A nationwide garment worker strike intensified yesterday with at least one violent clash, even as authorities and Ministry of Labour officials agreed to continue negotiations with labour unions and industry officials on Monday.

More than 1,000 strikers blocked Russian Boulevard in front of the Labour Ministry yesterday, as union groups continued to demand a minimum monthly wage of $160 for garment workers next year - rather than the $95 announced Tuesday - and six additional points including a daily $3 food allowance for all workers.

Garment workers currently earn a minimum wage of $80, which includes a $5 health bonus.

A meeting of six union groups and Labour Ministry officials yesterday ended with no resolution, but the unions – the Free Trade Union (FTU), the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW), the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), the Coalition of Cambodian Unions (CCU), the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU), the Worker Friendship Union Federation (WFUF) and the Independent Youth Trade Union (IYTU) – will gather again Monday morning at the ministry for a negotiating session with the the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), said C.CAWDU president Ath Thorn, who attended this afternoon's meeting.

Monday's meeting appears to be a sincere effort on the government's part to renegotiate the $95 minimum wage, said Dave Welsh, country director of labour rights group Solidarity Center.

"I'm pretty confident that they're looking to renegotiate the minimum wage they announced," Welsh said after the meeting.

Waiting outside the ministry during the meeting, Sen Peak, a 22-year-old garment worker, said the struggle for a living wage has swayed her toward supporting the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, which has been conducting a series of daily protests for nearly two weeks now.

"We can't live on so little," Peak said. "There is too much corruption here, which is why we join the CNRP."

GMAC, which on Thursday issued a "strong" suggestion to its 473 member factories to shutter operations until Monday out of fear of strike-related violence and property damage, reported that 240 factories within a 40-kilometre radius of Phnom Penh have been affected.

At least one violent incident occurred on Friday, when police blocked a large group of workers bound for Freedom Park as they attempted to march inside the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone on National Road 4 at about 8:30am, said Hui Pichsovann of the Community Legal Education Center.

Demonstrators were beaten with electrified batons during the ensuing clash, with at least one man hospitalised for injuries he received, said Pichsovann, who arrived on scene shortly after the violence. Between three and seven people were detained by police, he added, though at least three were released.

Police on hand fired warning rounds into the air, but did not aim at demonstrators, Pichsovann said.

BEAN THERE, NOT DONE THAT
The Southern Daily Echo in the UK reports that a Hampshire teenager Tazmin Hollands, 14, publicly immersed herself in a bath full of baked bean for four hours in a shopping centre, to raise money for a trip to Beng Mealea and Siem Reap. Once here, Tazmin will help build classrooms, support a reforestation project and teach food and hygiene and English.

The baked bean bath was not as relaxing as a session at, say, Bodia Spa and Tazmin told the English newspaper, "It was freezing and my feet went numb and I felt quite sick but I refused to get out until 2pm."

She added, "I would like to thank everyone who supported me and sponsored me for my baked bean bath. I managed to raise £237 ([US$387) on the day and, with all the other sponsors, the total will be around £800 ($1300), so that is brilliant."

GAMBLING BLUES VIET-STLE
According to DTriNews, Cambodia is the new go-to place for Vietnamese cai luong singers, comedians and circus artists, due to a high demand from Vietnamese expats.

DTriNews reports, "In Siem Reap, most of the shows are organised in the yards, halls of local schools or unoccupied stores and stadiums near the Angkor Temple complex. While there are many free Cai Luong shows organised by local pagodas, Vietnamese expats prefer the variety shows even though the ticket prices can be as high as $40 per person."

But the Vietnamese performers who come here to make a big buck, often end up out of luck after frequenting casinos because they are banned from such dubious establishments back home.

One performer, Chau Thanh, told the news service that many Viet artists have lengthened their stay just to gamble at the casinos near Moc Bai border, Phnom Penh or Siem Reap until they lose all they have made.

BOOK AND TOY DRIVE
Phare, the Cambodian Circus, Shinta Mani and Travel Indochina have started a book and educational toy drive. Books and toy for kids under 15 collected by these organisations are distributed by two NGOS – Build Your Future Today and Phare Ponleu Selpak.

Shinta Mani general manager Christian de Boer said, "I personally hope our guests and other likeminded tourists will bring their favorite children's books, already loved or new, and kids' toys from home and drop them in the various collection boxes around Siem Reap."

Build Your Future Today supports 25 villages in Siem Reap province by stocking school libraries with learning materials. Phare Ponleu Selpak, based in Battambang, provides free education to 1,200 disadvantaged youngsters.

SHORTS
Trending city: TripAdvisor claims that the fourth most "trending city to visit" in Asia is Siem Reap. Number 1 city is Kathmandu, Sapporo number 2, and Hanoi number 3. Siem Reap was also named by TripAdvisor as the number 5 of top 25 Asian destinations.

Socially worthy job: PEPY is seeking a communications and fund raising manager for a mid-February start for 6 months. No salary, but a $70 per month accommodation stipend will be provided and costs of visa will be covered.

Dirty doings: Hariharalaya Retreat Centre will hold a permaculture course next year from March 2-22, with the cost being $850 to $1100, depending on accommodation. Instructors include internationally renowned Rico Zook and Nic Gunton. Organisers say, "This course is an excellent and comprehensive introduction into regenerative systems design with between 100 to 120 hours of curriculum."

Mangled English at its best: Kingdom Angkor Hotel features "Kingdom Dinning" and promises that "All food is well prepared by our expert chef, let us cater your meeting, conference, or other events and we will ensure it is access and appetites of your guests are magnificent by satisfied."

If they lost land, on what do they live and work? They live in the sky? There has been no loss.

Street 105, famed for its pungent sewage canal, is hardly the setting that comes to mind when thinking about where to have a meal. The area that links the upcoming Russian Market neighbourhood with the already upmarket Boeung Keng Kang could do with an upgrade.

That's where Pujanyatan Yeung, or Our Restaurant in English, comes in. The restaurant is a bright, friendly affair, decorated by an orange awning strung with pretty fairy lights, and furnished with western style floor lamps and wooden tables and chairs. Since it opened around two months ago, the place has been crowded with young Cambodians.

In addition to the restaurant's name on the awning, the menu is in Khmer. With a Cambodian friend, I ordered two traditional dishes to share: beef lok lak ($4) and barbecued beef steak ($4.50).

Both dishes came with a generous serving of rice, and raw vegetables: carrot, cucumber, green tomato and cabbage as well as spicy pickles and pepper and salt with lime juice for the meat.

The service was faultless: the lok lak arrived within ten minutes, and the steak soon after - but not before we'd finished, so I didn't feel rushed. Our waitress installed a bucket of cold Angkor beers next to us and kept replenishing our glasses with the beer and large blocks of ice.

The lok lak was succulent and the beef steak also extremely tender: pink on the inside, juicy, but not underdone. When our waitress cut the steak, she revealed cloves of garlic pushed through the centre of the meat, giving a distinct punch to the taste.

Our Restaurant is a lovely place to dine: soft lighting gives it a homely feel, and the staff go at just the right pace. Christmas trees made from tinsel decorate the walls, and some of the staff were wearing reindeer horns and Santa hats. Cambodian pop music was playing; Spiderman 3 was broadcast from a TV screen on the back wall.

Srey Pou Moot, who opened the restaurant two months ago with her husband, said their idea was to cater to a growing number of Cambodians interested in a fancier dining experience. She said people are increasingly expecting a clean, homely setting like that of Our Restaurant - at affordable prices. Management is currently working on translating the menu into English - so soon it might not just be Cambodians enjoying this hidden gem.
#133, Street 105.

