Bizarre

Recently, police and military stormed into a village in Kratie province to put down what was claimed an act of sedition. As it turned out the so-called sedition was simply a pretext. The villagers had a long-standing conflict with a company holding a logging concession in the area. It is a fair assumption, although this will never be confirmed, that the company simply complained to the local authority, which claiming this outlandish pretext asked the Ministry of the Interior to quell an imminent ‘uprising’. The village consists of about 1,000 families, so one can estimate the number of men of fighting age at around 500. A 14-year-old girl was killed in the incident. How stupid do the authorities think the public is? Mind you, in 1993 after the lost elections some quarters in the CPP threatened secession of the eastern provinces from Cambodia. As a result the CPP was rewarded with sharing the government in a unique dual-position coalition.

Here we are looking at a village of 1,000 families. Does anyone in his/her right mind really believe that such a village would secede and form its own country, or what would they have formed? This whole thing is so ludicrous and laughable were it not for the unfortunate victim in this.

Another disturbing case is the killing of an activist in Koh Kong province by a military police officer. The initial hair-raising official reports simply underline the fact that many officials simply don’t see how they make themselves the laughing stock with their way of explaining incidents and their results. The well-known activist Vutthy was entering the property for the purpose of showing two journalists that logging continued unabatedly in protected forests. He was stopped and subsequently shot and killed during the argument that had arisen between the MP and Vutthy. The MP seeing that he killed Vutthy turned the gun, an AK 47, on himself and committed suicide. Later, possibly seeing how ridiculous this all sounded, it was officially established that a policeman who was also on the scene tried to wrestle the gun away from the MP. A shot was accidentally fired, which killed the MP  - so reads the final official version. The policeman was promptly indicted for involuntary manslaughter.

In another incident 13 women who protested in the long-running Boeung Kak dispute were sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison for what in the West would be termed disturbing the peace and trespassing. These women were publicly demanding just and fair compensation for the land they lost. They did this at the site of the development, which of course is now the property of the development company. The court deemed this unlawful entering onto the owner’s property.

True to his micromanagement style of governing Cambodia, the PM issued a directive prohibiting the sale of alcohol for 3 days on the occasion of the commune elections this coming Sunday. He feared alcohol-induced unrest before and after the elections. He surely doesn’t have much confidence in his fellow countrymen and women.

  At the same time, he cautioned the population not to take matters in their own hands in conflicts with companies holding concessions and which sometimes blatantly violate the terms and conditions of those concessions to the detriment of the local population. People should rely on the authorities to resolve those disputes, he declared. This is what they are there for. Needless to say, the only reason people are tired of turning to the authorities is that they aren’t getting any help there, especially if you consider the mindset of particularly local officials who will do about anything to make an extra buck. Additionally, if their logic is like the one in the secession case one can certainly understand villagers for their impatience.

On a more ominous note, I read that the government is preparing a law that will make it illegal to lie on the internet. Now that’s a tall order. No details are available yet but judging from past incidents could this lead to the application of the infamous criminal defamation statute to the internet as well?

Normally someone who is a little more understanding and tolerant of the sometimes errant ways of the government on all levels, I am now sometimes doubting my belief that given time and more experience the people in power will eventually practice better governance. Seeing the examples above and many others like them those doubts may grow bigger over time. A PM who concerns himself with alcohol consumption before and after commune elections ought to maybe rethink his priorities?  And this country is chairing ASEAN this year?

To Take or Not to Take – A Khmer Husband

This is a very brief attempt at coming up with some insights into the opposite situation of my previous post. In fact, one of my readers was wondering whether I might be able to contribute something to this subject.

Now, I am no psychologist or sociologist so anything written her must be seen in this context. Especially in Cambodia itself, it is rather rare to find a mixed marriage between a Western woman and a Khmer man. If you see them they are mostly older, e. g. in their 50ies or 60ies, probably dating back to the Vietnam War era and its ramifications throughout the region at that time.

The cases I have come across are always of the arranged nature, that is, U. S. Cambodians hire somebody to marry one of their kin back in Cambodia, thus enabling them to immigrate to the U. S. Although there were some crackdowns by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to my knowledge the practice goes on unabated.

