"Mister, do you want to buy postcards, bracelet?" Under agedyoung girls pestering me to buy some souvenirs.
Life is harsh for these young girls, morning going to school, after school,selling postcards, souvenirs to support families. They said, if lucky, they
can earn a few dollars a day, but have to bribe the local police of 5 USD
per month, to allow them to do business in a 'prime' location, where a
lot of tourists visiting. They can speak some French, Japanese,
Mandarin, quite fluent in English. Reality shapes them, at this tender
age, have to deal with corrupted police, by bribing them! Sighed!
This pretty girl brought by her parents to seek treatment by a monk. Normallythey believe some bad spirits had possessed her, at this stage of life
she might encounter tragedy and even death.
The monk performed the rite & ritual by covering the girlwith white cloth and chanting. After the spiritual mumbo
jumbo, it was claimed that to wade off the bad spirits from
harming her. When the white cloth was removed, it also
symbolized a 'rebirth' of a new person, as the 'old' had died.
so, no longer affected by bad luck. In this way, the potential
tragedy was avoided from happening. This is a common
spiritual practice in Thailand and Cambodia.
Tourists with family leisurely strolling at the old market.Beside, a massage parlor, the massage girls were waiting
for customers.
The old market, with load of restaurants, hotels, cafe, massage parlorsand bars for drink. When night falls here full of people.
You never feel lonely, if you like to drink and hang
around with the 'kaki' until mid night!
The giant 'vehicle'- if you choose to ride this jumbo elephant,instead of the little tut-tut, that is your perfect choice. Then you
will be the King of Road! All other vehicles will give way to you!
Environmental friendly! To ride an elephant on the road,
is really cool!!! Want to try it?
Phnom Bahheng - the temple at the top of a steep mountain. Tourists werewaiting for the sunset. This is a popular place for sunset, but a steep climb
up to the top. From top of this hill, offered the wonderful, scenic and
panorama of Angkor Wat & Siem Reap. Oh... what a great view! Just
for the eyes and at that moment only! All things never last, it comes
and soon it goes! This is life, isn't? All happy things will go one day!
Soon after the sunset, it was the time to walk down the hill in the dark!
While waiting for sunset, tourists being busy walking around hill top,climbing up & down temple structures and taking photos.
It was lucky that one of the hotel's staff took me to visit his friend fish's farm,somewhere out skirt of Siem Reap. Seeing the owner of the farm, feeding
the swarm of hungry fish.
The boss of this fish farm. Before that he was a tut-tut taxi driver, then hesold out everything, and borrowed some money from friends and relatives.
To start his first business venture, rearing fish. With only one pond of fish,
and yet have to wait for nearly a year to harvest. He told me, if he succeeded,
by end of the year, he will have a net income of 15-20 thousand USD by
selling off the whole pond of fish. Though it is a high risk business, this
young man, in economic sense, is determined to break through the poverty
line of this country, which the average people earn less than 1 USD per day.
I wish him all the best and earn his first bag of gold by end of this year!
"Mister, please buy this bracelet?" A pretty young girl trying to sell her wares, like postcards, ornaments, souvenirs to me, outside the compound of Angkor Wat.
"I don't need this."
"Buy for your wife." She was not giving up.
"I have not married."
"Then buy for your girl friend." She continued pestering me with her sweet and soft voice.
"I don't have girl friend."
"You can buy as a gift to your mother."Woh...a smart move! Very convincing and difficult to say no!
"My mother had passed away long ago." Ha, ha, this time she must have given up on me! What else she could say.
........ No reply! She looked at me for seconds... then tried her luck again.
"Then you can buy this for me!" Oh... My goodness, could you say no to such a soft spoken poor girl, who was persisting touting her wares for a living under the hot sun!
"Ok, ok, you win the prize! Here a dollar, but I don't need this." I gave up finally.
"Thank you sir!"