The National Olympic Committee released its list of SEA Games medalists yesterday along with remunerations to be paid to each athlete and coach in accordance with the government's subdecree on rewarding international sporting achievement.

Gold medals earn 40 million riel (US$9,980) each, silvers collect 30 million riel and bronzes 16 million riel. Coaches receive the equivalent value to that of their best athlete's or team's medal, while assistant coaches get 70 per cent of this amount.

The total to be paid out by the government comes to just under $800,000. The group of players set to bank the most money was surprisingly sepak takraw/chinlone with an expected windfall of 1.04 billion riel.

Despite bringing home two silvers and six bronzes compared to the wrestling team's four golds, two silvers and four bronzes, the skilled rattan ball jugglers, many of whom won medals in both disciplines, saw the riels roll in due to multi-member squads. Vovinam also forced the government to dig deep into its pockets with numerous team medals.

Not many artists can lay claim to having their work in both Angkor Wat and the Vatican, but former soldier and landmine survivor Chhay Saron has achieved both, and is possibly Cambodia's most prominent Christian sculptor.

Chhay has been selected as Park Hyatt Siem Reap's first artist-in-residence, and is spending a month carving his religious wooden sculptures outside the gallery every Thursday. The program aims to showcase talented local artists and allow them more public exposure.

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"We thought with the imagery of these particular carvings it works very well over the Christmas/New Year periods," Hyatt curator Sasha Constable says. "So the idea was to have Saron in here once a week for four or five weeks. It's a way for the public to see the amount of work that goes into a small carving, let alone a large one. Saron really is one of a kind and is an extremely good carver and has an amazing story."

Chhay's journey to artist is indeed an unusual one. Formerly a soldier in the Cambodian army, he was discharged at the age of 25 after losing his leg in a landmine accident. In 1985, after five months of rehabilitation, he went to live at the Site Two refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border. He began working in a Christian technical school for people with disabilities and became increasingly interested in wood and stone carving, eventually being nominated as director of the school.

Hyatt co-curator Oun Sovann says, "He saw teachers teaching the students about sculpture and he was interested to see the artwork. He spent some time just learning by himself, asking the art teachers about the techniques they used."

In 1988 Chhay was asked to carve a sculpture of Mother Mary and this became the first of many commissions depicting Christian imagery. He moved to Siem Reap seven years ago and began going to church. In 2008 Chhay, his wife and his children made the decision to convert to Christianity.

"He worked with a church many years," Savann says. "And then in 2006 he started to change from Buddhism to Christianity because he'd been working with these people for a long time, learning more about the religion. He started to feel more Christian, and during his work he saw the activity of these people, how they helped those less fortunate. That's why he is now also helping people."

Chhay now employs six artists with disabilities at his workshop, who carve religious sculptures in wood and stone largely as commissions for churches both in Cambodia and abroad. One of his sculptures is even in the Pope's collection in the Vatican, given as a present to former Pope John Paul II in 1994.

Chhay says his favourite sculpture is Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms.

"Actually this is Mary but in the Khmer custom, Apsara look," Sovann says, indicating the Apsara head-dress that 'Mary' is wearing. "The idea came from a Khmer lady who lived in France. She saw that different countries in the world made Mary and Child carvings in different customs according to that country, so when she came here, she suggested it to him."

Chhay also helped Constable with her restoration project at Angkor Wat last year, recreating the lost carvings of Apsara figures for the gallery roof.

"At the time I was just thinking that there is no one else in the world who has a sculpture in the Vatican, and one in Angkor Wat," Constable says. "I just think that's an amazing achievement – he is the man.

"We did a project together where we carved four replica sculptures which would have originally been on the roof of the Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery. We had to piece the fragments back together and replicate them. They're currently being weathered and when they look older they'll be put there so the public can see what the skyline would have looked like, because it would have been completely different."

Chhay first caught the Constable's eye several years ago when his workshop was on the road to Banteay Srey.

"Every time I went to Kulen or Banteay Srey I would see his workshop on the side of the road," she says. "I just kept thinking, I must stop there one day and see who this man is because it's bizarre seeing a Madonna on the side of the road in Cambodia which is predominantly Buddhist."

Constable was eventually introduced to Chhay through a mutual friend and started working with him on various projects, including the collaboration at Angkor Wat in 2012.

Chhay will be in residency at the Hyatt gallery every Thursday from 1.30-5pm, until early January 2014.

Old lady terrorism, in the form of a pimped up and yarn-bombed or crocheted tuk-tuk will form a big part of the Sok San Street Festival, a community arts festival organised by artist and photographer Tori Green in bid to celebrate the area and unite locals and expats, to be held on January 26.

"I've always been inspired by the Sok San area," says Green. "There's always been a little buzz down there that's made it feel like it could be an alternative area, away from the usual tourist attractions. It could be something more artistic.

"But Sok San Road's also had its difficulties, the mixture of incoming expat businesses with the local communities has caused some problems at times so I thought it would be wonderful if we could all come together as a community, and have a celebration about how well it's going down in that street."

The festival will kick off at 10am and run throughout the day, continuing into the evening.

"During the day we'll have community art stuff so we're going to work with the kids," Green says. "We're going to use some of the recycled stuff we picked up from the Clean Up Temple Town campaign, and we can make that rubbish into art."

Among the volunteers helping Green is teacher Amy Freeman, who has yarn-bombed a tuk tuk and will be inviting people to "bling their wheels" on the day.

"Amy's been involved in the arts community work on a very grass roots level for a long time," Green says.

"As far as we know it is the first ever yarn bombing done in Cambodia, and certainly the first tuk tuk. It's a method of art – I call it old lady terrorism. She crocheted it with plastic string. The owner Mr K has been driving the finished tuk tuk around for a week now and is stopped for photographs by tourists often, as well as inspiring local tuk tuks who all want to know how to make their own.

"We're going to challenge everybody to bling their wheels."

There will also be a monk's blessing, a community feast, face painting, art workshops, live music, DJs and a fancy dress competition.

"In the afternoon we'll have our first live music at 2pm and start to draw people down for that nice, afternoon, chill-out festival feel," Green says.

"We're going to do a skate workshop. We've got an ex pro-skateboarder in town and a wonderful female skateboarder, and they're going to be running that. We'll be doing a graffiti workshop so they can design their own skateboards as well."

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Green says Sok San Road is slowly but surely losing its drunken backpacker reputation with the recent addition of some new shops and restaurants, and she hopes this festival will help cement it as a new artsy area.

Sok San Street Festival is linked to Green's Hand in Heart Project, which provides support and mentorship to untrained, talented young artists.

"It's kind of part of that work that I do," she says. "So it's not really to raise money, it's to raise community and to put more art up as well.

"I want this to be the first, not the last, and it's also about testing the water for festivals and arts in the community. Art can be very highbrow, but it's a very wonderful thing. It helps us express ourselves, gain different talents and for young people it's brilliant for when they're learning, and it's also a very therapeutic process."

The pre-Angkorian site of Sambor Prei Kuk came under consideration this year to be added to the new historical and natural sites on the World Heritage list. But it wasn't to be, and the UNESCO committee decided to defer discussion about the site until it meets again in 2014. This gives time for the Cambodian team to refine its bid and its management plans for the temple complex.

Sambor Prei Kuk, in Kompong Thom province, was once the city of Isanapura, the capital of the kingdom of Chenla, which thrived under the reign of King Isanavarman I (c.610-c.635).

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Today many seventh and eighth century temples still remain, pre-dating the temples of Angkor by at least a couple of hundred years. There were once over 100 temples scattered in this area, and now around 50 are still recognisable.

Stylistically they are different to temples in Angkor Park and certainly lack the grandeur of Angkor Wat or Preah Khan. Some of the square towers built in sandstone are similar to the temples of early Angkor, whilst others are octagonal and made from brick.

