Naked Baby Count

The children of Cambodia are very friendly and smiley. Both the Cambodian and Vietnamese children run up and say hello. Some of them are trying to sell you something, others are just happy to have you talk to them. Some of them are Hawks and others are great little entrepreneurs. They loved waving to us from the boat as we traveled up the Mekong River Delta. They can also be incredibly intelligent. Right before the border crossing to Cambodia, we had a little boy of maybe 6 or 7 serve us at the little restaurant. Not only did he whisk around our table of six taking orders, bringing us food and drinks, he also collected the money at the end. Since its near the border crossing, he was so sharp he was making currency conversions and change. He is probably the swiftest moving 6 year old I've ever seen. Mike forgot his water at the restaurant when we went to go through customs, and this lovely little boy ran it over to us while we were in line.

Neither Mike nor myself was prepared for the difference between Vietnam and Cambodia. After we boarded the slow boat (which may as well have been an oven because it was so hot), we drifted our way up the river towards the capital of Cambodia. All along our way, the happy children along the banks waved and yelled to us. Most of them were naked or next to naked. The naked baby count reached to at least 27, after we decided to jokingly keep track. The poor people of Cambodia in this rural part of the country still live in wooden shacks and farm for their subsistence. We never saw this type of poverty in Vietnam.

We did eventually get on the most cramped bus I've ever been on with 22 of our new close friends and have about an hour and a half from the river to the capital of Cambodia, Phenom Phen. We snagged a room with the much needed AC (something you have to pay extra for) and since they were out of doubles, we got an upgrade to a triple room instead of a double (extra bed that mike and i don't really need). it was nice.

today, the naked baby count is 4. the poverty and disparity that exists here is extreme. the street is filled with nice, modern BMWs and Toyotas and garbage. I saw a child of about 4 or 5 sitting on a heap of rubbish and eating the carved out piece of coconut. Its obviously distressing, but the divergence of incomes is quite apparent in this setting.

after breakfast this morning, we headed to the killing fields. they are slightly outside the city and our lovely guide filled us up with the most distressing details of the Khemer Rouge genocide. The most chilling fact that she told us at least twice, was that they never found any skulls of the children that were buried (more like dumped) into the mass graves. The children were taken by thier ankles and swung like bats against tree trunks or tossed into the air to kill them. How do human beings do this sort of thing to one another? Our guide was born in 1980, after Pol Pot and his reign of terror lost some ground to an invasion by the Vietnemese. An estimated 2 million people (out of a population of only 7) died in the four years he was in power. After the killing fields, it was off to the Genocide Musuem to learn about their torture chambers.

We did have a much more pleasant afternoon-- visiting the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda (which is all gold, we didn't see any Silver), the Jade Budda, a Wat (temple), and seeing the water. Tomorrow we're off to Siem Riep and Angkor Wat...