But supposedly real love unions do indeed appear to happen. My personal opinion of this, of course, still is – just as with the Khmer woman marrying a Westerner – that it is make-believe, that the Khmer man sees this as an opportunity to go overseas to find a purportedly better job and a better life. Love is an intangible concept. Proof of real love is hard to ascertain even by the most enlightened and sharp-thinking people. When love is involved, the chemistry in our minds runs amok anyway. Cambodian facial expressions are often a little hard to read by Westerners; that goes equally for both men and women. Cambodian men are equally as romantic and affectionate as Western men, they just don’t show it openly. Manliness is a highly regarded trait. But Cambodian men know how to woo a woman just as well.

Nevertheless, if a Western woman does fall in love with a Khmer man, the question is whether she realized what the nature and character of Cambodian men are. Even among the very young men, girls hold a lower social position than boys do. Traditions are very slow to change and the 30 years since the Khmer Rouge certainly weren’t long enough to whittle away at the most prevalent characteristics of the  man -woman relationship. The woman is there to take care of her husband, to bear him children, to raise the children, and manage the household. This is the underlying concept any Cambodian man holds of the role of women in society. Nevertheless, Khmer women have a strong position in a marriage, in other words, men are prepared to accept that they traditionally manage the family finances, especially if they are in business. They have no reservations to marry a well-educated woman either. That woman guarantees higher social prestige and most likely higher financial gain through better positions in government or business.

But we can’t change nature and only women can bear children. Cambodia does not have a social system that would allow the women to just take some time out or that even the husband share in the caring for the child the first three years, like in some European countries. More well-to-do couples will hire a nanny, but with less well-off parents the mother will just have to stay home. I would imagine Western women of marrying age these days would have a problem with that mindset in general.

A successful or even rich Cambodian man, or son of such parents, will not want to emigrate to another country. The man knows it will be hard to adapt to Western culture, its different concepts and ideals, the way people do business, etc. There is no economic incentive for him to leave. If the Western woman is fine with living in Cambodia, as many Western men are with their Cambodian wives, there should be no initial problems. The wedding ceremony in itself is a one-of-a-lifetime experience. If she adapts to the Cambodian ways more or less completely, they may be fine for some time. But people can’t wipe out their cultural background that is more or less 180° diametrically opposed to the one they have chosen to live in. So eventually, some problems will arise. It shouldn’t be too surprising that the man expects the wife to bend to his way. Once a baby is there, the woman always runs the risk of the man looking for his physical needs elsewhere, as short-lived as it may be. What about the economic conditions they live in? Making ends meet is hard, and who is the breadwinner anyway? The same problems couples face in the West they will face here with the added complication of diverse cultural backgrounds.

Mostly, though, I believe that the man wants leave the country. But he takes a lot of that country with him. Even if he is well educated in Cambodia, this will not count for much in the West. He will have to get a job to help support the wife and himself. From my experience, that job will not be a top shelf position. He might feel inferior to his wife, which is a sure-fire source of conflict. (That applies to some Khmer marriages too. I know a Khmer/Khmer marriage, where the wife made more than the husband does. He promptly emigrated to New Zealand to work at his uncle’s bakery there to save enough money and come back to start a business here. Well, he is still saving after 3 years.)

The clash of cultures of the man and his host country and of which his wife is an integral part will certainly make life somewhat difficult. It may be as mundane as greeting each other. Khmer people don’t say ‘Good morning’. They just arrive at the breakfast table, sit down without saying a word and start digging in. Don’t expect too many ‘Thank yous’ or ‘Pleases’ either.  A good night-kiss is practically unknown. They just turn over and fall asleep unless of course he has different things on his mind. Or the woman might find he has gone out without letting her know when and where he went, or when he would be back. He just leaves and shows up again as he pleases. Do not expect any great communication about this either. In today’s world with mobile phones in everyone’s pocket, this has become a lot easier. It still is a little disconcerting, though, isn’t it?

In situations of conflict, both men and women ideally discuss their views in a sober fashion and are not supposed to let this escalate into an argument. Imagine a fight (as in argument) between a Western couple. I have never heard that voices were not raised. If the woman yells at the Khmer man, he loses face. He can’t have that, we know that much, right? Depending on his temperament, he might become violent or just walk off, leaving the house and have a drink with his friends. When he comes back he might by sulky or, if drunk, somewhat belligerent. I know this is a stark generalization, but I can only warn Western women, ‘Beware.’

Normally, the Khmer man tells his wife how this situation is supposed to be – end of story. The Western women I know will not put up with that, for sure.