Many are in remarkable condition considering their age. The École française d'Extrême-Orient cleared the site in the 1960s, but factional fighting meant it was closed to visitors until 1998. A team from Waseda University in Japan is now working alongside the Ministry of Culture on restoration projects.

Many of the temples still have original stucco reliefs clinging to their exterior walls. In many cases, where stucco has disappeared, the incredible brick relief still remains. Figures peer down from ornately decorated false windows, and lions fiercely guard the giant doorways.

Inside the temples, giant yonis hint at the sizeable lingas which were once the focus of worship. Huge strangler fig trees envelope some towers in a considerably more impressive way than anything at Ta Prohm. There is something magical about walking through the sub-tropical forests between each of the three main temple sites.

In this temple enthusiast's opinion, Sambor Prei Kuk is one of the most interesting and atmospheric group of temples in Cambodia. Long-term residents of Siem Reap really have no excuse not to visit, as the complex is about a 40-minute tuktuk ride from Kompong Thom city, through beautiful countryside.

Expats are likely to have passed through the town countless times on the interminable journey between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, and it makes sense to hop off the bus and spend time exploring the area.

The services of highly trained guides at Sambor Prei Kuk are indispensable as they can assist with an overview of the original layout and provide historical background. A guide costs just $6 and $1 dollar of that goes into the local community fund. Guides can also arrange homestays.

Kompong Thom also has several hotel options and the delightful Sambor Village, a small resort on the quiet southern bank of the Stung Seng river, is highly recommended. Each semi-detached bungalow is set amongst lush greenery with private terrace and cute tiled roof.

Inside, exposed beams, tiled floors and simple four-poster beds add to the rustic charm. A restaurant and bar are in a traditional Khmer wooden house, which overlooks a good-sized pool, the perfect place to sink a few beers after a day in the humid forest.

Arunas Hotel, close to the market, is another option and also has a traditional Khmer menu. Run Amok, a Kiwi/ Khmer-owned restaurant close to Sambor Village serves delicious pizzas, pastas and burgers.

Buses, minivans and taxis pass through Kompong Thom regularly so it is easy to break up a journey between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh for a unique temple adventure.

Benedicta Bywater, 29, is the founder and CEO of Safe Haven Children's Trust, a UK-based charity that funds Mlop Children's Home just outside of Phnom Penh. The home focuses on transitional care for children and prioritises keeping families together where possible. Benedicta decided to set it up after volunteering at an orphanage five years ago, after realising what damage institutional care does to young children. She spoke to Emily Wight about the problems with the orphanage business in Cambodia and why it's so important for children to be brought up by families rather than institutions.

What was your experience of volunteering at a Cambodian orphanage?
I came here five years ago to volunteer at an orphanage. I was 24 and didn't know anything about any of it. I wasn't asked for a criminal records check, and my passport wasn't checked when I arrived there. I could easily have been alone with the kids. There were 45 kids to two caregivers. They had drop-in volunteering where anyone could just turn up, so they had a constant stream of unvetted volunteers. Also, many of the kids weren't orphans. People called them "economic orphans" when their parents were poor. That's not an orphan. These parents are just poor and want their children to have an education, which just sounds like boarding school to me.

What are the problems that arise from children being taken care of in orphanages rather than by their families?
More and more research shows that the impact of institutional care on a child, particularly bad institutional care, is very strong. It causes issues with attachment and bonding later in life. It can also have an impact on IQ, and the psychological and neurological development of the child. In order to have a happy and healthy new generation, you've got to give them a happy and healthy start, and that, sadly, is something that does not happen in orphanages. We do have residential care, but I would still rather see them happy with their families, and I also don't think a dependence on charities and international NGOs is the best way – I think where possible, being self-sufficient is the best way.

How did your experience lead you to open up Safe Haven Children's Trust?
I thought, "this is not OK." You could see the changes that needed to be made. I spoke to the manager, Pheakdey, about it – he's now my co-director – and he agreed, he said he was new and that he would like to be somewhere that did things properly. I suddenly said, "I'll do it with you".

Are there rules and regulations here in terms of social work and child protection?
Yes, but they're not enforced enough. The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation has guidelines on minimum standards for alternative care, and they are supposed to be adhered to, but they aren't. If organisations were sticking to them they'd be quite high – I've got quite a lot of time for the guidelines, I think they're pretty solid and well-researched. Ultimately [child protection] should be primarily a government responsibility.

At Mlop Children's Home, how do you assess the needs of the child in question, to ensure they really need residential care?
We'll investigate their cases. Pheakdey will have case files that are just one sentence long, and he'll drive around, and he can ask questions and he's found a lot of families that way. We found cases where actually the child hadn't been abandoned. Had we not chosen to seriously investigate these cases ourselves, desperately trying to chase families, there would be a lot of children in orphanages with no families. Over the past two years we've had at least half of the children back with their families.

What would you say to someone in the same position as yourself five years ago, wanting to come over and help in an orphanage for a few weeks?
Don't do it. I think an orphanage is not the place to go, and certainly not a short-term orphanage placement – it's not the right thing for the children. Also, if you're going to volunteer somewhere and they don't ask you for sufficient checks, don't go. And don't make drop-in visits to orphanages part of your tour. If you had a kid, would you let somebody come into your house and play with them for an hour and a half if they gave you enough food for an afternoon? If you wouldn't let a stranger come into your house and play with your kid, you shouldn't let it happen in an orphanage.

3D printers have given the US technology industry a boost. Bennett Murray meets the brothers who are introducing the idea to Cambodia.

One of the world's most curious tech toys has arrived in the Kingdom: the 3D printer. The concept, so new that even its pioneers aren't quite sure what to do with it, is in Phnom Penh courtesy of a pair of Cambodian-American brothers who aim to make the city a hub for the burgeoning technology.

Ki How Tran, 23 and Ki Chong, 26, founded a firm, Arc Hub, in October, intended to teach people how to use the printers after Ki Chong learned about the technology while working sales for an aerospace company in Los Angeles. After researching the possibilities, Chong decided to bring one printer to his ancestral homeland.

"It kept snowballing, so eventually I thought, let's bring it to Cambodia and they can use it," he said in an interview in Phnom Penh.

Their short term plan is to begin 3D printing classes next month at SmallWorld, a collaborative work place and business resource centre in Toul Kork. With the help of two recent architecture graduates, who will focus on the software aspect of 3D printing, Kiw How and Ki Chong plan to teach their students everything from the design aspect to the physical construction of the devices.

The brothers' own first printer arrived dissembled from the US and had to be constructed by Ki How.

"I had never even seen one until I built one," he said. Without any prior experience, it has been up to the brothers to figure out for themselves how to make the technology work.

"I want to teach students from the very beginning how to wire everything - how to set everything up, so they can say that Cambodia has built its first 3D printer," said Ki How Tran.

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The devices, which were invented in the 1980s and popularised in the early 2010s, turn digitally designed 3D graphics into tangible objects through a process of sequential layering. Although some hi-tech models can create objects out of metal and even live cells, most 3D printers use plastic.

The hope, said Ki How, is that 3D printers will one day replace physical couriers. "Ideally, every major city will have a 3D printer, so you wouldn't really need to ship."

The possibilities are endless, with everything from food to human organs potentially printable. US President Barack Obama gave tech engineers a morale boost when he highlighted the printers as a potential source for new hi-tech jobs last February.

A Texas man made headlines after designing a functional firearm made almost entirely with a 3D printer. There has been negative news too: the controversy of 3D printed hand guns.

For good or bad, this year saw enormous growth in varieties of printer, some of which reached their lowest yet prices at around $199.

