Asia Step 4 - Cambodia A Short stop in Phnom Penh

From Battambang, a bus brings us to the Cambodian Capital, Phnom Penh. I'm more than enthusiastic to finally be in the town, formerly known as the Pearl of Asia. Unfortunately, the more expectations you have, the more you're disappointed.

The first day comes our first drama.

I never was in such underprivileged country before. So, obviously we knew that Cambodia is poor, really poor. But guessing what is the absolute poverty is way different than facing it. And I suddenly face it, seated in the guest house bar, writing, with Tobias next to me, and two beers. Unexpectedly, two little arms come to hug me at my hips. Surprised, I look down my bar stool and see an approximately 8 years old Cambodian child. Using as much cuteness as he can, he shows me some handmade bracelets and ask for $2 for one. As you can imagine, we are in Southeast Asia for almost 2 weeks now, and its not the first time we feel obliged to buy this exact kind of bracelets. Anyway, as I definitely can't resist at such big round child eyes almost begging me, I take 2 bracelets for $2.

-How it would have been easier that this scene ends here.-

But while the child number one, is happily playing with the computer I was using before him, a second one comes to us and begs us to buy one more. We answer kindly and sorry that we already did with his friend and can not spend all our travel budget for bracelets. Insisting several times, we keep to say no, being sorry.

Comes the minute when from being sorry you feel extremely guilty. Then, you start to think about something, you know obviously, but you refused until now to visualize. These children belong to a bigger group, and know how to play with you and your feelings... etc.

The child number two starts to get angry at us, and doesn't want leave. Tobias tries to give him some money which represents less than the price of a bracelet, as a gift, but he throws it on our face. Then, abashed, Tobias offers to help in finding someone to buy some bracelets in our street. The child's answer bumps our last hope off, as he gives the bracelets to him, shouting "So go ! Do it for me !".

Skipping some details, we call the bar owner and ask for help. The children have to leave. The number two is crying.

After that, we go to eat in a Phnom Penh street food stall, without saying a word first, and then speaking about it, still upset and guilty.

The next day, we wake up and decide to chill.

During the afternoon, we drink a beer in terrace, and... it comes again. A different child wants to sell us bracelets. We say no. He insists. We propose him the same solutions as the evening before. He starts to "cry", insists again. After a while, he finally accepts the few riels we give him as a gift. After what, he leaves, emotionless, and go to the next table.

Anew, our mood is basically fucked.

And so goes Phnom Penh. The streets are full of people asking you money for all kinds of things, seeing the White, synonym of wealth. Which I can understand. We try to speak with them, answering that we would like to help them, but we are students, we have no job neither, and a strict budget for our travel. We try to explain patiently that we can maybe help them in another way, but not with money, mostly because we do not shit it.

The second and last day in Phnom Penh ends. We book a bus to Sihanoukville. We want to spend few days at the beach, the landscapes look amazing, with a lot to do and see. After the south we will come back to Phnom Penh for more days, hoping for less tragedy.