Psychology and whatever this entails, e. g. anger management, is also generally a fuzzy concept or even completely unknown in Cambodia. There are a number of psychologists but you don’t hear a lot about psychological problems here. If someone behaves erratically, he/she must be crazy. Although I do attribute our Western love affair with psychology and/or psychiatry to a certain degree of degeneration, the more or less complete absence of these in the general population in Cambodia makes it very hard for mixed couples to understand each other completely and resolve conflicts in an ideally neutral manner.

Therefore, as in my post on Khmer women marrying a Westerner, I can only repeat it here for Western women. Usually, marriages or in general unions of such a nature aren’t a good mix. I think I made my case, but of course, it is up to the individual to find out for herself.

Some time ago, I posted this on my blog. http://ethnomed.org/culture/cambodian/cambodian-marriage

It will certainly help understand the complexity of such a marriage. The same site also explores the stigma of psychological problems in Cambodia.

Boating in Cambodia III – Boat Review of a KGC Challenger 72

I am posting a review of the custom boat I put together here. It will provide people who might be interested in doing the same thing in Cambodia with some good information. They will undoubtedly come across this when googling for leads on the subject.

As mentioned in my previous post I bought the 24’ hull in Vietnam from Kien Giang Composite. This company is part of an Australian group and has been in business for 18 years. It is run by a Vietnamese director. The technical supervisor is a New Zealander.

General description:

All fiberglass hull, deck, and center console. No inner liner.

Solid 3 mm fiberglass, with vertical reinforced support stringers along the freeboard.

Gelcoat inside and out.

Length overall: 23.5 feet, with outboard 25.5 feet (7.32 m/7.80 m)

Beam: 8.3 feet (2.52 m)

Weight: 1000 kg

Standard features are

- Switch panel with 4 fused switches

- Navigation (running) lights

- Automatic bilge pump (float switch)

- Stainless steel bow grabrail

- Stainless steel bow eye

- Cast aluminum cleats (4)

- Rubrail

Optional features:

- Anchor light

- Anchor

- Anchor locker

- Anchor roller

- Captain’s bench seat with dry storage

- Center console

- Passenger seating aft and/or front with storage options

- Seat cushions for all seating

- Hydraulic steering with stainless steel steering wheel

- GPS

- Fishfinder/echosounder

- Fuel tanks – stainless steel – with fuel gauge

- Fuel flow meter

- VHF radio

- Outboard motor up to 225 HP (rated originally up to 200 HP but with reinforced transom 225HP)

- Canvas bimini canopy or T-Top

- Rod holders

- Swim ladder

- 70-gallon cooler

- Boat trailer

As you can see the boat as it comes from the factory is more or less just the bare hull, and this is how we negotiated it with the customs department. All the options are very expensive. I regard all the options listed above as absolutely necessary on a sea-going fishing boat. I equipped the boat with all of them importing them from the U.S. Only the seating, the center console, the tank, and obviously the anchor locker I ordered from the factory.

Dealing with the factory was at times somewhat difficult. Replies to email inquiries were sort of long in coming. They quoted a 5 weeks delivery time which turned into more than 2 months. They also forgot to install the bow grabrail. I had ordered a 60 gallon tank so I wouldn’t have any problem going to the farther outlying islands. When I measured it it produced only a volume of roughly 40 gallons. Mind you, they charge you $550 per 30-gallon tank. I complained about the grabrail and after some insistence they finally coughed up a refund. They now also refunded the difference for the tank. I will have to install additional plastic tanks like some sailboats use. I hope I can find them here.

The center console is 80 cm wide and roughly 40 cm deep. They have a mold for it and to request a larger one with room for a porta potti as is common in newer center consoles would have cost a bundle. They don’t have any compartments for your tackle boxes or for the VHF radio. I requested a couple of cut-outs so I could install my multi-function tach, and have room for a small storage compartment. Access to the wiring, cables, etc. inside the console is through a removable door facing the driver.

Layout

The anchor locker I had put in is large enough for a 15kg anchor with chain and a 100m of rode. There is still room to store the life preservers and two flotation cushions for 5 passengers there.

They installed the tank one step down up front to counter the weight of the outboard aft. It will serve as casting platform or a sun deck. Normally, this space is used for fish lockers.

40-gallon tank forward

There is enough room for two to four people between the tank compartment and the cooler in front of the center console.

