Cambodia

I have been lucky to be able to travel a lot since I've been living in Korea. Most of my trips have been a lot of fun. I saw great things and I got a nice tan and ate great food.

I was in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia for 5 days over Chinese New Year. This trip was unlike any other trip I've ever taken. Maybe it's just that I really haven't traveled to many places, or that I stay in all the touristy areas, but this trip really made me think.

You see there are always people selling scarves, braclets, books and other little things to make a buck in some of the other countries I've been to. In Cambodia the children are on the streets selling what they can to make some money off of the western tourists. My heart was breaking the entire time when I looked into the faces of those bare-foot, caked in mud little babies who have learned everything they need to know in English to make a quick buck. Most of them are pretty good at what they do.

One little girl came up to me when we were at Ankor Watt. "What country you from?" she asks. "Canada" I reply. She proceeds to rattle off what she's memorized about my country. " Canada-capital Ottawa. Speak English and French. Bonjour comment ca va. Ca va bien." and a little boy with her counted the postcards that he was trying to sell me "un deux trois quatre cinq....."

This little boy carried books in a plastic box that he tied with a piece of material to sling around his shoulders. He came into our restaurant and was hypnotized by the cartoons playing on the tv. For a few minutes he forgot about his job and got to be a kid.


This guy realized that I'll jump a mile if he pokes me in my side. He got a real kick out of that. He also loved to make silly cross-eyed faces at me. I wanted to take him home.


Other kids ran up to us while we were at the killing fields and said "picture. one two three smile!" and then proceeded to stick out a little hand and say "money to share".


This group of children were way out in a field singing and dancing. I was interested so I went out into the field. The looked like they were having such a good time. When we walked away two of them came after us asking for money. They were content with the 2$ we gave to split amongst them.

Seeing all of this makes me really think about what I'm doing and what I want to do in the future. Nothing is for sure, but I have a possibility in mind. I feel like I just can't sit around living the way I do when there are kids like that. I hope that these images don't fade from my mind. So often I get passionate about something and then it just seems to pass.