will be back tomorrow for couple a couple weeks okay nice to meet you thank you so much thank you very have a good day yeah hi a good journey to penom pen y okay thank you bye-bye thank you all right I have a lot to uh talk to you now but let me get on the road first I actually spent almost half an hour here now talking with the gentle man it was really nice because uh he spoke very good English so I was able to get a lot of information about the whole situation here on the island difficult now to summarize almost half an hour of conversation but he basically told me that a lot of foreign investors are here on the island not only the chines he actually said most of the foreign investors here are from their Western countries like the Netherlands Poland Germany France and he said of course because of all the foreign investors the prices go up so it gets more and more expensive for the local here which is definitely a point that I can understand and it was also interesting what he said about the airport that we saw earlier he said that he thinks that the airport will never actually be built because he said the construction site is looking like this for more than 5 years already and yeah initially he said they plan to spend more than $300 million just on the airport but uh yeah it's there's nothing happening actually for more than 5 years already so lots of important insights he was a very nice gentleman and he recommended two more places that we can check out now including one of the most beautiful beaches he said on the island Lely local area here by the way I see so many friendly faces people smiling very nice atmosphere typical Southeast Asian Vibes whenever you're driving around local places like this anywhere in Southeast Asia that's my experience at least you get welcomed with shuts of friendly Hospitality friendly Vibes I always enjoy that but you're also here looks like a construction site right but yeah he actually confirmed that in sanville it's only Chinese investors Chinese tourists Chinese investors and here on the island it's very different more Western Investments compared to Chinese Investments yeah actually a lot more big signs Royal group again which yeah I'm guessing is a Chinese uh Investment Group or Construction company I can continue driving here hello oh and chickens running around here okay all right yeah the road gets a bit muddy here that's also what the guy told me that the the road actually will get difficult to to drive on some shops here that a beautiful area here I have to say I always enjoy riding through local Villages anywhere in soue Asia it's always interesting what are you selling here what is this can I buy something yeah all right let's buy a little snake from this gentleman here I think it's some uh some pastries some bread ah ah you have a Donuts here some bread ah how much is uh this one yeah one let's get a little snack from the gentleman here with his mobile bakery shop very interesting oh oh yeah oh he has lots of delicious things even some cakes down here uh is this with a coconut coconut okay yeah okay can I get this one this is a coconut chicken chicken chicken yeah oh we have chicken in there that was unexpected okay how much $1 $1 yeah okay I don't think I have $1 how much in the wheel you have I canay in wheel 4,000 okay 4,000 4,000 is roughly $1 4,000 okay okay okay thank you so much okay have a good day byebye oh I love that little mobile Bakery here by driving around the village selling his uh products and now actually let me give it as a try as well I'm not very hungry I'm just curious to uh to try it h actually we can uh sit here right overlooking the water I'm not sure what is on top of here it's very oily almost like like honey maybe interesting it's very sweet I think it's a sugar like a sugar glaze but he said a chicken right don't see any chicken so far but okay it's more like a more like a sweet snake instead of a Savory chicken snake but uh I like it okay I'm at a place now that the gentleman from earlier recommended uh one of the most beautiful beaches he said can park the motorbikes here and then we have to walk down to the beach and it's called Palm Beach by the way you're currently watching the fourth episode of my Series where we are visiting places around southeast Asia that have something to do with China where you can see Chinese influences and yeah if you haven't seen the previous three episodes then feel free to check them out as well every episode is in another country hello what are you trying to get yeah you want to get coconuts noon no yeah ah what is she trying to get from there ah something is hanging there but I'm not sure what it is oh but interesting technique here with the long stick and then there's a hook attached to the top of the stick oh wow oh what is this oh uh what is this right here you can eat this mama eat Mama eat yeah oh food can eat yeah I'm not sure what this is if you have an idea let me know in the comments but it's a growing on the tree here okay good luck oh but I have to say uh check out the location here how beautiful it is we have these little Bungalows here and I see many Western tourists here that is very interesting like in see I was the only Western tourist around and then here on the island it's only Western tourist I haven't seen a Chinese tourist here yet so just one boat right AR cuk is over there you can see it in the background just one boat right AR and it is a very different uh place like a very different uh customer group here groups of tourists here and over there that is one of the most expensive Resorts uh the guy actually from earlier he told me that one night in the resort over there is $7,000 US that sounds incredible it's like luxury Bungalows on this little island there but yeah you can find little quiet beaches like this all around the island so even if you're not staying in the main village or in one of the big Resorts that have a private beach just drive around the island and you can find hidden beaches like this that are not very crowded with people that are beautiful can get a chair over there probably