The driver seat bench doubles as a storage space and is sufficiently large. The lid of the seat removes completely as opposed to just folding up. This is convenient in some instances but can be a hassle when you only want to grab something real quick.

Dirver's seating with storage

Between the drivers seat and the aft seating you have room for one person on each side for fishing. Of course, there is also room for 2 more alongside the center console, which brings the capacity up to 8 passengers and one captain plus a deckhand. The boat is rated for up to 16 passengers, but that would be too crowded and they wouldn’t be able to move at all.

I’d say 4 people can ride and fish comfortably, 6 is still ok, but anything more hampers the movement on deck considerably.

The aft seating is comprised of 3 storage boxes. 4 people can sit there comfortably. The lids of these, however, open up on hinges. The problem is they only open up 45° because they are set too far under the fixed backrest. So access is a little bothersome. This is clearly a misconception. The center box houses the battery. These boxes are altogether removable. You will gain access to the bilge and the bilge pump and wire harness/cable conduits this way. In an emergency this is clearly not the most efficient and fastest way of getting to the bilge.

Aft seating set too far back

Lid opens only 45°

Any water on deck drains into the bilge. There is no thru-hull drain as the deck is slightly below the waterline. In itself I consider this an unsafe feature as bilge pumps are apt to fail and if you get caught in a tropical rain storm you will be swamped. I carry a spare bilge pump with me that I can connect to the battery in a hurry. Of course, if the battery is dead too, you are in for real trouble. It’s time to start bailing then. Larger boats or yachts have back-up systems but this is only a 24’er. In my mind this is the one real problematic feature of this boat and should raise some concern. I will in due course modify this myself.

Drain hole into the bilge

Drain hole from tank compartment onto deck

The fuel tank is normally located in the center or slightly forward of the center. If they raised the deck by about 10 cm and with it the freeboard, they could deal with the drainage problem and allow for space for fish boxes at the same time. This would only be a small modification.

Behind the aft seating there is a small platform on each side of the motor splashwell. They are practically an afterthought to cover the space needed for wires, fuel lines, etc. The splashwell is rather small making any work on the motor difficult. Other manufacturers use the entire width of the boat for this. They house wiring/cables under the aft seating.

Splashwell with drainholes - I added scuppers

What’s completely missing is room for a live baitwell. Well I will just have to improvise.

Performance

I have Yamaha 225HP 4-stroke rigged to the boat. This is a very quiet motor. You can hardly hear it in idle or at no-wake speeds. Even at wide open throttle (WOT) the sound is not ear-shattering; it’s absolutely bearable. I would guess it at about 83 dB. It definitely does not have that high-pitched whine of a 2-stroke.

The boat features 3 lifting strakes from bow to stern. This enables it to get on plane at your normal speed of around 15 mph but as opposed to other monohulls the bow doesn’t rise up very much and settles down quite smoothly. So coming out of the hole is hardly noticeable to the passengers. Another advantage of this hull construction is that you can travel comfortably even at less than planing speeds.

20° deadrise with lifting strakes all the way to the stern - note the negative chine

It planes on about two thirds of  its bottom surface, which of course increases drag considerably and with it fuel consumption. However, it is rather light in comparison to other boats (no inner liner)  I know and this probably makes up for it. One consequence of the larger wetted surface is that chops are felt more pronouncedly. The seas were pretty calm when I first tested it so it behaved amicably. Another time I encountered a heavy, short chop. Like any monohull it didn’t like it too much. At 30 mph it was downright uncomfortable, at 25 mph only the hardier passengers could put up with it, so cutting it down to 20 mph sort of made it a smoother ride. The ride was surprisingly relatively dry. Taking the waves head on there was some spray blown in by the wind. Later the wind picked up a bit and seas were 2 – 3’. The boat still handled nicely enough. There is no problem steering it, it responds immediately. Turning it leans into it as it should. However, the lack of an inner liner makes the boat somewhat noisier with the waves slapping against the hull. If the freeboard were higher as mentioned above the ride would be more comfortable in rougher seas. This being a monohull, you cannot avoid the pounding in rough seas.

4000 rpm will give me 30 mph and 5900 rpm will get me to a top speed of 50 mph. It also takes off  like a rocket. The tested weight with a half full tank and 2 people on board was approximately 2000 kg.

