I had been planning my Thailand and Cambodia trip for few months and so when I arrived in Cambodia on 28th November I was excited to say the least. I found people of Cambodia the best aspect of this place. Cambodia suffers from extreme poverty but people I met always had a smile on their face. They talked to me and each other kindly and seemed happy to chat and share life with complete strangers. I will go back to Cambodia many times and will try and get to know the people there a bit more but for now I will share the small details I gathered.
My tour guide was a 30 year old woman who has been tour guiding for last 7 years. She completed her schooling in rural Cambodia and did not want to work on a farm all her life so came to Siem Reap. Her parents though poor supported her through her education. She works 12-14 hours a day in intense heat and humidity taking tourists from temple to temple starting as early as 4.30 am and ending the day at 6.00 pm. Her 4 year old daughter lives with her parents in her hometown since she does not have time to look after her and must work long hours. Her husband works on a farm and moved to Siem Reap just recently. At one point for 2 years or so the family was scattered with all of them in different places trying to make ends meet. She was deeply religious and prayed at each of the Angkor temple we visited and sought blessings from the monks.
I met nuns and monks in various temples and all of them had a smile on their face. The nuns were bent down because they worked in rice fields all their life bending down and sowing and reaping. Their face showed signs of wear that indicated the harshness of their life.
I met a rural painter who the tour guide told me rebelled against her family wishes to pursue her passion painting. Now that she makes decent money from her art the family has come around.
The street food vendors ( 2 sisters) sat down with me as they served me food and shared their story how they own the land next to the food stand and have to pay the police 5 dollars a month to be able to run the stand. Their husbands worked on their farms. The kids played around while the sisters ran the food stand.
I saw few photographers doing a pre-wedding shoot in front of the Baphoun temple. They were very excited to see the 5d Mark IV that I was carrying. I let them try it out in return for me to borrow