Phomn Penh

March 23, 2008   

23rd – Last night we went to the Red Piano and then the night market in Siem Reap. As usual we had kids begging for a $1. I asked the boy – are you hungry – he said yes so I said come with me. He came with me and then got shy and hid so I went back to the group and again he came asking for a dollar. I said no dollar but if you are hungry I will feed you. This time he decided he was bold enough to follow me to a street vendor. The lady packed him a large carton of fried rice and some soup and I gave her a dollar. He said thank you and ran away with his package of food happy. It is hard to ignore all the kids and turn a blind eye. Many have asked us for water and Annabelle and I have been handing over our half drunk water bottles. It is sad when you see them collecting water bottles and collecting the remaining drips.

For 3 nights we had walked past a family living on the street next to the night shop. The lady had two babies and an empty bottle she asked for milk for the baby. So I went into the store and got her a large container of powdered milk – it was expensive. I told the check out guy not to let her sell it back to him. This is becoming an expensive holiday….

 We got the early bus to Phnom Penh this morning and it broke down about 3km from the city center after a 6 hour ride in a very hot bus. The company sent another bus to pick us all up. It was pretty comical and everyone was laughing – there we were in the center of the main bridge that goes over the Tonle Sap stopping all the traffic. We had to coast back off the bridge in reverse – typical Asia no one batted an eyelid of sounded their horns.

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 This afternoon we spent going around the Royal Palace. I was amazed there was so much undamaged by the civil war. We went on to have a nice dinner at the Boddi Tree. Home for early bed as we are all tired and hot – it was 40C today.

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