Category: travel

is Cambodia safe?

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

With over 2 million tourists visiting Angkor Wat last year, it seems the era of Cambodia being “dangerous for tourists” is over.

But I was close to murderers myself in the capital Phnom Penh. (The average is 5 fatalities and 10 serious injuries in crime incidents each month in the city of 1 million.)

Mr Khim Sambor, a journalist for the Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper, and his son were tragically shot to death on the afternoon of 11 July 2008.

His paper is a Khmer language newspaper published in Cambodia with its headquarters in Phnom Penh. It is published by the Sam Rainsy party. The SRP is one of the main opponents to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). In fact, Sam Rainsy himself is an outspoken government critic.

Since the election is coming up the end of July, many suspect it an assassination to stifle opposition to the CPP.

I was teaching gymnastics at the Olympic Stadium the same day. We finished at 5PM. The shots came from motorbike-riding assailants at around 6:30 PM in the street outside the Stadium. Father and son had been exercising.

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photo – 2PM, July 11th, 2008

I’m not saying the CPP are responsible. But whoever is responsible is a supporter of the CPP, I would wager.

Sambor and his son are only the most recent of many opposition assassinations.

My condolences to the family.

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more photos – Mourning ceremony for Khim Sambo and Son

Related:

The assassination of Mr Khim Sambor is a political threat – Sam Rainsy Party statement

Cambodian journalist from opposition newspaper shot dead – AP

Sam Rainsy Party

dangers of Cambodia – Wikitravel

photos from Cambodia

On By Rick McIn photos, travelLeave a comment

Sunrise over the Mekong:

mekong.jpg

I was up very early every day due to Jetlag. Went to bed at 8PM most nights after a dusk walk along the river.

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The main impression visitors get of Phnom Penh is the zany, dangerous traffic.

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Only one day did we get out of town. The countryside is peaceful and gorgeous.

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Temple arch.

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more photos – flickr

gymnastics photos from Cambodia – flickr

rich and poor in Phnom Penh

On By Rick McIn economics, travelLeave a comment

My hotel in the Cambodian capital is EXCELLENT. (Even the U.N. election watchdogs here right now deem it worthy.)

A frequent sponsor of the Cambodian Olympic Committee, they are probably only charging a cut rate $140 $86 / night. Or something like that.

Across the street is the OKAY Guesthouse. The sweaty backpacker crowd are paying $1 / night for dorm bed with mosquito net and fan. $4 / night for a private room. $6 / night for private room with bath and T.V.

A can of Diet Coke is $4 at my hotel.

When I told my host that 10yrs-ago I stayed at the infamous Cloud 9 Guesthouse, he was mortified. “There’s no security there!”

No security. But much more FUN.

A truism so overwhelming as to be boring is the contrast between rich and poor in developing countries.

This guy and his family own a garbage cart.

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The conspicuous rich (and how many could have actually earned these fortunes) MUST drive Toyota Land Cruisers or Lexus SUVs. It’s the #1 status symbol. And just to be sure you cannot miss seeing their status symbol, the companies now put the name in really big letters.

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How embarrassing.

… HEY. Where’s my personal driver and Mercedes van? He’s LATE!

what’s hot in Cambodia

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

The weather, of course. Though it’s not nearly as oppressive as I feared. Especially inside my air conditioned hotel and lecture room.

Most of the talk on the street is about high FUEL and FOOD costs. If you think you have it bad, consider the borderline existence of people in the developing world.

The good news is the recent announcement that a temple called Prasat Preah Vihear is now a protected World Heritage Site. Long term, tourism is the best economic base for this tortured nation. Cheap manufacturing has not taken off here as yet.

Thailand wanted to co-sponsor the nomination of this temple as it is close to the border. Cambodia refused, seeking to remind their friends that the attraction is in Cambodia.

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PreahVihear.com

greetings from Phnom Penh

On By Rick McIn gymnastics, travelLeave a comment

I’ve often wondered who is occupying those 5 Star hotel rooms in developing countries.

