[latchkey]

Spot on. Sihanoukville is China's Panamax port in the southern region, which gives them access to Jakarta and then west onto Africa. Google about how China has taken over the city as well as the roads/rails they are building through Laos/Cambodia. It is epic destruction.

It is quite easy to move between Vietnam / Laos / Cambodia... I know it because I've personally driven on a motorbike many of the trucker back roads literally cut through the borders.

Vietnam will take a dozen more years to catch up. Hai Phong in the north is a very wealthy city due to all the shipping with China and Samsung, but politics and culture will get in the way for quite some time to come.