Kratie, and some observations of Cambodia

The disparity between rich and poor is something that is hard to miss in Phnom Penh. Rolls Royce and Land Rovers drive past (slowly, due to the ridiculous traffic) while whole families (babies on back) root through street-side rubbish for anything recyclable. Despite such obvious examples of inequality, and it really is heart breaking, the country has a GINI scale of 31.8 (0 being everyone having an equal share of national income, and 100 meaning 1 person has it all) -  which really isn’t so bad in the grander scheme of things -  The UK has a worse score. In practice this means that the super-rich and the super-poor live comparatively side by side here in Phnom Penh, while much of the countryside is poor, while England successfully hides the poor in urban housing projects and the rich are happy to live in their gated rural estates, leaving the middle-classes as the visible face of the country. 

Another stat that brings home the realities of the wealth disparity here is that average GDP is $2,600; yet again people are driving around in $500,000 cars. I think the difference is that the generals, politicians and business moguls relish is showing off their wealth, while in the UK, at least amongst the landed-gentry, showing off such wealth is still “not done” (Essex based nouveau riche less so). 

Cambodia has officially 0% unemployment, which on the face of things would be the envy of many more established economies. However, this belies the fact that much of the country is still based on a peasant rural economy, and therefore people have to work or they will starve. The other major employer here is the garment industry, which employs huge numbers of young women. Horribly underpaid and overworked, a whole generation is being worked to exhaustion to make the cheap clothing the West seems to be currently addicted to, for, seemingly little benefit to the country, as the wages do not provide enough to save or contribute much to the consumer economy, and the companies pay little in tax due to the cut-throat nature of the globalized clothing industry.

I am not sure what my point here is, rather than to highlight how official statistics are incredibly subjective. Cambodia has one of the world’s lowest personal GDP’s despite having no one officially out of work, yet no one here is starving to death, while at the same time Rolls Royce has just opened an official dealership. Work that out!

To enliven this post somewhat, here are some lovely photos of the sunset over the Mekong river up at Kratie, a town 6 hours north east of Phnom Penh. Lovely and quiet, it’s a place I would love to spend more time.Surviving relatively unscathed from both US bombing during Vietnam war, and the later civil-war here, there are still plenty of examples of French colonial architecture and a slow pace to life that is a welcome break from Phnom Penh.

 (the French built governor's mansion)

 (relaxing)

(floating village)