Eminent Domain

Last night, while I enjoyed a rather extraordinary Mojito at the bar of our guest house, I noticed sparks flying just beyond William's head. And, yes while sparks often fly when I gaze lovingly into his eyes, these were of the more flammable type. A small bit of the hillside, about 80 meters away, was ablaze. The fire seemed to die down, but soon it re-emerged with gusto. A small group of us gathered, watching it.

One of the sisters that runs our guest house said to the bartender who is Khmer (Cambodian), " Ummm...in London when there is a fire we phone the fire brigade...what do you do in Cambodia?" He replied, "The same, but only if it is a really big fire."

Meanwhile, I sent William to gather Nora from an internet cafe just down the dirt road while we gathered our shoes and passports -- just in case. William thought I was over-reacting, but shoes and passports seemed like a reasonable precaution.

The fire grew in size, and sparks began to gain velocity and height on the wind, which was, luckily, blowing away from us and our abode. The pampas grasses, dry in this season, were easily succumbing to the greedy flames, as the crowd of locals and foreigners watching the blaze grew. Some Khmers began to remove their belongings from the shack across the dirt road from us. Seeing this, I felt more justified in my insistence that William retrieve his sandals.

Nora joined our vigil, and we shot short videos of the blaze trying to capture on her small camera the sound of the crackling fire eating underbrush. As time went on, no fire trucks arrived. Or police. And I began to wonder whether this fire was going to burn its was across the hillside to the ocean some five hundred or so yards away.

However, dark figures became visible against the bright red lights of the flames. Khmer civilians were surrounding the blaze with palm fronds and wide banana leaves. They formed a wide, uneven, circle, beating the flames. We watched with complete incredulity, as this small group of people put the fire out entirely. You have to see our video. really.

Fifteen or so minutes after the fire went out, as we were walking up out of the dirt alley, away from our beach guest house toward the village proper, a red fire truck appeared, lights flashing on the road. The appearance of such a truck must be an extremely rare happening, as it was followed by scores of Khmers aboard motor-bikes, some three or four to a bike (as everyone does here). The fire truck, however, stopped at the top of the dirt road, apparently informed that its appearance was anticlimactic, and retired its lights and sirens.

Sadly, this morning we were informed that another fire had began last night as well. That fire had burned down the town's market. Every local and every foreigner who had spent any time here went into immediate mourning for the people who lost all their belongings and businesses at the market. People lock down their little shops and craft stands each night: all was burned to the ground.

Today, we spent a bit of the afternoon talking to an ex-pat , Chris, who runs a charming indoor movie theater up the ally from us. He told us that his landlord, as well as other locals, believe that the government was behind the fires. The government has been trying to shut down the local market for a long time; but it is a venue beloved by the people here and the sole source of income for many families. The government is selling the land to a U.S. hotel chain. The locals, apparently, believe the government set the small fire near our guest house in order to distract attention, and the only fire truck, from the market blaze which was set soon after.

I guess Sihanoukville is going to be the pet project of the Prime Minister's brother, soon to usurp power from the current governor. The US government has already signed a 99 year lease near here for some sort of military base. And Marriott, as well as some other chains, are soon to erect some resorts in this sleepy thatch-roof beach town.

Poverty, for a Cambodian, is supposedly about 2 dollars a day; but that disguises the reality of things. Some people, it seems could live well on less, if they are in a rural area and engage in some sustenance farming. But in other areas, much more than 2 dollars a day would still only buy squalor and misery.

We can only hope that development in this little town will bring in some much needed infrastructure as well as living wages. I wonder how much of the money sucked in to the Marriott by tourists will be funneled out and away from this country that is so beautiful and still so in need.



We were hoping to find some way into Vietnam from the coast, but it seems that all roads (and even boats) lead back to Phenom Penh. So tomorrow we go back to the capital, and then to Hanoi by plane.

I am so excited to see Vietnam, especially Hanoi which has supposedly retained a good deal of its French architecture. I wonder if my children will ever visit Iraq on vacation... I guess we will see.