Sihanoukville's streets have gone quiet lately, and locals are feeling the pinch more than ever. Many are shaking their heads, saying things are even tougher now than back in the pandemic days, with shops sitting empty and cash running dry.
Chinese, Indian, and Indonesian nationals have been steadily packing up and moving out. For ordinary locals who make a living off these expats through rentals, food stalls, and odd jobs, incomes have taken a nosedive. As one local put it, for every hundred riel they used to make, they are now lucky to see twenty.
When livelihoods depend entirely on foreign visitors, seeing them pack up leaves people with little hope. The exhaust fumes on the street still smell the same, but one shop after another is pulling down its metal shutters, leaving locals to worry over their next meal at the corner tea stall.