other drinks over there and then just enjoy a relaxing day by the beach but wow this looks incredible here I like views like this the sun is shining through all these are coconut trees here yeah big construction trucks driving around as well sometimes but I wanted to show you this right here because yeah this is the sad thing that you see the nature is being destroyed probably this is going to be a construction site as well uh you can see these trees are already dead and yeah once again I can understand arguments from both sides some people would say oh this is good they are building a new hotels new infrastructure here that will attract more more tourists which is good for the locals for the local businesses but then we already learned earlier today that actually most of the businesses here are in foreign hands because it's getting too expensive for the locals to yeah rent property here to buy property here so most of the land is already in the hands of the foreigners so is this really benefiting the locals here then and yeah of course the other side of the arguments is that this is of course destroying the beautiful nature here and here again another big Chinese project so we have once again the sign of the royal group here together with many many signs advertising something or explaining something and there's another big construction site here so I'm not sure what they are building here maybe another hotel another Resort hello people are always smiling I like the people here in Cambodia but yeah you can find places like this a lot on the island actually so you definitely see it here as well but I also have to say not as much far away from as much as in Sanuk where it's literally like every few hundred M there's a construction site or an abandoned half finished building it's not that much here on the island but still you can see a lot of projects also happening here there's a place here that I wanted to see because it has a uh a personal story attached uh which I will share with you in a minute beautiful right sand here unfortunately some trash lying around there but uh the sand quality here oh also here plastic bottles on the beach but the water quality as well as the sand quality here is amazing actually and yeah this is actually a cool place for me to be because I remember 5 years ago I visited this island together with uh two friends from Germany and I also actually filmed a video back then uh in 2019 I just started my YouTube channel and uh I will put some clips of this video on the screen right now for you it was one of my first videos that back then I had around 50 subscribers mostly my friends and family and my videos were getting maybe 8090 100 views maybe and that was at the start of my YouTube Journey back then in 2019 and I remember I took a boat with my friends from the main village which is around the corner and then the boat dropped us right here at the beach because we wanted to spend the afternoon at the beach here and then the funny story is uh we agreed with the boat that they will pick us up again here at sunset time but uh we did the mistake we paid the full price in advance but then guess what happened the boat never showed up to pick us up and yeah back then there were no roads here so the only way to get back to the main village was via boat taxi and then we got stranded here on the beach and then luckily there was a party boat driving by you know one of these boats uh where you can hop on you cruise around you have a lot of beers on the the boat and this party boat actually uh came to rescue us they allowed us on their boat and basically yeah rescued us from this beach here funny memory this is the final episode of my Series where we traveled all around southeast Asia visiting different places that have something to do with China and yeah my next videos will be regular travel videos again but I do have some interesting places on my list to visit for the rest of the year so feel free to subscribe to the channel if you haven't yet to follow the journey and yeah what are my final thoughts now I think there are two sides to the story first of all let's talk about C nuk in that City you can really see a lot of Chinese influences every second building has Chinese characters on it every second building is a construction site many buildings are left abandoned and in my opinion the city doesn't really look appealing because of all these construction sites and abandoned buildings and I also think that probably many locals don't really like it that their city is turning into a Chinese City but then I would also understand if people argue hey this brings tourists to the city and then ultimately the locals will benefit from the money that is coming into the city but in my opinion the city as it is right now is not really that appealing it doesn't really look nice there but maybe this will change in a few years and then regarding this beautiful Island right here kurong I think here things have changed for the better when I was here in 2019 there was no proper infrastructure you couldn't drive around with a motorcycle and now you can do you have proper infrastructure here there are more hotels here to choose from back in 2019 there also were not many great choices of hotels here there are more things to do here now so I think here on the island things have change for the better but also once again I would understand people that say oh all these Investments are destroying the nature here and the money only goes into the pocket of foreign investors the locals are not really benefiting from it so there are two sides of the story here in kurong as well in Sanuk will and yeah I would be very curious to hear your thoughts about all of this let me know in the comments what you think about this maybe you also have some arguments that I haven't thought of and if you haven't seen the previous video of this series where we visited a Chinese village in the mountains in Northern Thailand then feel free to check out the video right here stay healthy stay positive and then see you on the next episode ciao guys
2024-09-02 02:37