But despite the hype, 3D printing is yet to hit its stride. It was only a matter of weeks ago that 3D systems announced a full-tone printer that could create rainbow-coloured objects.

"That's pretty much everyone's question: what are people going to use it for?" said Ki Chong.

In Cambodia, he suggested, 3D printers could mean mass production on a cheaper budget.

"You don't need giant factories, land, huge investments of even a very high level of technical skill to make things using 3D printing.

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"It allows countries with very little resources, like Cambodia, to create things uniquely for themselves that otherwise would have been mass-produced by giant factories in China or Vietnam."

Va Chenda, a 22-year-old graphic designer for Arc Hub, said the printing will offer an outlet for Cambodia's creatives.

"With 3D printing, anyone can be a designer. They can design their own thing and bring it out, instead of just going to the market and buying the same thing as a million other things in the market."

Chenda also said that the technology presents the potential for cheap manufacturing in the Kingdom that goes beyond the garment sector.

"If we compare to the startup costs of factories, and the cost of the machines for the printers, [3D printing] is cheaper. You can sell their designs online, so you can get a profit without steep costs."

The brothers, who own two printers imported from the US, have thus far printed objects with varying degrees of success. The team managed to create a spare gear for a sewing machine that Ki How Tran estimated would have otherwise cost around $200 to replace, but a plastic sculpture of US comedian Stephen Colbert ended up looking like a deformed Abraham Lincoln due to a hardware malfunction.

Both brothers agreed, however, that the point of experimenting with 3D printing today is to get onboard with the technology before its practical uses take off in full force.

Ki Chong compared 3D printing to the early days of the Internet, or computers, adding it had the potential to "fundamentally disrupt and change how things are made, but no one knows exactly how or what is going to be made.

"If you compare 3D printing to the Internet, we are before the time of email, instant messaging, or news websites, which showed the practical applications of the Internet," he said.

"No one back then could have predicted smartphones, Twitter, Facebook, crowd-funding, couch-surfing, and so on, which all fundamentally changed the way we do business and interact with each other."

"I want to bring 3D printing to Cambodia so people can learn about it and use it at the same time as the rest of the world, while it is still a new technology, so Cambodia won't be left behind, but instead be in the front, leading the way."​

Arc Hub, a work space where 3D printing skills are taught, can be found at #17 Street 604, Touk Kork, Phnom Penh.

Midway between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Bronze Lake Resort has become a haven for daytripping local families. But how does it serve as a weekend retreat? Emily Wight finds out.

In my mind, golf buggies have always been rather comical contraptions used to ferry around rich Americans on glamorous TV shows. That was before last weekend, when I found myself riding one around the grounds of an extravagant hotel: Bronze Lake Resort in Kampong Thom province.

Imagine what would happen if you crossed a holiday village with a Disney theme park, and you'll get something close to Bronze Lake, a resort spread across a whopping 46 hectares of land just west of Kampong Thmar town. It's like nothing else in Cambodia. I half expected there to be a wooden cabinet somewhere that would burst open to reveal Shrek-style wooden dolls performing a dance extolling the virtues of their town. The place is spotlessly clean, the flowers and plants immaculately pruned. The chalets, with their pointed roofs, have an Angkorian exterior, but their interior is much more Western. Just in case, there's a doctor's surgery onsite. I wasn't sure whether to find that disturbing or reassuring. The entire resort, located between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and not far from the temple attractions of Sambor Prei Kuk, is built around a huge man-made lake.

Artificiality is a theme here, the most intrusive example being a replica statue of the Preah Vihear temple, behind which lies the foundations of a replica Angkor Wat currently under construction, and a facsimile National Museum. There was hardly anybody there (we were told there were four other rooms booked, but we only saw two other people). It was like having a glimpse of Cambodia's answer to the Las Vegas playground, before anybody actually arrived.

The resort is the vision of Nhem Thavy, a CPP lawmaker who grew up in the US. As well as being the political representative of the local area, he is the chief executive of Krong Teuk, the private company behind Bronze Lake Resort. Talking about his replica landmarks, Thavy is convinced that he is doing the Cambodian people a great service, because those who cannot afford to travel to the temples of Angkor can see the next best thing at the resort.

"People don't have much money to travel, so if I have a replica model they can come and look at it, just to give them an idea close to home of what we have in Siem Reap," he said.

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It's a shame, then, that the cheapest rooms, 17 "singlets" with their own swimming pools, cost $80 per night. Surely that's expensive – especially for those who apparently can't afford a bus ticket to Siem Reap. Chalets, in a separate part of the resort called Koh Romdoul Island, are even steeper at $120.

For now, most of Bronze Lake Resort's business comes from day-trippers. Deputy director Tourn Kiv, who showed us around, said that on national holidays, Cambodian families flock to the resort to use the water slides, zip line, driving range, and bicycles. They're opening up for Western traditions too: on New Year's Eve next week, they're expecting 150 visitors. While we drove around in our buggy, labourers were constructing a platform for a barbecue, clearing space for a cocktail reception and pruning the plants in the surrounding flowerbeds. Kiv said that they had ordered tents for people to stay in, given the high demand.

Despite the oddities there's no denying Bronze Lake is a pleasant place to stay. The chalets on Koh Romdoul are stylish and spacious, each with their own jetty emerging onto the lake, with a seating area and steps leading into the water (though Kiv told us we couldn't go into the lake there). Our chalet had a big four poster bed in the main room, and a single bed, coffee table and sofa in an adjoining room. The bathroom was big and clean, though I couldn't work out why the toilet was behind a see-through door, in a room so small it was almost like stepping into a closet.

One irritation was that the accommodation seemed rather like it was trying so hard to be luxurious that it forgot some of the basics. The design was clearly attempting fanciness with its jacuzzi nozzles in the bath and a curious yet extravagant flow of water down one of the bedroom walls, but the bath had no shower, the hot and cold taps were difficult to manage and the water feature made a disturbing sucking and gurgling sound that led us to switch it off.

On top of this, several aspects of the place suggested it wasn't yet ready for guests. Behind our chalet was what we were told was a "Lobby Lounge", intended to be a kind of hang-out area for guests with a bar and sofas. Unfortunately, it wasn't yet open. Next to the lounge was a rectangular infinity pool, complete with sun loungers and a bar – also closed. When I asked Kiv if the bar was ever open for guests, he said yes, but that guests should ask at the restaurant for a staff member to go there.

Another promise that was difficult to imagine realised; it seemed that the staff hadn't quite got their heads around how the place would work with more people there.

The resort's location is just waiting to be exploited. Buses between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh drive down the nearby main road; Sambor Prei Kuk, an interesting day trip into Cambodia's ancient past, is little over an hour away by car. But while we were picked up from a gas station in Kampong Thmar, it would be a hassle for other travellers to make this same arrangement without calling ahead in advance. Likewise, we were taken to Sambor Prei Kuk, but there's not yet a way for other guests to get there without spending $120 extra on a private car with Kiv – not a good deal. A hotel minivan would be a much better idea.

Bronze Lake Resort has got potential. Its location presents a huge opportunity. From our golf buggy, we witnessed the building of one man's dream right before our eyes. In anticipation of the New Year guests, labourers were constructing a platform for a barbecue, clearing space for a cocktail reception and ensuring that not a flower was out of place.

Once the kinks are ironed out, the place could eventually be a worthwhile stop between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

This year has been a pivotal one for Cambodia. The return of the opposition leader Sam Rainsy and the July elections have changed the political landscape.As well as upheaval, there's plenty of hope. Here are some of the highlights, from the movers and shakers of 2013, and a few from us.