I could not measure the fuel consumption yet as my Lowrance fuel flow meter did not send any data to my multi-function gauge. There is something wrong with the software. But at about 4000 rpm or 25 mph it should give you 4 mpg. With a 60-gallon tank and the general one-third boater’s rule (one third out, one third in, one third reserve), this will result in a range of about 80 miles or 128 km – not much in the grand scheme of things but enough to get you to  Koh Rong and back. For the interesting island of Koh Tang you would need to carry extra fuel.

Summary:

The boat is a very sturdy and solid platform and is fun to go out on. Workmanship could stand with some improvement.The surface of the outer sides is not perfectly even; it is just ever so slightly wavy. Some nuts weren’t tightened properly, not to mention the aft seating. It pales in comparison to U. S. made fishing boats in terms of features. The quality of the fiberglass is up to par, I would think. Overall, the price is a factor here. If I don’t consider the import duties and taxes I paid the boat would be at the dock for about $22,000 with all the options I put in. My outboard is used with low hours. A new motor would get the price tag up to around $35,000. There is no boat that size on the U. S. market at that price as far as I know. So all things considered it was a good buy, and I can recommend it. I believe it could be a world-class competitor if they took care of the few weak spots.

In the water behind my house

Going out to sea - about 500 m

In comparison, I could have bought a fully equipped, used 2006 24’ Aquasport at $21,000 FOB Los Angeles. With freight, duty, and taxes it would have set me back about $45,000. Although duty and taxes are sky-high in Cambodia buying a power boat the way I did is still more practictable and cheaper. With a trailer I still came in more than $10,000 lower for a new boat than if I had bought the used Aquasport.

As far as I know this is currently the only boat of its kind in Cambodia. Not counting the boats that pull the bananas at Ocheuteal Beacht the other notable power boats are run-abouts and are operated by the activity center at the Sokha Beach Hotel. The Paradise Beach Guesthouse on Koh Rong recently acquired a power boat as well. The way it is set up it will probably be used as a water taxi to transfer guests to and from the mainland.

By the way, if you are worried about maintenance, I know a guy in Sihanoukville and that shop in Phnom Penh. They can do every job. The problem might be the parts, this being a 4-stroke. But I can always get them from the U. S. shipped Priority Mail, which takes 6 - 10 days and is not that expensive. Of course, the motto for power boaters has always been: 'If you want to play, you got to pay.'

To Take or Not to Take – a Western Husband

Cambodian husbands have a tendency to be somewhat fickle. One possible reason for that is that even in today’s Cambodia marriages are still arranged between the children’s parents. At the very least the parents must give their approval. Cambodian young people don’t really go up against their parents, and that goes especially for Cambodian young women. The bond with parents is very strong. It is still a deeply ingrained tradition among Khmer ethnic people that the husband moves in with his in-laws. The wife just keeps on living there. It’s the other way around with Chinese ethnic people. So after a few years and a few babies later the husband’s eyes might stray a little; perhaps not only his eyes.

Back in the early 90ies when UNTAC came in, decent young Cambodian women did not cavort with foreigners at all. The ones that did, were immediately marked as ‘flighty’ or worse. But all that changed later on when normal foreigners entered the country as members of NGOs or businesses that set up shop here. Finally, Cambodian young women saw ‘normal’ Western people – not dressed in a soldier’s uniform. But the trend to hook up with a Westerner still hadn’t taken hold. Only the occasional ‘respectable’ Khmer girl ventured into a relationship with a Westerner, relationship meaning marriage. By and large, if they did marry somebody from the Western world it was an overseas Khmer man.

Up until about 2003/2004 there actually weren’t that many Westerners outside the diplomatic staff and the NGO network in Cambodia. A sort of influx started around that year, at least that is my personal observation. The higher number of Westerners also ushered in a period of numerous new establishments run by Westerners that catered and still cater to their fellow expatriates. A lot of them are what’s generally called hostess bars, which is just another word for bars where prostitutes hang out. These girls are sometimes directly employed by the owner in order to attract guests (though I heard that the owners usually don’t take a share of the girls’ after hours fees for legal reasons). Now some of these bar owners actually married one of their hostesses. The girl probably did it for reasons that have not much to do with love but more with financial stability and a different life style. These girls don’t work there because they like it but because economic circumstances drive them into this kind of work. Marriage to a Western foreigner gave them back respectability. After all, they were now the wife of a business owner, which is rather highly regarded among the regular population.

