Last month my business partner, Em Buntha and I closed escrow on a wonderful parcel of land on Norodom Boulevard, four buildings down from the 'Independence Monument' in downtown Phnom Penh. A very prestigious address in a very fashionable district.
The property has two large, single-family residences. We determined this was not the highest and best use of the land and the homes are now in the process of being demolished. (It should be noted, the homes were of no architectural or historic value).
The process of demolition and development in Cambodia is not even vaguely similar to the United States. This demolition job is a case in point. To begin with, not only did we not pay a penny for the demolition, instead--the demolition contractor paid us for the privilege of carting-off an estimated 65,000-tons of brick, concrete, steel, windows, doors, hardware, tiles and fixtures. And get this, nothing will go to the dump. Everything will be sold. Even the broken bricks and shards of concrete. No wrecking ball, no crane, no bulldozer, no front-end loader. Instead we have 30 fellows with 30 sledge-hammers. The rubble is carried to one of five, mini-dump trucks, in wicker baskets, no less, which in turn, whisk off to deliver their bounty to awaiting buyers.
Joining me at the work site in these photographs are Kavita, Lisa and Long. Kavita and Lisa are both Australians working here in Phnom Penh. Kavita is of Malaysian decent. Long is Khmer (Cambodian) but educated in the United States and speaks with an 'American' accent, both in English and Khmer. I love to tease Long that he looks more like a Mexican gardener than any Cambodian. All three of these folks are wonderful Spirits and I really enjoy their company.
The property has two large, single-family residences. We determined this was not the highest and best use of the land and the homes are now in the process of being demolished. (It should be noted, the homes were of no architectural or historic value).
The process of demolition and development in Cambodia is not even vaguely similar to the United States. This demolition job is a case in point. To begin with, not only did we not pay a penny for the demolition, instead--the demolition contractor paid us for the privilege of carting-off an estimated 65,000-tons of brick, concrete, steel, windows, doors, hardware, tiles and fixtures. And get this, nothing will go to the dump. Everything will be sold. Even the broken bricks and shards of concrete. No wrecking ball, no crane, no bulldozer, no front-end loader. Instead we have 30 fellows with 30 sledge-hammers. The rubble is carried to one of five, mini-dump trucks, in wicker baskets, no less, which in turn, whisk off to deliver their bounty to awaiting buyers.
Joining me at the work site in these photographs are Kavita, Lisa and Long. Kavita and Lisa are both Australians working here in Phnom Penh. Kavita is of Malaysian decent. Long is Khmer (Cambodian) but educated in the United States and speaks with an 'American' accent, both in English and Khmer. I love to tease Long that he looks more like a Mexican gardener than any Cambodian. All three of these folks are wonderful Spirits and I really enjoy their company.
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