Current situation at Babel Guesthouse
BlogPost from April 17th - 2020
The whole world is affected by the Corona virus. And so is Cambodia. This country is hit very bad. Not by the virus itself (only around 100 confirmed cases atm), but by the complete lack of tourists. The country is in lockdown, and has been for about a month. For a country so strongly depending on tourism, this is a disaster.
Hotels, restaurants, cafés, bars, tour companies, shops, markets, spas, etc. most of it is closed. Bankrupt. Thousands of people lost their jobs. Tuk Tuk drivers, taxi drivers, bus drivers, guides, most of them are now left to find other ways to feed their families.
Empty Angkor Wat, March 2020
Empty Pub Street, April 2020
Being from Norway, it´s devastating to see what the Cambodian people now has to struggle trough. In Norway people get help from the government. In Norway the money is there to help in a crisis like this. That is absolutely not the case in Cambodia.
At Babel Guesthouse we had our last guest checking out about a month ago. We lost ALL bookings for March, April, May and June. And this will probably continue throughout the summer. We talked with the landlord, and were lucky to get the rent reduced. The 31st of March we had to deliver a tough message to all our staff - they all got 50% reduced working hours.
BUT they surprised us with smiles and laughter. They seemed relieved. They said they were just happy we are not closing down their workplace. They said we are family, we are in this together. We will now help each other to get through this.
Babel Family with a totally empty Guesthouse, March 2020
We live at Babel. We have our home with our two daughters on the top floor of the guesthouse. We have a kitchen in an outdoor living-space, and our two bedrooms indoor. Babel have 4 floors. 24 rooms, an office and all the halls and stairs throughout the whole guesthouse. We have our Eco-shop in the reception area, a guest-toilet and a staff-room. We have a restaurant, bar, kitchen, five different lounges and a garden full of tropical plants and trees. All of this needs maintenance. Constantly. And we are depending on a night guard to “protect” everything at night time. We couldn’t have done this without our staff!
Our daughters are both under 3 years old. And when Eline´s school closed down 5 weeks ago, it was a very chaotic time for us. Having two small girls requiring so much attention all the time throughout the whole day made it very difficult for us to think straight. It seemed nearly impossible to find answers and “solutions” to this new situation Babel now was in.
Emilie and Eline
We also feel a huge responsibility towards all our 13 staff and all our 16 Tuk Tuk drivers. They all have families. A lot of people rely on Babel now.
All of this chaos both physically and mentally made it impossible for us to answer all you people who ask how we are doing. We appreciate your concern, and are sorry we haven’t answered. But hopefully this BlogPost will now answer all the questions we have been asked.
We have now “accepted” the situation, and we made a “new life” that works for us. We are working on our Eco-shop - that is still open. The “eco-friendly expat crowd” (that are still here) are grateful to have a place to fill up their soaps and necessities without having to buy unnecessary plastic. We take cleanliness very seriously, with hand sanitizers at the entrance of the guesthouse. We are cleaning the shop several times a day. For those who stay home, we have products ready to order for delivery through TukOut.
Babel Eco-shop and Refill Station
We are now working on our own online shop for people to order directly from us here in Siem Reap. This way we might have a solution for jobs for some of our Tuk Tuk drivers in this tough time.
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@babelguesthouse
@noplanetbcambodia
This is the first BlogPost with updates from us. MORE TO COME! So stay tuned! Lots of love from Simen and Katrine, the Norwegian owners of Babel Guesthouse