Vietnam veterans make good life for themselves in Cambodia

[geovalin]

By Matthew M. Burke

Stars and Stripes

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The scent of burning marijuana mixes with the pungent odors from food push carts and garbage piles.

Scantily clad women lure tourists to bars that offer ice-cold beer to stave off the steamy heat.

Cambodia has come a long way since the brutal Khmer Rouge massacred more than 1 million people in the infamous “killing fields” in the 1970s. Yet it also remains a nation rooted in the past, a land of friendly locals and immense cultural beauty with darkness and debauchery lurking beneath the surface.

Phnom Penh, its capital, is a place where the business of survival never sleeps — panhandlers carrying babies meander in a seemingly endless parade, motorized rickshaw drivers offer cheap rides at all hours, fast-talking children peddle homemade wares, and nearly every price is dirt cheap — and negotiable.

In many ways, it’s frozen in time, reminiscent of Saigon at the height of the Vietnam War.

For a handful of American Vietnam veterans who left a little piece of themselves behind during the ferocious jungle war and say they were vilified when they went back to the states, Phnom Penh has become home.

“The war was the worst thing that ever happened to me,” Andy Richards, 65, said as he sat in a bar booth, swirling wine in a glass. “I’ve had three open-heart surgeries.”

Richards, a bar manager with a handlebar mustache and sunbaked skin, generally attributes his heart problems to the war. He is warm, friendly and easygoing.

“I like Cambodia,” said Richards, who arrived in 2002. “I like the lack of rules. There’s more personal freedoms here than anywhere else. It’s inexpensive. The people are very nice.”

The Madison, Wis., native joined the Army in 1968 at 18 because he expected to be drafted. He spent a short time in the storied 82nd Airborne Division but disliked it because it was “too spit-shined.” He transferred to the 101st Airborne and headed for Vietnam’s jungles.

Full story: http://www.stripes.com/news/vietnam-veterans-make-good-life-for-themselves-in-cambodia-1.385191

[jippytum]

I have met a good few long stay ex pats in Cambodia and many are in ill health .Apart from cheap ciggies and beer there is nothing to recommend the location over Vietnam or Thailand.

[TimmyT]

US vets are lucky that modern Khmers don't have enough knowledge to realize who were those people who threw more bombs on poor little Cambodia than the whole Europe got during the WWII. who contaminated the soil with AGENT-ORANGE for hundreds of years. who lead Lon Nol to power (whose corrupt regime made it possible for Pol Pot to win) and who supported Pol Pot even after his regime was toppled in Phnom Penh.

otherwise US Veterans with blood-stained hands would feel not so happy in Cambodia...

[Dumbastheycome]

But be a little sympathetic about the agent orange. The ill health is probably indicative of their own poisoning. And were never informed of the consequences. It is the "back room" boys who should be held accountable for that slow genocide!

[thailanddogerator]

They are lucky not to know Thailand...

[Tony125]

I have met a good few long stay ex pats in Cambodia and many are in ill health .Apart from cheap ciggies and beer there is nothing to recommend the location over Vietnam or Thailand.

Guess you haven't been up there lately to see the changes, check out this article ------ http://news.yahoo.com/ghost-city-boomtown-phnom-penh-soars-high-054223015.html

[ggt]

US vets are lucky that modern Khmers don't have enough knowledge to realize who were those people who threw more bombs on poor little Cambodia than the whole Europe got during the WWII. who contaminated the soil with AGENT-ORANGE for hundreds of years. who lead Lon Nol to power (whose corrupt regime made it possible for Pol Pot to win) and who supported Pol Pot even after his regime was toppled in Phnom Penh.

otherwise US Veterans with blood-stained hands would feel not so happy in Cambodia...

VN Vets were mere pawns being used up during the war...they made no decisions concerning the atrocities you site...the US leadership at the time...that is another story...

Surprisingly, especially in Vietnam...American ex-pats are welcomed and treated most hospitably...Cambodians appeared to me to be suspicious of most every foreigner...possibly with good reason...

[jobsworth]

But be a little sympathetic about the agent orange. The ill health is probably indicative of their own poisoning. And were never informed of the consequences. It is the "back room" boys who should be held accountable for that slow genocide!

i am told that agent orange babies are now very common in cambodia. the babies are born very white, with big heads, with a lot of body hair and suffer from many complaints, of which they slowly die.

it will continue for several generations. any family member but especially the males can be carrying deformed genes and so the suffering continues.

[TimmyT]

US vets are lucky that modern Khmers don't have enough knowledge to realize who were those people who threw more bombs on poor little Cambodia than the whole Europe got during the WWII. who contaminated the soil with AGENT-ORANGE for hundreds of years. who lead Lon Nol to power (whose corrupt regime made it possible for Pol Pot to win) and who supported Pol Pot even after his regime was toppled in Phnom Penh.

otherwise US Veterans with blood-stained hands would feel not so happy in Cambodia...

VN Vets were mere pawns being used up during the war...they made no decisions concerning the atrocities you site...the US leadership at the time...that is another story...

Surprisingly, especially in Vietnam...American ex-pats are welcomed and treated most hospitably...Cambodians appeared to me to be suspicious of most every foreigner...possibly with good reason...

and who elected the US government?!

it's like after the WWII Germans tended to say: "it's all Hitler's fault. We didn't know anything." no, it's your fault. because you elected him. Because you didn't control his actions. because with your tacit connivance he was able to kill and torture. because you pretended you don't hear when somebody tried to speak about atrocities...

it's always the whole nation's fault.