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Artist Sopheap Pich

Favourite art exhibition: "Chov Theanly at Java Cafe several months ago. Theanly uses the human figure in a photo realist manner to convey stories of aspirations and yearning in a way that is sincere and direct. Although I found some weaknesses in his paintings – things that I am sure he will do differently later – he doesn't shy away from the technical issues that are challenging in figuration such as depicting specific characters of his models."
Favourite new artist: "Yim Maline. Maline, who is from Battambang, studied in France for a few years and has been living in Siem Reap for the past several years. I first saw her works through Sa Sa Bassac a couple of years ago. I was struck by her detailed pencil on paper drawings of surrealistic depictions of childhood, either dreams or memories or the combination of both. I am a big fan of things done with acute attention to details and I've always been an advocate of drawing as a basis for any visual artists, especially emerging ones."

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Political analyst Chea Vannath

Significant political moment: "The day opposition party leader Sam Rainsy returned was the most significant political moment in 2013. Not his return but the crowd that went and greeted him. That was historic in the Cambodian context. Before, people did not dare speak up or stand on the street. To have to more than 100,000 people lining up to greet the opposition party leader is a big step in the political Cambodian history. Somehow Prime Minister Hun Sen became more acculturated to democracy. He didn't violently react to the protest. So this was a turning point for democracy."

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Ruom collective photographers

Most intense moment: Covering the clashes near Monivong Bridge [on the first night of protests after the election]. Thomas faced the hardest moment when a young man was shot dead right in front of him, which really brought the danger he was in photographing the riot crashing down"
Funniest moment of 2013: Our funniest moment, amongst many, was maybe when in front of the British Embassy Rainsy staff confused the Australian flag with the British flag, it was during the three-day protest which started off with delivering a petition to the UN and the following days Rainsy and Sokha visited several embassies.
Biggest disappointment of 2013: The end of Breaking Bad. We're just simply disappointed that it is over and there is nothing of its scale to take its place.

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Luu meng, star chef

The best meal I ate: "I had a nice natural, small salmon at a restaurant in Paris' Rungis market. It was very nicely cooked, with a touch of steaming cooking oil and mild seasoning. It was a beautiful meal with my partners and team. It's not easy to get this kind of quality in Cambodia. I dreamed one day maybe we can."
The best meal I cooked: "What really made me happy was helping Cambodian rice [winner of the 'World's Best Rice' award in November for the fragrant variety]. I was part of the charge to choose the rice, and it became the best rice in the world, and we made a beautiful menu. We served the premium rice with prahok, or with bong kong [giant freshwater shrimp] and with green mango salad."

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Rithy Panh,filmmaker

My greatest moment: "Winning the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes in May for my film The Missing Picture was a great moment for all of us. When you make a film it's not only you, it's the many, many people around you also. And in every big competition when you are lucky to be nominated you come with your film but also with your country with you. So I was very happy to see young people's reaction on social networks. They are proud."

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Ou Ritthy, political analyst

The most significant political moment: "The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) secured 55 seats of the 123 National Assembly seats during the July's national election. This election result suggests the fact the winning parties have a nearly equal and balanced legislative power, if CNRP joins the National Assembly. The election result has created a more confident political climate for CNRP's supporters and helped reduce political discrimination against opposition supporters by CPP's local authorities especially village and commune chiefs, due to almost 50 per cent of the votes the CPP and CNRP obtained. Additionally, peaceful protests and demonstrations of opposition CNRP's supporters, garment factory workers, local community people, land and environmental activists, Buddhist monks, sellers and so on are happening everyday nationwide. Impressively enough, when CNRP's supporters from provinces come to protest in Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh populaces especially the middle class have supported them with food, water, and clothes. This is positive in the sense that Cambodian rural and urban people are being well bridged."

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Kavich Neang, Young filmmaker

Best moment: "I am very humbled to say that my best moment of the year in Cambodia was when my first mid-length documentary film Where I Go [following a young Cambodian-Cameroonian boy whose father was stationed in Phnom Penh during the UNTAC period] was opened for the public audiences, especially for Cambodian audiences. It is quite important for me to share my work and the history of Cambodia to the new generations of Cambodia. Our history is something we need to understand now and we should carry it with us. Another best moment is when I started travelling with my film to international film festivals [it was screened at Busan Film Festival in South Korea among others]. I really enjoy what I am doing. This year has inspired me a lot in term of film skills and also the people and filmmakers I met. My next goal is to learn and produce more films about Cambodia."

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Kounila Keo, Blogger

Best moment in technology: "The best moment could be when many voters were empowered by social media to keep each other informed during the elections or when the Minister of Information broke the news of the result of the 2013 elections on his Facebook page. Technology has never been this fun!"

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The Cambodian Space Project

Srey Chanthy, lead singer's best performance: "The jail in Australia, a show for 300 prisoners who were mostly aboriginal. It was a very special moment, they kept me locked in the control room while the musicians set up then when I came to sing I think they expected to hear English and no-one could understand my language. It was a bit scary but then everyone including the prisoners and the guards were very excited by our concert."
Julien Poulson, band member's best night: "A show at the FCC where we were joined by Blind Nyel and The Musicians of Bou Sra [Bunong ethnic minority musicians] made me feel lucky to live in a place where diverse cultures can come together. The moment when Nyel Cla, 'Grandpa Tiger,' jumped on stage to dance with us was amazing: the 91-year-old danced like a 30 year old."

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Mu Sochua, CNRP lawmaker-elect

"2013 was the year of a new beginning for those who gave it all to the electoral campaign for the Cambodia National Rescue Party. Pdho or 'change' became the word that had a political, economic and social significance. On the campaign trail, people from across generations shared the same dream: a better, fairer Cambodia."

Alan flux, Designer for A.N.D

Best fashion find: "A pair of winkle-picker flip-flops from BKK Market – a snip at $5. And the best thing we made for A.N.D was a tiny range of black jersey dresses with a rather hilarious kitten cartoon print in neon pink – sold out very soon and we even had a small tussle or cat fight over the last one."

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Tep Vanny, Land rights activist

Human rights victory: "When Yorm Bopha was released [on bail, in November]. Also, this year the Boeung Kak activists received three human rights awards. I went to The Hague in Holland to collect the Golden Butterfly: A Matter of ACT Human Rights Award at Amnesty International's Movies that Matter Film Festival. We also received the Leadership in Public Life Award by Vital Voices in Washington DC, and the Freedom Award in Malaysia earlier this month. Winning these awards is so important, because it makes our feeling of community even stronger. Before, people didn't know much about Boeung Kak but now they do, and it sends a message to the government about human rights issues in Cambodia."

Best new species

2013 was a red letter year for Cambodian ornithologists with the discovery of a distinct new species right under their noses. Researchers announced in June they had discovered 100 birds belonging to the the species they are calling the Cambodian tailorbird – including one within the city limits at Choeung Ek. The small wren-sized bird has a cinnamon-coloured tuft on its head and a loud song.

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Best opposition party holiday snaps

There has been speculation that the partnership between opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha was only a marriage of convenience. But (nearly) all doubt was cast aside when Rainsy posted photos on Facebook of his weekend away with Sokha in October on Rabbit Island. Rainsy was shown frolicking about on the beach.

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Best new openings

Neighbourhood restaurant: A toss-up between Mexican charmer Alma and Italian powerhouse Piccolo Italia Da Luigi, or, simply, 'Luigi's'. Alma's beloved for its home-cooking and delicious dulce de leche but Luigi's got the great pizza and jovial Sicilian owner, Luigi, who is rumoured to be setting up a Russian Market branch. Street 308; Alma, #43 Street 123
Neighbourhood bar: From the people who brought you bar.sito and Public House, meet Seibur. Like Tokyo's tiny 10-seaters, but smaller: barely six people can fit. It's stylish as hell and the drinks are strong and well-mixed by two of the city's friendliest bartenders. Plus, it's next door to Luigi's. Manhattans, Espresso Martinis and more go for $5. Street 308.

