So many bus rides throughout SE Asia, they are starting to become a blur as of late, as I have been spending 3-4 days at a time in a city, and then making a bus trip anywhere from 4-10 hours in length between each city stay. So, I can tell you that the bus ride from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap was uneventful, because, I don't remember a thing, except that I left on July 1st (which I know only because I wrote it down), and that I left at 6:30 in the morning.
Ah, that's right- I slept for 1-2 hours on the first bus from Sihanouk--->Phnom Penh, woke up for the essential food stop and got some local cheap street food and tea, got on the next bus and passed out again pretty quickly. I believe we got into Siem Reap sometime around 6pm, after being picked up almost 12 hours earlier from my guesthouse. Long travel day!
Long travel days like that have started putting me totally out of commission for the entire next day, especially most recently, as I have been becoming more and more run down and worn out, tiring from my travels as a whole, and I have pushing myself at a really intense pace. So the whole first day, (the next day, July 2nd) I basically spent in my hotel room, at the Neth Socheata Hotel, which is one of the nicer and pricier places ($15/night) that I have stayed throughout this whole past 4 months. I usually like the more 'down-home' and 'family' style places, but I felt like it was time to give myself a little comfort, and enjoy the luxury. I spent that first day ordering food to my room, watching Cambodian HBO (but in English), and reading, and doing yoga on the public balcony that was pretty much empty all the time, and that I could climb out of my window onto. Also did some meditation each morning throughout this stay, which I had been not so good about maintaining as of late.
The night before, when I got in to Siem Reap, I went down the street to the Khmer Family Restaurant, and had a fantastic meal after checking into my hotel. The downtown was HAPPENING, a full on experience of restaurants, bars, clubs, music, massage parlors, tourists, tuk-tuk drivers- Siem Reap is DEFINITELY a touristy location. I could barely walk more than a foot or two without being asked if I needed a tuk-tuk or motorbike, and was pretty much constantly saying 'no thank you' and shaking my head as I walked down the street. This part was annoying, but otherwise the town seemed pretty fun. It seemed a place that was active at all hours of the day and night, and, seemed like there was actually some good fun and dining experiences to be had.
Cambodia's tourist-locations have so far been much more appealing to me than those in Laos and Thailand where there is much more of a 'younger-partier-drinking-out-of-buckets' type of partying. In Siem Reap, there seemed to be a much healthier mix of age and temperament (and Cambodia as a whole), and people come from everywhere to experience the historical sites of Angkor Wat and thus are more interested in that type of touring and exporing than partying.
Anyhow, that night after my meal, I got a most-excellent massage. After dinner and massage, I got approached by a young boy, perhaps 10 or 11 years old, asking me for money. At first I told him I didn't want to give him money, (partially just because all night I had been feeling harassed by all the tuk-tuk drivers and motorbike drivers and had already given money to another person earlier at dinner and was just wanting to be left alone) but then the boy said 'I don't want your money, I want to buy baby formula for my sister'. His sister was a tiny baby slung around his chest, passed out asleep, and looking none too healthy. Well, that was just about it for me- there was no chance of me resisting. This kid was asking for formula for his baby sister? How could I say no?? So, I said 'You want baby formula? Alright- let's go get some.' So he took me by the hand and led me to the nearest convenience store down the street, and we went hunting down the aisles.
He led me to the baby food section, and he selected a large heavy can of baby formula. Then, he led me to the diaper aisle, but the diapers were INSANELY expensive, and I told him maybe we'd just get the baby formula. Then he takes some shampoo off the shelf and asks for that, and also asks for a pair of little baby booties that were something like the equivalent of fifty cents in Cambodian Riel (the currency in Cambodia). So, I gave in- he wants shampoo? Booties for his little sister? What's another dollar or two? We go to the register and the man says 'That will be $26.25 please" and my jaw drops and I go 'Holy shit! Okay, kiddo, I think we need to buy a smaller can of formula, I can't spend $26 dollars on baby formula, maybe there is a cheaper kind.' We find a cheaper and smaller kind, and I wind up spending about $10-12 on him between the formula, booties, and shampoo.
We walk out of the store, and he thanks me and goes. Immediately another kid approaches me, taking me by the arm and hand, saying 'please please please' and also has a baby slung around his neck. At first I start to say 'no' because I just spent so much on the first kid, but, the pulling by my hand and the pleading eyes and the sleeping and dirty baby were too much for me. We also bought some formula and I also got the kid pringles for himself. Another $8-10 dollars spent on this kiddo. He thanked me as well, and the store-owner gave him a little bit of a knowing and dirty look, so I could tell I was not the first person he has brought to this store in the same way. When this kid walked away, another girl approached me with HER baby and started asking for the same, and finally, I had to say no. I had just spent somewhere between $20-25 on these two kids, and I had to walk away. It was hard, but I did.
It was a tough situation, because, I know that I can't just go dropping my cash every day and night on the poor kids in this town. Usually, people offer smaller amounts of money or give leftovers of food or something like that (as do I), but children are a weakness for me, and it was harder for me to say 'no' to formula for a baby sister than it was to say no for $1, or even some small change. Also, I have been reading all these books about the Khmer Rouge regime/take-over from 1975-1979 and all the starvation that people went through, and it has been giving me a more personal experience of feeling the suffering and hunger of others. So, when these kids approached me, and I had just had my sumptuous meal and massage, and they were asking for formula for their baby siblings, I just couldn't say no.
It is recommended by Lonely Planet and travelers in general to donate money to non-profits in the area instead of giving money to beggars, because when the kids are able to successfully beg lots of money from the streets, the parents will as a result keep the kids out of school. By donating to organizations, one can help to empower kids and adults by either offering direct services or helping to find work for the parents. But, in the moment, I just wanted to alleviate their suffering, and offer the feeling of a full belly the baby-siblings even if just for a few days or nights, if not the whole family. And, the Pringles? Well, not the most nutritious snack in the world, but again, maybe this kid peddling his sister around can have some tasty snacks once in a while. It just does not feel fair, and in the moment, I just wanted to give him whatever he wanted.
So, that was my first night. The next day was my special stay-in-my-room day, which, is one of three days in the past four months that I have done this in order to remove myself completely of external stimulus, and just completely turn off and rest. It is quite helpful, and did the job each time. Also, I had hurt/cut my foot running on the beach a couple of days before in Sihanoukville, and didn't want to do any serious temple-climbing, so I strategically gave myself enough time to heal before attempting Angkor Wat and any of the other temples. Along these same lines, for the next day- I had scheduled a cooking class, and a late-afternoon horse-back ride in the countryside!
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