Page 214 - Udaan 2019-2021 Final
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Siem Reap also houses the beautiful silk farm of Angkor Artisans!
A place where cocoons transform into the rich golden thread!
An overnight journey from Siem Reap in northern Cambodia, took me
to the once sleepy beach town of Sihanoukville ,in the south, which
has been transformed by massive Chinese investment. My brief
stay at Sihanoukville transported me to another world of Chinese
neo-colonialism . Little did I realise that I will witness a small Khmer
town being totally captured and controlled by the Chinese , where
nothing is spoken and used in signages , apart from Mandarin! A
city of towering sky scrapers, high end hotels with casinos , vast
domed structures covered in flashy neon signs -all owned by the
Chinese, co-existing with overcrowded, filthy inundated areas
cohabited by the local Khmer population. A picture of overbearing
contrasts !