As workers protest in their thousands, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) this morning strongly urged its member factories to close for the rest of this week, fearing strike-related violence.

"If the workers are working in the factories, some bad elements of the demonstrators will go around and destroy your factories gates and properties in order to force the workers out to join the demonstration to demand a wage of US$160," reads a letter sent by email and obtained by the Post. "It is safer if there are no workers in the factories."

Five labour unions called for a nationwide strike on Tuesday, hours after the Ministry of Labour announced that the minimum wage in Cambodia's garment sector would rise next year from the current $80 – including a $5 health bonus – to $95, rather than the $160 workers want.

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Him Phalla, administrative manager of Huey Chuen (Cambodia) Corp. Ltd., said the Dangkor district factory allowed workers to go home after receiving GMAC's email this morning.

"In order to avoid any problems … we allowed them to stay home," Phalla said. "We've seen that some of the workers have broken property at other factories, so we fear that the same thing will happen to our factory."

Upon hearing about the GMAC letter this morning, Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union, encouraged workers to strike peacefully.

"We encourage workers to go on strike and also demand $160," Thorn said this morning. "But we do not encourage workers to commit crime."

Thorn said he had heard any reports of any strike-related property damage or violence.

Even if factories did not close, employees still would not show up to work, said Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Centre. There is a lot of anger within the strikers' ranks, he said.

"The movement now is out of control," he said.

Without the King's intervention, the two parties have too much ego to make any concession.

High-ranking members of the royalist Funcinpec party have said they are set to file a court complaint against the party's senior leaders for allegedly attempting to sell the party's headquarters for their own personal gain.

Sok Sa Vann, a member of the party's steering committee, maintained yesterday that Funcinpec Secretary General Nhek Bun Chhay – along with party president Princess Norodom Arun Rasmey and her husband Keo Puthrasmey – was conspiring to sell party assets without the approval of the steering committee.

Other party officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, echoed Sa Vann's allegations.

"We are studying with our lawyers to prepare a complaint to the court in order to maintain the political legacy and the assets of the late King Norodom Sihanouk, and the complaint will be completed no later than this month," Sa Vann said.

According to Sa Vann, the plans to sell the headquarters were announced at a December 22 meeting of only 160 of the party's 340 steering committee members – a figure insufficient for a quorum – and was not put to a vote.

Bun Chhay presented the sale as a means of paying down an $800,000 loan from Canadia Bank, but the property in question is worth substantially more, Sa Vann said, adding that the remainder was destined for the party leadership's pockets.

The alleged move, he added, is just the latest in a long string of sell-offs of party assets.

Bun Chhay denied the allegations yesterday, but did acknowledge that selling the headquarters was under consideration by the steering committee. However, he faulted Sa Vann's attendance count for Sunday's meeting, saying that of only 200 active steering committee members, 177 attended.

"Among the 177 steering committee members, only Sa Vann opposed the initial idea for moving the office closer to central Phnom Penh in order to make it easier for the national and international [delegations] to access it for meetings with Funcinpec," Bun Chhay said, noting that a final decision had not been made.

The value of Cambodia's garment and footwear exports topped $5.07 billion in the first 11 months of 2013, an increase of 22 per cent from the same time last year, according to the latest Ministry of Commerce statistics.

Cambodia's two biggest importers of textile garments and footwear, the US and Europe, both registered notable year-on-year increases.

US exports rose nine per cent to a total of $1.96 billion, while European exports rose 33 per cent to a total of $1.81 billion as of November.

Export value among the remaining countries, including South Korea and Japan, rose 31 per cent in the first 11 months of this year compared to 2012.

The surprising jump in value comes despite months of garment worker strikes, manufacturers reducing or ceasing productions entirely, and the Kingdom's ongoing political impasse over the disputed poll on July 28.

Protests at the Phnom Penh factory SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) over wages, among other issues, began on August 12, ended on December 4, and reportedly cost the company $15 million after international brands H&M and Gap reduced their orders and jeans manufacturer Levi's cut ties altogether with the factory. One bystander was killed in a violent day of demonstrations on November 12.

Earlier this week, thousands of garment factory workers from around the country walked off the job after the Ministry of Labour decided to raise minimum wages by $15 in 2014, rather than the $80 increase they demanded.

Not counting December, GMAC has recorded 131 strikes in 2013 alone, the most since it began collecting data 10 years ago.

But senior officer at GMAC Cheat Khemara said the positive figures were the result of deals already struck in 2012, and were not reflective of the troubles seen in the garment sector during 2013.

"As the quota comes to an end, we [GMAC] are discussing and considering whether to accept new orders from buyers," he said. "We are concerned that if issues are not solved very soon, we might tell buyers to switch orders to other countries. We may accept some orders, but it will only be for short-term contracts."

"We cannot afford to pay when we cannot produce according to deadline," he added.

Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of the Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union and head of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, dismissed Khemara's comments and said that "surely they will not switch their orders".

"We will keep going to strike until there is a solution. We cannot live on $95 per month," he said, referring to the new wage the government set on Tuesday.

Energy, the stock market, telecommunications, rice and investment stability. Looking back at the stand-out business trends of the year.

Rice exports boomed, but problems remain
In 2013, no other sector experienced the same growth rates as Cambodia's rice industry. Exports nearly doubled from 2012. Starting from a very low base in 2009, with 12,613 tonnes, rice shipments reached 332,009 tonnes in the first 11 months of this year.

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The growth was due to a number of factors, including more capital investment in the industry, improved rice milling capacity, as well as broader access to world markets through trade agreements.

The industry exported to 58 countries. Sixty per cent of them were in the European Union, thanks to the Everything but Arms (EBA) duty-free deal. Cambodia's rice exports to Malaysia, Thailand, China and Gabon are all on an upward curve.

In November, Cambodia's jasmine variety won the "World's Best Rice" award for the second year in a row at a conference that took place in Hong Kong.

But with all the fanfare, problems remain. Cambodia wants to ship 1 million tonnes per year by 2015, a daunting task. It faces competition from Myanmar and persistent competition from Vietnam and Thailand.

Most crucially, the EU seems to be scrutinising the origins of Cambodian rice.

A trade magazine this month printed allegations, later denied, that 30 per cent of the product was mixed with Vietnamese rice.

Fearing Cambodia could lose its special relationship with the EU, exporters vowed to sign a Code of Conduct that will supposedly ensure the originality of the rice.

Cambodia, unlike Vietnam and Thailand, benefits from the EBA agreement, which gives developing nations trade preferences to European countries on all products excluding armaments.

Telecommunications industry rides out price rules and Mfone bankrupcty
Cambodia's telecommunications industry took a major hit early in 2013. Mfone officially filed for bankruptcy before the first fortnight was out. The telecom giant folded with reportedly more than $160 million owed to more than 1,000 creditors, including $65 million owed to Chinese telco provider Huawei Technologies, and $3.7 million owed to Norwegian company Eltek Valere.

Mfone's demise left behind assets, of course, like the thousands of cell phone towers scattered around Phnom Penh and the Cambodian countryside. Their total value was unknown, but they eventually sold to Chinese-owned Khmer Unity Network Communicate Co Ltd for a considerably scaled-down price.

Following the sale, former Mfone employees, who had been protesting for unpaid wages, received a second payment for outstanding salaries. Of the $4.4 million owned, employees have now received 30 per cent. The corporate creditors are still waiting to be paid in full.