Of course, unions between Khmer girls and Western men aren’t all like the above. Most certainly, there are just as many or even more relationships with Western men from different walks of life and ‘decent’ Khmer women. But I would imagine it quite difficult for a Khmer woman to find out what the man is really like. Most likely you have the whole range of different Western male characters here in Cambodia as in any Western country. That there are so many nationalities present doesn’t make things any easier either. An American or German is definitely different from a Spaniard, an Italian, or a Frenchman, though I notice without being able to substantiate this with solid numbers that there seem to be more Australian, British, and Americans here, in that order, than any other nationality.

The job defines a man to a large extent as well. So a teacher or a businessman will probably be and act different from a sailor, to use an extreme. Some came here because they suffered from a severe burn-out in the West. Other came because they just wanted an easier life, and easier it is for a Westerner with the means the support himself decently. Some wanted to escape the generally regimented life. Many fled the dreary climates in central and northern Europe. The reasons are as manifold as the nationalities here. Those reasons, however, may be the exact opposite in terms of motivation of what a Khmer woman would like to see in her partner. Most likely, she won’t find out until she is well along in that relationship.

What the Khmer women may not realize is that Western men overall aren’t that much different in their approach to women. After a couple of years of going monogamous they also tend to try out something new or younger.

Seeing a number of purportedly successful marriages with seemingly faithful husbands, it may look like a good option to some young women to seek out Westerners to marry.

It’s a given that Khmer women look first and foremost for financial stability in a relationship. Whereas Western men first see the beauty of the girl, or woman (if she indeed is beautiful; I am astonished what ugly girls some men pick.), Khmer women don’t really care that much about either looks or age. Western men usually think love first, and money second. I venture to say it is the other way around with Khmer women.

Khmer girls that haven’t had much contact with Westerners are usually not in a position to see and assess what kind of man they are dealing with; and even the ones that are more familiar are still prone to severe misjudgments in that department.

Now Westerners aren’t all the same. Unfortunately, in those years 2003/4 it wasn’t just the successful, decent, or entrepreneurial type that came ashore in Cambodia. As is the case in many countries like Cambodia elsewhere, the flotsam, dregs, scum of Western society, and other losers, came here for the cheap sex and the low cost of living, in that order.

Some ignorant girls, almost always from poor, rural backgrounds and without education, thought they had finally made it when they met one of those. Virginity is still very much prized but, as marriage was on their mind from the beginning, they thought, ‘Why not?’ and after not too long a time of persuasion from the man jumped into bed with him.

The awakening was all the ruder when she found out that she wasn’t the only one the man was having it on with. Or worse, she got pregnant and all of a sudden that promising husband-to-be showed no inclination towards fatherhood and lost all interest in her rather quickly. Granted, that is only one scenario of many, but still a valid one. It will also come as a surprise to many Khmer women that domestic violence is also wide-spread in the West, and that some Western men are as prone to beat up their wives when angry or drunk, or both, as their Khmer counterparts.

Oftentimes, even serious contenders for marriage aren’t cut out for a mixed relationship. The problem here is not their background but their cultural and other differences. Let’s take a pedantic guy. Now imagine this guy getting married to a girl that is used to leaving things lying around wherever she used them last; or she might cut her finger or toenails right next to the place where they eat or prepare their food; or dust is gathering all over the place, not to mention the state of the toilet. He might put up with it for a while, but after a few months or even a couple of years of no change despite his many attempts this relationship will go sour. He will probably give up in despair, if it hasn’t driven him crazy already, and she will most likely be completely at a loss why everything is coming to an end. In her mind, everything was perfect. She didn’t sleep around, made food for him every day, even tolerated his drinking, if he was, now why is he leaving?

One could write about many more possible scenarios but the moral of the story in my view is: Western men and Khmer wives usually aren’t a good mix. Both have to overcome a lot of cultural differences and show an enormous degree of tolerance for each other’s traditions and customs to make it work. As with everything, there are, of course, exceptions to the rule.

The daughter of one of my wife’s friends was thinking of getting married and originally thought a Western man would be ideal. After all, she saw me and my wife who have been married for more than fifteen years and, by all appearances, are still happy together (which we are). But then she heard of two cases where first the mother’s boyfriend used to beat her up when he was drunk and then where that daughter’s Western husband (a bar owner) slept around with his female staff. So she said, ‘No, I don’t think I want to take that chance.’ She is now engaged to be married to a decent Khmer guy a couple of years older than she. She made the choice herself, her mother initially approved but is now having second thoughts about him. Well, who said such a decision was easy?  Anyway, case in point!