Edited December 22, 2015 by TimmyT

[Tony125]

From ghost city to boomtown, Phnom Penh soars high

By Suy SeDecember 20, 2015 12:42 AM

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From glitzy malls and high-rise flats to five-star hotels, a luxury building boom in Phnom Penh is transforming a capital once reduced to a ghost town into one of Asia's fastest growing cities.

Inside the recently opened Aeon Mall in the heart of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's first mega shopping centre, shoppers and curious residents flock to see the latest Levi's and Giordano handbags, snapping selfies in front of a giant Christmas tree.

It is a common scene across much of Southeast Asia but was previously unimaginable for many in Cambodia where around 20 percent of people still live on less than $1.25 per day.

But while poverty remains entrenched, a fast-growing middle class and elite are increasingly looking for local ways to spend their cash.

"I am glad we have such a modern mall in Phnom Penh. It shows the city is growing," says 20-year-old Bopha, a well-heeled university student who said her family made more than $1 million in a recent land sale.

Bopha said she used to have to travel to Thailand and Singapore for her shopping trips but that was now changing.

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Inside the recently opened Aeon Mall in the heart of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's first mega shopping …

"Their cities are crowded with high-rise towers. I think we are heading in the same direction to be like them," she beamed.

The $200 million Japanese-built mall is just one of dozens of new shopping complexes, condominium projects and hotels springing up in Phnom Penh as Cambodia rides a wave of high economic growth rates in recent years.

The capital is second only to Laos in East Asia for the fastest rate of urban spatial expansion, according to the World Bank, and its economy is expected to grow at 6.9 percent this year.

- Rise of the high-rise -

All across the city luxury high-rise condos are popping up with names like "The Peak" and "Diamond Island", complete with billboards promising aspirational taglines such as "Sophisticated Urban Living".

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A ferry sails past the five-star Sokha hotel in Phnom Penh (AFP Photo/Tang Chhin Sothy)

According to the government, Cambodia drew construction investment worth $1.75 billion in the first nine months of 2015, a 13.7 percent rise from a year earlier.

Many of the new entrants into the kingdom's building market are developers from Japan, China, South Korea and Singapore.

The 39-storey Vattanac Capital Tower, Cambodia's first skyscraper which was finished in 2014, is designed in the shape of a dragon and incorporates Chinese traditional feng shui principles.

A few kilometres (miles) away, the local Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation is drawing from the country's past, building Parisian-style apartments framed by a replica of the Arc de Triomphe on a riverside complex in downtown Phnom Penh.

But some are worried where the construction frenzy will leave a city once famed as the "Pearl of Asia".

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Phnom Penh has been coming back to life since the radical communist regime was toppled in 1979 but t …

In its French colonial heyday Phnom Penh was regarded as one of the loveliest cities in Southeast Asia thanks to its wide European-style avenues, carefully manicured gardens and picturesque stately homes.

Just a few decades later, the buzzing city was reduced to a ghost town when Pol Pot's brutal Khmer Rouge army seized control of the capital and ordered its two million people to evacuate.

The city has been coming back to life since the radical communist regime was toppled in 1979 but the surge of activity and change to its landscape has intensified in recent years.

- Poor pushed to city fringes -

Silas Everett of The Asia Foundation in Cambodia fears the city's original charm is fast disappearing with villas and stately buildings from the colonial era being torn down to make room for lucrative new construction projects.

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Experts worry that Phnom Penh's original charm is disappearing with villas and stately buildings …

"Phnom Penh's architectural heritage is world renowned... Yet the rate of destruction of these buildings of significant cultural heritage is alarming," said Everett, mourning in particular the loss of buildings designed by famed Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann.

And while wealthy Cambodians are lining up for a chance to live in some of the city's most coveted new addresses, the urban poor are increasingly relegated to the edges of the capital where many were evicted to make way for commercial developments.

Critics of strongman premier Hun Sen, who has ruled with an iron fist for the last 30 years, say he has turned Cambodia into a notoriously corrupt fiefdom where those loyal to him are handsomely enriched.

But he remains unapologetic about the capital's rapid transformation.

Phnom Penh, he said during a speech in November, would have been a "coconut plantation" had the Khmer Rouge remained.

Instead, he added, "an already dead city survived through the bare hands of our people".

Not everyone has benefited, however.

Strolling through Aeon Mall, Seng Seat, 60, says most of the products remain outside her budget.

"The price of some clothes and shoes at the retail brand shops is too expensive," Seat said.

"I just had a look at the price and left immediately."

[timendres]

I have met a good few long stay ex pats in Cambodia and many are in ill health .Apart from cheap ciggies and beer there is nothing to recommend the location over Vietnam or Thailand.

Guess you haven't been up there lately to see the changes, check out this article ------ http://news.yahoo.com/ghost-city-boomtown-phnom-penh-soars-high-054223015.html

Seriously? Nearly any square kilometer of Bangkok would put the place to shame.

It is nice to see the progress, and clearly there is more there than just dusty lanes and road-side stalls. But it is nothing compared to Bangkok.