Word has been buzzing around the local scene over the last couple of days: the once-famous Pearl Hotel in Sihanoukville is up for sale as a full package. The asking price is $7 million, and the seller let it be known that if you are genuinely interested, there is room to sit down and talk price. For the long-timers who have been in town through it all, the news has stirred up a lot of mixed emotions.
Think back just five years ago, and the place was at the absolute peak of its glory. Luxury cars were packed cheek-by-jowl out front, cash-flush high rollers drifted in and out of the lobby, and booking a room was nearly impossible. These days, if you ride past on a moto, all you catch is the drift of exhaust fumes and roadside dust. The building has lost its luster, reduced to a hollow frame standing cold and quiet.
That is just the way things go around here—a total reversal in five short years. Sitting at a roadside food stall at night talking with old hands, everyone marvels at how fast the town transforms. The high-rises once stacked up on hot money are now left bare as the tide recedes. It is listed at $7 million in hopes of cashing out, but whether anyone will actually step up to take over the place is anybody's guess.
