Cambodia Climate Graph (in Phnom Penh)

Concerns over hydropwer dam project on the Lower Sesan II

The River Coalition in Cambodia, in collaboration with 3SPN and ADHOC based in Stung Treng, launched a workshop to collect concerns from people affected by the hydropower dam's construction, namely Lower Sensan II, invested by a Vietnamese company joint venture with a Cambodian firm. The most common concerns, raised during the workshop, were including losses of farmlands and houses.

The hydropower plant was estimated to have a generation capacity of 400MW and was assumed to generate 1 983.9GWh annually. The projection of the completion of the project is in 2015 (formerly 2014), under the term of investment BOT (Build Operate and Transfer) and it is estimated with the investment cost of US$861M. The dam will cover a flooding area of 33 000 ha and taking part mostly on forest covers, agricultural lands and villages. The result of the EIA shows that it was estimated that 1 529 households having about 5 224 people in 2011 will be evacuated to four none affected areas. The study shows that the dam will cause the damage of US$4 594160.00 in cash and the project will pay US$77 995 324.00 including new villages resettlement, environment evaluation programs and other rehabilitation activities.

The project will create jobs of about 3000 jobs during the construction period and the price of electricity, in terms of distributors, is calculated at US$0.063 per kWh and the dam will create revenue of about US$121 141 800.00 per year. There is no objection with the construction of the dam but concerns have been raised due to no clear repayment of compensation to the affected family. Until the moment, there still have no clear discussion and government action regarding these issues since the construction project is going to start soon.

Kids and life

Living in Cambodia until now, practically in rural areas, kids engage in most of daily life for helping their family to earni extra incomes. This picture was taken on the other side of Sangkae River of Banan District, Battambang Province. This boy was finishing using a traditional tool namely fish net to trap fishes in the river.

Tips for your life while living abroad ...

You might not pay attention on what kinds of friends that you should have while you are living abroad. It's sometime very difficult while you live in a country, particularly in Asia, where the daily life are different from one to another. Let me introduce you few tips which would help you at least to ease your way living.

• If you like drinking, enjoying night-life or dancing and if you want save your budgets, please go with male friends who have the same preferences to you. You'll have fun during the stay!
• If you want to know where the variety of good foods are, please hang out with your female friends. Ladies usually know good and tasty foods.
• If you want to learn the language of the country you are in, the perfect way to learn the language quickly and proficiently is to have a long/short hair dictionary.

I really thank you all my friends here and there! I enjoyed night-life and foods in Thailand! Unfortunately, I still don't know much the language as I don't have a long-hair dictionary!

Offshore relaxation in Kampong Som

No cars, no big buildings and less development, it takes only about 45 minutes from mainland to reach a small offshore paradise surrounded by seawater. Let me introduce a good place for your holiday and relaxation in the Southern part of the country, Cambodia. Koh Ru (Bamboo Island) is in Kampong Som province where bungalow rooms are available. Supplement to the above statement, there are no TV programs, no mobile services nor Internet connections. But, you can enjoy swimming in blue-warm seawater, laying on golden sand, living in tranquil environment and listening to music from nature, tropical birds. Beautiful scenery can be viewed from the windows of your room. Very delicious foods and other menus are available there.

Rooms: Room rates are slightly different.

• BimBamboo Bungalows (double room): 12 USD/night
  Contact: coasters@camintel.com
• Coaster Bungalows (double room): 10 USD/night
  Contact: coasters@camintel.com
• Koh Ru Bungalows (double room): 10 USD/night
  Contact: bookings@barrusihanoukville.com

How to get there? There are boat or ferry services available.

• Coasters's e-mail: coasters@camintel.com
• Ana Internet and Travel: 012 372 018 (Mick) or 012 915 301 (Ana), or e-mail: anainternetandtravel@yahoo.com

Fee: 15 USD for round-trip ticket, breakfast is included (departure: 9:30 am, return: 3:30 pm) OR 10 USD for round-trip, no breakfast (departure: 10:00 am, return: 4:00 pm