Cambodia

I have spent the past four days in Cambodia, split between Siam Reap and Phnom Phen. Siam Reap is a small town (though it is big by Cambodia standards) surrounded by some pretty nice temples, including Angor Wat, which was up for one of the "new" seven wonders of the world. Phnom Phen, the largest city in Cambodia (and more like a very big town) is located about 5 hours away from Siam Reap and has a bit more energy along with the laidback vibe of Siam Reap. Today, I went just outside the city and fired my first AK47 as well as a handgun. I found out, however, that I am not a natural shooter as I could barely hit the target. Oh well. What's crazy though is that when I arrived at the shooting range, I was given a menu of various options which included throwing hand grenades and shooting rocket launchers. For the right price, they will let you blow up whatever you want. Only in Southeast Asia.

What I will remember most about Cambodia, however, is the children here. They are very charming and they are all learning, or already know, English. One girl named all 50 state capitals in the U.S. She clearly picked these up from tourists and memorized them because they do not learn U.S. capitals in their school system. Unfortunately, these children are used by their parents as pawns to sell anything and everything to tourists because their parents believe (and they are probably right) that the children will have more success selling tourist related items. Chad and I handed out some crayons, pencils and paper to some of these kids in Siam Reap. There is a lot of poverty here and it is heartbreaking. And to think, I am in the two places which are more well off by Cambodia standards. Anyway, I do believe that Cambodia's standard of living will rapidly increase if the kids I met are representative of the population as a whole. A smart, English speaking population should help lure internaitonal companies to Cambodia which in turn should increase the country's standard of living. Enough ecomonics though, I am off to Vietnam...