By the way, none of the above applies to my personal story.

Boating in Cambodia II

In my previous post on this subject http://www.about-cambodia.blogspot.com/2011/09/boating-in-cambodia.html back in September of last year I mentioned I was having a boat custom-made here in Sihanoukville. Unfortunately, the deal I had with the two guys didn’t work out as the partners at the boat building place split up. I might have had a change of heart about getting a boat but I had ordered an outboard from the U. S. already. So I needed to get it elsewhere. There are several options; the closest one is in Koh Kong. There is an Australian guy, a dentist actually, who sells RIBs imported from China. Then there is either Thailand or Vietnam. I also checked out a number of Chinese manufacturers online and had them quote me suitable boats. The drawback with buying a boat online is that you really don’t know what you are getting unless you travel all the way to China first.Quingdao has the most factories according alibaba.com. The prices are really competitive in comparison to U. S. prices. But then U. S. boats are top of the line. Although Thailand is closer I really didn’t want to go there several times to look for the exact boat I wanted.

In the end I found a Vietnamese website of a group of companies that also manufactures all kinds of boats. The guys in Sihanoukville had planned to make the boat in the sandwich method, that is there is a plywood core covered entirely with fiberglass. This is a common method if there are no molds available for producing the hull bottom and and the inner lining. This Vietnamese company, Kien Giang Composite, located in An Bien in the Mekong Delta, makes full fiberglass boats which is a lot safer due to the fact that fiberglass just doesn’t rot. Wherever plywood is used in the manufacture of boats you run the risk of water seepage through a crack in the fiberglass and then you are really in trouble. The price they offered seemed reasonable too – no bargaining, prices are fixed. The specs seemed all right so I went ahead and ordered it. I made my 50% deposit at the end of December. The quote said they would deliver after 5 weeks on receipt of the deposit. After a week I inquired whether they had started yet but was told they are still putting out 5 boats for a Phillipine customer but I would be next after January 5th. The Chinese New Year held things up too. In order to check on the progress and the factory in general I traveled to An Bien the first week of February. I thought this would be a quick one-day trip as it is only 80 km from the border at Prek Chak/Ha Tien. But until we got there it was 3:30 in the afternoon already as we couldn’t find a taxi in Ha Tien right away and we had to cross a river by ferry at Rach Gia, the provincial center, a pretty large town. Traffic is also much heavier on Vietnamese country roads. Additionally, cars don’t exceed the speed limit which was 70 for the most part. Anyway, when we got to the factory we were surprised to learn that our delivery date was set for March 05, while we had expected it to be Feb. 15 or so. We checked out our unfinished boat and made a few requests for change. Here it is at that stage.

 

 

As you can see it is solidly built. The horizontal and longitudinal stringers are hollow and filled with air which will give the boat the flotation. Other manufacturers fill these spaces with foam. But KGC holds that foam becomes brittle with time and doesn’t guarantee the same flotation as enclosed air. The sides or gunwales are between 3 and 5 mm fiberglass. For extra stability they put in support reinforcements spaced 1 m apart. Most power boats these days, especially monohulls, have planing hulls. Trawlers usually have semi-displacement or displacement hulls. This boat has lifting strakes from bow to stern, which should make it get on plane faster and not as noticeable. The boaters among you will know that when coming out of the ‘hole’, that is, the transition on to plane the bow of the boat lifts up considerable and then slowly sets down. If the boat is trimmed correctly only about one third of the bottom is a continuously wetted surface.