In April, the Cambodian government issued its warnings to two of the country's largest mobile operators for violating the often flouted Prakas 232, which was first signed in 2009 and set minimum call rates within a network of 4.5 cents per minute and cross-network rates of 5.95 cents. The enforcement sparked a backlash in the industry and among consumers, prompting the government to pull back on the controversial restrictions two weeks later.

But the government's easing was temporary. On November 28, it sent a letter to all mobile operators giving them just seven days to withdraw promotional deals that undercut minimum call rates.

Once again, thousands of young people took to Facebook – and a few protested at Wat Phnom – expressing their anger over the increased call cost. Cambodia's nine mobile providers agreed to follow and implement government regulations at a meeting on December 13, and decided to form an association to discuss industry issues.

The country's internet speeds, meanwhile, are on track to vastly improve after Cambodia's largest service provider Ezecom announced in June plans to help build a 1,425-kilometre submarine cable to Malaysia, which will then plug into the 20,000-kilometre Asia-American Gateway.

Construction on the $80 million cable was slated to begin in October this year and is due to be operational by the end of 2014.

Election year's troubling impact on business
By far the biggest news story of the year was the national election. But it was also one of the biggest business stories of the year. Mass protests from the newly emboldened opposition party over alleged voter fraud shook up the economy in more ways than one.

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Stability has always been Cambodia's main selling point for foreign investors. On July 28, election night, anger over disenfranchisement at the polls was met with increased security, which in turn caused panicky Phnom Penh residents to withdraw $4 million from Acleda bank ATMs.

As later figures showed, the trend continued on a larger scale. At least $600 million flooded out of Cambodia's entire banking system during the third quarter of this year, figures the National Bank of Cambodia said were probably a record.

Confidence in the economy sank 50 per cent in the tense post-election period, according to one survey. New business registrations also fell.

While Acleda and the banking system as a whole recovered, protests may have indirectly influenced some major changes to every day business and consumer life.

Responding to promised reforms from the ruling party, the General Department of Customs and Excise stamped out unofficial duties on imports in November. The new Minister of Commerce also cut red tape to make it easier to do business in Cambodia.

Getting rid of corruption is one thing, but the official payments on imports are now higher. The buck will be passed on to the consumer. The prices of basic goods are expected to rise as a result.

The former Minister of Commerce, Cham Prasidh, said this year that protests could destroy the economy. They didn't, but their influence on changes in policy was difficult to dismiss.

For energy sector, old problems but few fixes
Cambodia's energy sector has seen a handful of improvements in the past 12 months, but reminders of how much work is left cropped up with regularity.

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Little was heard about offshore gas extraction, so the news in June that Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) unearthed promising results in a search for fuel sources on Cambodian soil was welcome. JOGMEC's joint survey with the government on land in Siem Reap and Preah Vihear provinces led to the discovery of "onshore petroleum potential". Exploration in both provinces is expected to take up to eight more years.

In May, the government drafted a policy on energy efficiency that calls for a 20 per cent reduction in consumption by 2035, resulting in savings of hundreds of millions. But dampening Cambodia's energy prospects was a report released earlier this month that ranked the Kingdom fifth last out of 124 countries for its so-called Energy Architecture Performance.

Cambodia achieved the lowest scores in access to energy and its dependence on fossil fuels and imported energy.

In June, following months of rolling blackouts that crippled city residents and businesses, Electricite du Cambodge's (EDC) announced 50 extra megawatts of supply from its newly operational coal-fired plant in Preah Sihanouk. But so far, the plant's effectiveness in combating the city's chronic electricity shortages is not definitive.

In October, construction lurched forward on Cambodia's first oil refinery after a $1.67 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of China was approved in October. The $2.3 billion project in Preah Sihanouk and Kampot provinces is supposed to produce 5-million tonnes per year. It should be finished by 2016.

The cheerful news belongs to the alternative energy sector. Solar powered tuk-tuks from Australian company Star 8 could be gracing Cambodia's roads as early as March 2014.

After coming out swinging, Cambodia's stock market has a difficult year
The Cambodia Securities Exchange stood out in 2013 as much for what it didn't achieve as for what it did. After the first company went public on the exchange to widespread praise in 2012, the applause didn't last.

That inaugural company, the state-owned Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), is still the only publicly traded stock, while vows to go public from other firms have been sheepish and noncommittal.

For a young bourse, this is not unusual, but the poor performance of the sole stock underlined its lack of peers.

PPWSA was traded at record-low prices in 2013. From July 17 to the 23 – not counting the weekend in between when the bourse was closed, not a single share was bought or sold, the longest drought since the company first went live in April last year.

In 2012, PPWSA issued 13 million shares, which closed at 9,300 riel on the first day. In September of this year, prices dipped as low as 4,840 riel.

Investors may have lost confidence after seeing no public offerings. A Taiwanese-owned garment factory submitted a letter of intent in 2012. Letters from the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone and companies that the Securities Exchange Commission of Cambodia would not disclose have also been submitted. Plans to list are plentiful.

Actual listings are nonexistent.

The exchange is moving its headquarters next year. A new location may bring new tidings. The more optimistic want to give the CSX a shot. Han Kyung Tae, the managing director of Tong Yang Securities (Cambodia), reminded everyone earlier this year that the bourse is the youngest in the world.

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng yesterday granted cash prizes to members of the triumphant national wrestling team, who returned from this month's SEA Games in Myanmar with a record haul of four gold medals, two silvers and four bronzes.

During a ceremony held yesterday morning at the Cambodian Wrestling Association head office, Sar Kheng gave gold grabbers US$500 each, silver medalists $400 and bronze winners $300.

Team delegates and coaches collected $200, while grapplers without medals received $100, according to Ministry of Interior Wrestling Club President Chea Bunheng.

A new report by financial services company SBI Royal Securities is taking a bullish view on the investment potential of Phnom Penh condominiums for high net-worth locals and residents or investors from overseas.

In the report, the Japan-based company's Cambodian subsidiary examines the kingdom's relatively low barriers to entry and substantial yields when compared with other Asian markets such as Hong Kong, China, India and Malaysia. It also projects that nearly complete development De Castle Royal will be the city's star performer in terms of return on investment.

In terms of cost, prime real estate in major cities in Cambodia was at the more affordable end of the spectrum, averaging $3,200 per square metre, the same as Indonesia, and just slightly more expensive than Malaysia at $2,800 per square metre.

Unsurprisingly, prime real estate in Hong Kong is the most expensive in the region at $21,200 per square metre, nearly seven times as expensive as comparable property in Cambodia.

When looking at the gross rental yields for these same Asian markets, Cambodia's investment advantage becomes clear. It currently offers yields of 5.3 per cent, slightly behind Indonesia and the Philippines at 7.1 percent and Thailand and Japan at 6.3 and 5.5 per cent, respectively. China and Hong Kong are offering rent yields of only 2.7 and 3.3 per cent, the report noted.

Such low costs and strong yields have driven increasing interest and investment in Cambodian residential property, especially condominiums. But this is still a relatively new phenomenon. SBI Royal Securities senior associate Leng Vandy said that a few recent but crucial market developments that have bolstered interest in condominiums in Cambodia, primarily Phnom Penh.

"A couple of years ago, there were only a few condominium projects in Phnom Penh," Leng said.

"They were developed by foreign developers and were unpopular with Cambodians. But the situation has changed remarkably, with new projects being developed by foreign and local developers plus new laws allowing foreigners to have ownership rights over private units in co-owned buildings."

Despite the attractive yields of condominiums in Phnom Penh, there is not much in the way of supply coming online in the coming year. The only luxury condominium development expected to be completed in 2014 is De Castle Royal, which will be ready for occupants in the second quarter.