Yes, that is the way of life here, you can't really blame them. It is expected, everywhere you go as tourists, there are people trying to make a buck. Sometimes extreme poverty can drive them to do this. Traveling with love, if can't give them money, then give them metta. At least I was more tolerant because of the extreme poverty of this country. Once I was in Paris, it was worst! Every corner of tourist spots, some strange women approached you and asked; 'Can you speak English?'. Then they would relate their 'stories' to you. Basically all about the same: No money, 10 children to feed, no place to stay... My compassion waned and 'hiding' somewhere else, scared to come out! So I just ignored them, and walked off. Come on, this is Paris, not Cambodia!
Paris, or even in London, I saw the same situation. If you rejected them, quite often, they displayed their displeasure and mumbling with their language at you! Both cases, they were trying to earn your compassion, then your money. But one was selling the 'concept' or the self made stories, and the Siem Reap's little girls, they were selling the products!
This country recent history is full of tragedies. The regime led by Khmer Rouge, from 1975-1979, their leader, Pol Pot had killed over a million of Cambodian people! It is considered a genocide! During this period, he had devastated and destroyed the whole nation, they had to start everything from the zero. With the blessing of the legacies of Angkor Wat, the booming economy of this country, mostly depends on tourism, which had started over a decade ago.
Until recently, which has grown to 2 millions visitors arriving annually. Cambodia is still the poorest country in the world, most people having less than 1 US Dollar income per day. That why, we can see many young boys and girls, roaming on the streets trying to earn a living, by touting tourists to buy things from them.
Anyway, Siem Reap is still a quiet, beautiful town, safe and people are friendly, it is worth to come back and explore further on this country.
"I don't need this."
"Buy for your wife." She was not giving up.
"I have not married."
"Then buy for your girl friend." She continued pestering me with her sweet and soft voice.
"I don't have girl friend."
"You can buy as a gift to your mother."Woh...a smart move! Very convincing and difficult to say no!
"My mother had passed away long ago." Ha, ha, this time she must have given up on me! What else she could say.
........ No reply! She looked at me for seconds... then tried her luck again.
"Then you can buy this for me!" Oh... My goodness, could you say no to such a soft spoken poor girl, who was persisting touting her wares for a living under the hot sun!
"Ok, ok, you win the prize! Here a dollar, but I don't need this." I gave up finally.
"Thank you sir!"
Yes, that is the way of life here, you can't really blame them. It is expected, everywhere you go as tourists, there are people trying to make a buck. Sometimes extreme poverty can drive them to do this. Traveling with love, if can't give them money, then give them metta. At least I was more tolerant because of the extreme poverty of this country. Once I was in Paris, it was worst! Every corner of tourist spots, some strange women approached you and asked; 'Can you speak English?'. Then they would relate their 'stories' to you. Basically all about the same: No money, 10 children to feed, no place to stay... My compassion waned and 'hiding' somewhere else, scared to come out! So I just ignored them, and walked off. Come on, this is Paris, not Cambodia!
Paris, or even in London, I saw the same situation. If you rejected them, quite often, they displayed their displeasure and mumbling with their language at you! Both cases, they were trying to earn your compassion, then your money. But one was selling the 'concept' or the self made stories, and the Siem Reap's little girls, they were selling the products!
This country recent history is full of tragedies. The regime led by Khmer Rouge, from 1975-1979, their leader, Pol Pot had killed over a million of Cambodian people! It is considered a genocide! During this period, he had devastated and destroyed the whole nation, they had to start everything from the zero. With the blessing of the legacies of Angkor Wat, the booming economy of this country, mostly depends on tourism, which had started over a decade ago.
Until recently, which has grown to 2 millions visitors arriving annually. Cambodia is still the poorest country in the world, most people having less than 1 US Dollar income per day. That why, we can see many young boys and girls, roaming on the streets trying to earn a living, by touting tourists to buy things from them.
Anyway, Siem Reap is still a quiet, beautiful town, safe and people are friendly, it is worth to come back and explore further on this country.
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