Despite a blitz of bad publicity over his promotion of Cambodia as a destination for euthanasia, Roger Graham, the owner of the Blue Mountain Coffee and Internet Cafe in Kampot province, said Tuesday that business has been good in recent days.
He attributed the upswing in part to the passengers of a Danish cruise line that was to make its maiden voyage to Kampot over the weekend—but who arrived in buses instead of the cruise ship the company advertises on its Web site.
“Business has been good,” said Graham, who prefers to be called “Tola.” “We’ve had a lot of people.”
The story of Graham’s now infamous www.euthanasiaincambodia and www.asian-hearts.com Web sites has appeared in several major newspapers in Britain and on wire services across the world.
“It was a nice quiet little Web site,” Graham said. “Now it’s blown into this circus, and it’s a bit much for me.”
Kampot provincial court Chief Prosecutor Uk Kimsith said court officials were still translating documents relating to the lawsuits filed against Graham and that Graham had not yet been charged and would not likely be summoned to court for questioning until after Water Festival.
Danish firm C&C Marine announced on its Web site that its cruise ship, the Coco Explorer 2, would begin running tours Nov 3 and would make stops once a week in Sihanoukville, Koh Thmei and Kampot. But so far no ship has arrived.
“There’s no boat,” said Angela Vestergaard, a Danish citizen and owner of the Blissful Guesthouse in Kampot, adding that the cruise liner’s passengers arrived by bus instead.
