Arrival in Phnom Penh

We made it across Cambodia and into Phnom Penh, the country's capitol on the Mekong River. The bus took about six hours to cross the nearly flat land between here and Siem Reap. While Cambodia I have discerned it to be a land of change and polarity. Eight hundred years ago the Khmer People ran an empire stretching from the South China to the Andaman Sea and its capitol was the glory of SE Asia, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus and Buddhists alike. Now it is a country poverty stricken and ravaged by wars and recovering from genocide. Many relatively rich foreigners come to see the ruined empire now while the Khmer youth come to the tourist meccas working for few dollars a day if they are lucky.

On the last day in Siem Reap we took our driver Piso out to lunch and chatted a bit. He told us that the typical wage for an unskilled laborer coming to work in Siem Reap would expect a salary of forty dollars a month. Which would mean that a typical meal at the restaurant would cost two or three days pay and everyday they see foreigners eating there twice or thrice a day. Piso gave us a short biography I will share to illustrate the life of many Cambodians in the last generation or so. He was born in a rice growing village fifteen miles from Siem Reap. When he was late teens or early twenties he became a monk at the nearby temple and then transferred to a larger temple. For six years he was a monk. Then wanting a family he resigned and became a security guard at the airport for several years trying to save for a motorcycle. At some point he quit and bought a passenger wagon for the motor bike and drives tourists around for $12-20 per day or short trips for a dollar or two. He said that he enjoys the freedom of being a driver but that for two months during the rainy season there are no tourists to drive. The competition is stiff for the drivers because there are so many and all the tourists are looking for the third world bargains. He has an employed wife ten years younger than he is and a child on the way. I can only imagine what most other's lives are like.
To be on the low income scale in America but be on the top in another country is not always pleasant. You can be treated like king but you have to step on all your subjects. Also you will be swarmed by more orphans, landmine accident amputees and homeless elderly than you could possibly help out. When one receive they all expect the same.
There are bright spots, I think that compared to Thailand the people are more honest and give you a fair price up front without as much bargaining. Children are often oblivious to it all while playing in the mud. In the country side the temples hold the people together with a common cause and belief in something greater than the expensive manufactured goods.

As for us, we have been eating excessive amounts of fruit. Small yellow banana, mango, mangosteen, durian, milk fruit, rambutan, pineapple and others I do not know the names of have all been on the on the menu. Especially rambutan- we have been eating about a kilo a day between the two of since we found them and they are cheap. We are avoiding the restaurants because they are relatively expensive and opting for food from street vendors who have original inexpensive choices. No one should fear for us having a lack of good gastronomy!