Are they all doing business and holiday? Or are many some sort of “volunteer”, their tab being covered by some NGO or governmental budget?

This time, it’s me.

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The Hotel Cambodiana is drenched at the moment. This is the really rainy season in Cambodia.

I had some drama getting here after arriving for my flight a day late. (Sunday at 2AM does not mean Monday at 2AM.) Happily United Airlines was very helpful. And charged only a $75 ticket change fee.

Next Cathay Pacific bent over backwards to help, putting me on the “standby” list for free. Though I was #24 on the standby list for Vancouver to Hong Kong, by persistence I ended up snagging the very last seat belt. (Called the “Jump Seat”.)

Whew!

Despite communication problems in advance of the course, all was well once I finally got here. I had more than 20 keen gymnastics coaches from across the country at my introductory session this afternoon. It’s very well organized.

finally – an answer from Air Canada

On By Rick McIn product complaints, product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

After weeks and months of stalling, I got a reply. And it’s not a form letter. And it’s quite reasonable.

Thanks Bev. I appreciate this:

Unfortunately we cannot reconstruct the circumstances to determine the exact reasons why your bag was delayed. We have reviewed the file for your travel and it appears that your bag was delayed on arrival in Vancouver and therefore was not cleared through Customs. Delayed bags are sent to Customs for clearance when they do arrive and then subsequently given to the airline for return to the passenger.

Once the bag was given to us to forward, you moved to different temporary addresses and our staff did their best to reunite you with your bag. At one point the record shows that they contacted three Sheraton Hotels in Chicago to try to locate you but were unsuccessful. The bag was then sent to Calgary to await your return there.

For your future information, Mr. McCharles, our Central Baggage Office (CBO) staff are responsible for relaying information to our passengers. They do not search for and forward bags once they are located. This is the function of our airport employees who update the electronic file whenever they have information so that the CBO staff may pass it along. We appreciate your comments about the staff there as they are indeed very pleasant and hard-working people.

By way of explanation, most airlines us the same “world tracer” system to locate delayed bags. We share information in an attempt to find bags that may have been incorrectly forwarded to the wrong airport. The airline industry as a whole does not have systems that resemble those used by courier companies and the current technology does not allow bags to be tracked in the same way that a parcel may be tracked. Every airport is run by different airport authorities and therefore systems vary from airport to airport and do not communicate with each other, nor do they share a common database. Most airlines, therefore, have similar processes for locating and forwarding delayed luggage.

We must advise that there is no indication on the file that there was anything reported missing or damaged after the bag was returned to you.

We are very sorry, Mr. McCharles, for the inconvenience that you experienced as a result of this delay as it is our goal to have our passengers and their bags travel together. We regret that this did not occur on this occasion and trust that you will understand that we did our best to get the bag to you once it was located.

Sincerely,

Bev Johnston

Customer Service Manager

I wonder if Bev is one the 2000 employees given the pink slip by Air Canada Tuesday.

Don’t expect service to improve at Air Canada. Fly WestJet. Instead of cutting flights, WJ projects a 16.6 per cent increase in capacity in 2008 followed by an 8.5 per cent increase in capacity in 2009.

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Air Canada’s loss could be WestJet’s gain

off to Cambodia July 7-17th

On By Rick McIn gymnastics, travelLeave a comment

Just picked up my ticket.

I am being sent as a volunteer to lead a gymnastics coaching course in Phnom Penh July 7th – 17th.

This after being named an “expert” by the International Gymnastics Federation who coordinates my trip. The program is called Olympic Solidarity — with funding coming originally from IOC television revenue.

I’ve done similar volunteer assignments in Trinidad, Sri Lanka and Australia for other organizations.

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Cambodia – Wikipedia

I loved Cambodia the only other time I was there. (1998)

I could stay longer (as usual). But Asia is HOT in July. Will return home via Vancouver.