In the meantime I had ordered a T-Top, which would have been available as an option but the price was too high for my taste. I ordered it from a supplier in the U. S. and had it shipped in a container as bulk freight. The outboard had arrived back in December already. In order to clear all these things through customs, which is a very difficult process, I used an excellen freight forwarder - CamFreight in Phnom Penh. I can only recommend them if anybody needs to import something hassle-free. They managed to get a decent rate of 26% for tax and duty for the outboard based on the invoice price. Separately I had ordered the controls, partially used, and wire harnesses from my outboard supplier in Florida and had it shipped by USPS. After some discussion with the customs people at the post office I got the same rate. They had wanted 60% initially. Although GPS and echo sounders are available in Cambodia, they are an unknown Chinese brand and very expensive. So I also ordered a Garmin Chartplotter/Echosounder from the U. S. All this is pretty easy for me as I maintain a bank account and a credit card there. It was also shipped by USPS. The customs people at the post office base their tax/duty calculation on the price that is listed on the U. S. customs export declaration. So if you get your supplier to reduce this you can get away with a much lower payment. My GPS/Echo sounder was $520 including shipping. The supplier put $220 on the declaration form and I paid my import duty of 25% on that. The only downside to getting stuff shipped over from the U. S. is the relatively high cost of shipping. You don’t want it shipped regular mail so it will have to be priority, which can run anywhere from $20 to $150 depending on the size and weight of the package. It is still more convenient than going to Thailand by car. Plus you can’t beat the U. S. when it comes to boats, boat accessories, and all the stuff you might need for boating. Smaller packages don’t go through customs anyway. They arrive at the no. 3 counter at the post office. These guys know me by now so well that they call me every time there is a package or letter for me.

As it happened, I had all the stuff I needed for the boat ready before the boat was even finished.Finally, when it was ready to be delivered it was postponed another 5 days by the factory, which didn’t make much of a difference as the negotiations with the customs department took a little longer. Items that are worth more than $300 need to be cleared in Phnom Penh at the head office. Under $300 the local office can do it. You can imagine that with 115.325% tax/duty on boats and boat hulls the negotiations can prove to be somewhat lengthy. Fortunately, the customs people don’t have a set list as for cars (see my post on importing cars). It all depends on the value on the invoice. If it is too low they won’t believe it. Remember, they got internet there too. So it all comes down to how to liaise with the customs officials. The lady at CamFreight knew her job and in the end I was happy with the result. I won’t publish here for obvious reasons what I paid and how we got that. Incidentally, the T-Top was cleared in Sihanoukville port as we declared its value under $300. Needless to say, it was somewhat higher than that.They didn’t even know what it was, especially since it came disassembled.

Now came the big part: getting the boat across the border. Vietnam being Vietnam they have their stringent procedures, not nearly as flexible as the Cambodian ones. The shipper needs to do an export clearance, which in itself costs about $500. I went to the border at Bavet/Moc Bai with two guys from CamFreight. We got there at 9 am and I hoped to be on my way back at 12 noon. Hey, what’s the rush? This is SE Asia, right? My freight guys told me we would start to clear the boat at 2 pm. So why were we there so soon? Well, the customs guys take their lunch break at 11 until 1 o’clock. The computers are shut down and until everybody is back at his desk it will be 2. But before we needed to get it through Vietnamese customs; and that took 2 hours too. At least we wanted to get it into the zero zone between the two border checkpoints to transfer it from the factory truck to the truck I hired. Finally at 1 o’clock we saw it. But then they wouldn’t let me into the zero zone as I didn’t have a Vietnamese visa. Never mind, that I am not going into Vietnam. After some back and forth between the freight guys, one customs official and the chief of the border police I was let in and we could finally start. Here is how it worked:

 

 

 

 

So at around 3 o’clock my freight guys started negotiating with the customs officers. Promptly they said we declared too low a price. It was definitely more than what we showed them. I called the CamFreight office in Phnom Penh asking why these guys were trying to set a different value. Of course, I understood they wanted to make some money too. Their Phnom Penh pals had gotten their cut so they wanted theirs too, right? In the end, $100 did the trick and we were cleared at the originally set value in Phnom Penh. My goodness, what a useless rigamarole. Another $40 for road check points completed this thing.

The rest was pretty straightforward. I worked with Ormax on the riverside, practically the only boat shop in Phnom Penh, to rig the boat with the motor, the controls, and hydraulic steering. His shop doesn’t instill too much confidence in his workmanship at first sight. It looks like a junkyard. But some of the car repair shops look the same. They can still do a fine job. He also uses a Navy technician who seemed to know his mettle. It turned out he really did. Two days later the boat was ready to go. Everything worked fine and the job was done nicely. Despite my initial reservations I can really recommend that shop. The factory had forgotten to install the bow grabrail. Ormax put it in for $300. Altogether that boat set me back more than $30k. If I had imported a used 2006 boat from the U. S. it would have cost me $43k. Here it is:

 

Well, let’s go fishing. I will also post a more detailed review at a later date.