I circled back to Phnom Penh because the weather was bad in Sihanouckville and I wanted to catch a flight to Malaysia next.
I stayed at the newly opened Same Same guesthouse. It was only $4 for a bed in the air conditioned dorm. It is owned and run by Coco and his cousins, who are a super fun, friendly young group.
The dorm consisted of all British people with the exception of me. We met a Belgian couple that was staying in a room and we all went out.
I really liked the Belgian couple (Vicky and Demetri) and they were more than happy to have me tag along with them the next day to the river and to the central and Russian market.
Demetri tried the chicken embryo from a street vendor by the river. It is basically what it sounds like, a developing chicken egg that has an embryo. This is a pretty popular snack in Southeast Asia.
I wanted to try, but I lost my appetite after he pointed out there were feathers are ready developing in it. Gross!! I made up for it later by trying a maggot from a street vendor in the central market. Tasted like buttery potatoes. Check out all the bugs and frogs she had..
We ran into several playful Cambodian children. They are by far the cutest kids in Southeast Asia.
We walked by a smaller street market that had live chickens pinned down on a table and the chopping block was on the same table right next to them. It is like before and after!!
The next day I volunteered my time and some money with Choice Cambodia school in the poverty stricken outskirts of Phnom Penh. An Irish girl, Claudia, that I recruited the night before came with. We helped in the kindergarten class which had 42 in attendance. The teacher was overwhelmed with the children and kept saying thank you to us. Right after roll call, it was drawing time. All the kids pushed and shoved and hung all over me, so that I would draw them a bird that they could color in. Coloring books would be a good thing to donate.
The bell rang and it was recess. One kid wanted to be picked up so I took his arms and swung him in a circle. Bad idea, every kid wanted to be swung around. I got so dizzy and sweaty I decided ring around the rosy would be better to do with more than one kid. They loved it.
We watched a cartoon which was very violent and in my opinion inappropriate for children their age. Then they practiced Khmer letters on the whiteboard. Only a few got to do it. Lined paper would be another good thing to donate.
After only 4 hours school was over. They lined up and sang Khmer songs. The best part was going on the ‘school bus’ and seeing where these children live. As squatters, they own next to nothing. Tattered, one roomed shacks lined the streets.
According to the director of choice Cambodia, the people in Phnom Penh are not poor, even the dirty ragged beggars, who pay the police $10 a month to be able to beg, make good money off tourist. The children that are selling items should usually be in school. Do not give money to children or beggars it only encourages it. When the children grow up they have no education and the boys likely become thieves and the girls usually become prostitutes at a very young age. Sex tourism disgusts me. The poorest people in Phnom Penh are he glue sniffers. They sniff glue out of a bag. They usually don’t have money to pay off the cops, so they are detained a lot.
On the way back to Phnom Penh we stopped off at another squatter village which had shacks raised above disgusting littered water.
On the way to bed I got roped into a free beer with the owners. They insisted I have one because it was my last night there. Lol. One beer turned into 5 then we went to a locals club and danced it all off! A girl from Iceland joined us as well. We ended the night at Platoon.
The next day I took a flight to kuala lumpor, Malaysia.
travelinggda 