Cambodia - corruption, street children, cocktails

Our journey from Laos into Cambodia began early in the morning at our guesthouse, where we had bought tickets for a "VIP" (read: aircon) bus which would take us all the way across the border and then onwards to Kratie. But in order to get to the bus, we first had to be transported individually by motorbike to the boat landing 2km out of town. Along with me and Dave were the two English women in their fifties from our guesthouse - they hopped onto the motorbikes nonchalantly and zoomed off, leaving me no choice but to do the same. My first motorbike ride was pretty exhilarating - it helped that the only traffic was chickens, and also that it wasn't Dave driving...

Once at the border, we filled out the Cambodian visa application forms, and handed over no less than $3 dollars each in bribes, on top of the visa fee, in order to get the officials to stamp our forms. For some reason, I was asked for an extra dollar at one of the stages, my first one having mysteriously vanished. The bribe money was stuffed into brimming briefcases after we handed it over, a stereotype of corruption which turned out to be pretty accurate.

Kratie, where we spent our first night in Cambodia, did little to dispel the unfavourable impression made by the border guards. It has a lovely riverfront, but this is made difficult to stroll down by the crowds of moto and tuk-tuk drivers who hound you as persistently as the mosquitoes. After Laos, that kind of in-your-face soliciting came as quite a culture shock. Sadly Cambodia also seems to have a great chasm between rich and poor; on the bus into town we saw many expensive, walled colonial-style house, yet 2 km out of the centre the road becomes a dirt track and the houses ramshackle huts. The country is much dirtier than Laos or Thailand as well, with piles of refuse lying uncollected.

Luckily, Siem Reap (gatehouse to Angkor Wat) charmed us both when we arrived there the following day, and we ended up staying much longer than we had intended. It is an attractive, safe and friendly place, which manages to be at once touristy and foreign. The centre has a market selling tempting souvenirs and a couple of streets lined with restaurants and bars, reminiscent of Ashton Lane. One of our favourite hangouts while we were there was a Mexican restaurant called Viva, which sold excellent frozen margaritas and even better nachos.

Cambodia's poverty was still painfully visible in Siem Reap and in stark contrast to the glitzy bars. Street children and land mine victims approach you as you sit at a cafe, selling crap you don't need but feel guilty not buying. The feelings of guilt and sadness were difficult to handle, so when we were given an invitation to visit a local orphanage and attend a dance performance I felt glad of the chance to do something positive. 

 

When we arrived at the orphanage by tuk-tuk we were surrounded by crowds of chattering children, who clutched our hands and hugged us, while pulling us in to sit down. The performance lasted about an hour (pictured above) and was of traditional Khmer dance. It was really interesting and we were given refreshments and food as well. Afterwards we danced with the children and talked to some of the volunteers, including a French guy with movie-star good looks who had been coming every day for three weeks, giving up his  planned trip to Vietnam. We left as much of a donation as we could afford and asked if we could come back the following day to help out.

 

 Our reception the following morning was just as enthusiastic, and our first few hours there were spent primarily playing with the children and helping them practice their English. They could all speak more than basic English and were glad of a chance to show it off. They all seemed happy, and they were all well-fed although books and toys were very rare. The orphanage was pretty anarchic - it was clearly under-staffed and under-founded, but several more volunteers turned up later that day which was encouraging. Among them was the French guy (Benjamin) who started a maths lesson shortly after his arrival. We all helped out, in between reading English primers - the children kept asking for more and more sums to work out. David ended up spending a couple of hours on maths with one particular boy, who showed a natural aptitude. He was just eleven, but grasped the principles of square roots and equations as quickly as Dave could teach them. In the meantime I spoke to some of the older girls and played with some of the little children, who just seemed to want attention. The whole day was incredibly rewarding for us, and hopefully beneficial at least in a small way to the orphanage as well.