The SBI Royal Securities report examined two investment scenarios for De Castle Royal. The first was calculated assuming 100 per cent cash down payment, the second assumed 30 per cent cash down payment with the remaining 70 per cent financed by a commercial bank at an annual interest rate of 10 per cent. Other important factors including rental rate, annual rental price, condominium price increase, occupancy rates and associated costs also figured into the two scenarios.

The results for both scenarios were well above the national average. The first scenario's expected gross rental yield exceeded 10 per cent, with the second scenario's predicted yield was nearly 30 per cent. Leng said solid fundamentals underpinned SBI's assessment of De Castle Royal's investment potential.

"De Castle Royal is located in BKK1, the prime residential area for high-net worth Cambodians and expatriates," Leng said. "Currently the project is the only high-rise condo in BKK1 expected to complete soon. Other existing condominium projects are not located in central Phnom Penh and those currently under construction are years away from completion."

Leng emphasized Canadia Bank's financial backing of De Castle Royal as well as Korean developer Nuri D&C's attention to detail and quality as additional factors for SBI's high expectations for De Castle Royal. Condominiums in the development are currently selling for between $130,000 and $950,000 depending on size and amenities.

"High-class facilities, luxury high-end furnishings and excellent interior and exterior designs are of course key attractive elements of De Castle Royal," he said.

All told, Leng said, the potential for De Castle Royal and Phnom Penh's condominium market in general looks good in the short term especially when compared with the rest of the region, for both external and internal reasons.

"As ASEAN integration in 2015 comes closer, Cambodia is expecting a freer flow of capital goods and people among member states. Demand for condominiums by locals and foreigners is likely to continue to grow in the coming years. In terms of modern developments, the residential property market here is still in its infancy compared with other Asian markets like Thailand and Malaysia. The market's lack of maturity offers unique opportunities for investors."

The head of local design and fit-out company YellowTree Interior thinks Phnom Penh is poised to see a boom in office rentals, as more and more international companies open up operations in the capital.

Bernie Durkin, YellowTree's General Manager, said he's optimistic about Phnom Penh's office market, despite the recent increase in competition.

"It seems now that every other shop on Street 163 is a decoration shop, but in reality we know that there are probably about four or five other players in Phnom Penh that work at the top level, and they are our real competitors," Durkin said.

YellowTree's clients include FTB Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Vattanac Properties, Qatar Airways, Coca-Cola, KPMG and Marks & Spencer.

Durkin said he and his team specialise mostly in corporate work. "We do offices mainly, also banks, some retail and we've dabbled in F&B," he said. "We don't do domestic – as ordinarily the scale isn't big enough."

Although there is quite a bit of office space coming online in the coming year, Durkin said he thinks demand for office space will remain steady into the future, especially for mid-sized organisations.

"Before, people were quite happy to be working out of villas and townhouses. At the moment, people say 'oh, you can go to Vattanac Capital, Phnom Penh Tower, Canadia Tower, and very soon Aeon Mall', however, not everyone can afford those rentals."

Demand from bigger players for high-end interior design is poised to increase in the short-term, Durkin said.

"Vattanac Capital and Aeon Mall in particular, and also Hongkong Land, are going to be bringing in some big names, and they'll expect only the highest standards from contractors."

YellowTree, which has been operating in Cambodia for some 12 years now has a staff of 20, Durkin said they recruit only those willing to give their all to the job.

"Additionally, we utilise only the best sub-contractors that we've worked with for more than a decade," he added. "We think we have one of the best outfits for gypsum work and probably the best carpenter in Phnom Penh, both integral parts of the fit-out business."

Durkin puts the company's success down to his team giving the clients exactly what they want.

"I've got a good team. Coming from a military background I find that having energetic and bright people is essential. As long as I have that, I'm quite happy. To me it's mainly about quick response and reaction time – that's why we are successful. Our work ethic is that all aspects of our work must be done in a timely manner, with no excuses, and we stand firm on that principle. If you don't give the client what they want, they will simply go to another contractor."

Durkin views Cambodia's future with optimism and is especially impressed with the local talent pool's drive and skills.

"It's my own personal opinion that if the political situation remains reasonably stable, perhaps in 20 or 30 years, Cambodia could overtake Thailand," he said.

"When I worked in Thailand, I had to learn to speak Thai to communicate with most of my staff. In Cambodia, there isn't the same need to speak Khmer as the people here are more motivated and I think that gives this country a distinct advantage.

Khmers in the main show a greater willingness to progress and learn, which bodes well for the future."

Interest in Chroy Changvar is rebounding after a lull in buying and selling following this autumn's election, local real estate experts said.

This interest is being kindled by the soon-to-be-completed bridge being built by China Road and Bridge Corporation next to the Japanese Friendship Bridge, as well as the widening of National Road No 6.

Khmer Real Estate president Kim Heang said there was a noticeable decline in property transactions in Chroy Changvar in the second half of this year, which disrupted a two-year trend of steady market activity, especially along National Road No 6.

"Property transactions in Chroy Changvar area did not increase in the last four or five months, but that hasn't translated into lower land prices," Kim said.

Land prices along the first 500 metres of National Road No 6 heading away from the Chroy Changvar Bridge are currently running between $1,200 and $1,500 per square metre, the next 500 metres are averaging $1,000 to $1,200 and the following 500 metres are priced between $700 and $900, Kim said. Demand and land prices are both likely to increase after the completion of the new bridge, he said.

Key Real Estate general manager Sorn Seap said that concerns about the kingdom's political stability had depressed investor sentiment, leading to a slowdown in property deals across the Tonle Sap. The current bridge and road work, combined with the unique advantages offered by Chroy Changvar should drive future interest in the area, Sorn said.

"After expanding the road and the completion of the new Chroy Changvar bridge, which will be finished in mid-2014, the Chroy Changvar area will become one of the city's high-potential investment destinations," he said. "The area possesses good geographical features – it is located between two rivers, so the air is fresh and the view of central Phnom Penh is beautiful. There are many condominium, office and other residential projects planned for the area.

Bonna Realty Group general manager Seng Sopheak agreed that the potential of the Chroy Changvar area is high, noting the large number of existing and planned projects there.

"Land prices in the Chroy Changvar area have been rising steadily over the last couple of years," Seng said. "Large plots between the bridges and Mekong Garden condominiums are running between $500 and $800 per square metre, while land for building flats costs between $800 and $1,000 per square metre."

The number of fatalities associated with road accidents in Cambodia remains stubbornly high in an early assessment of traffic accident data for the first 10 months of 2013.

According to a report produced by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and obtained by the Post yesterday, 1,727 people have died in road accidents up until November, only eight deaths fewer than the same period last year.

The director of the transport department at the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, Preap Chan Vibol, said that although the statistics are similar to 2012, the underlying issue remains, in that "on average more than five people die from traffic accidents every day".

The number of overall road accidents increased slightly from 3,905 in 2012, to 3,934 in 2013.

This year, nearly 3,800 people were critically injured and some 2,700 sustained minor injuries, while at the same point last year, almost 4,000 people were critically injured and nearly 3,000 people sustained minor injuries.

Pea Kimvong, head of education for the National Road Safety Committee's safety campaigns, said that in 2011, road crashes cost the nation $310 million in property damage, medical costs and other related expenses, and that figure is increasing.

Kimvong said that while there are a host of factors contributing to road accidents – including a lack of law enforcement and the pittance spent on the issue – it is the public's lack of education on road matters that is the chief culprit.

"People do not pay much attention to the issue of traffic accidents," he said.

When speaking at an event aimed at increasing the use of helmets in Cambodia earlier this year, Momoe Takeuchi, senior program management officer with the World Health Organisation, said that despite the number of road fatalities, "helmet use is still low".

"While 65 per cent of motorcycle drivers wear helmets, only 9 per cent was observed among passengers," she said.