The last few days...

TRACIE ... Have missed out a few things of the last few days, and thinking that we must be experiencing blogger fatigue, so totally understand if any of the one or two who are reading this, are over it as well!
As I said previously, the beach at SihonoukVille was wonderful. We ended up eating at the beach restaurant accross the road quite a lot, and the young assistant manager, Kosal, took a liking to Jono. Again, not a surprise - I haven't met anyone yet who doesn't like him. Anyway, we had some nice chats with him (low season, not many tourists) and he told us he was getting married in November. Again, it was awesome to connect with a local and spend a little time.
The hawker teenagers were a mixed bunch. Some pushy, some shy, some stroppy. It would be so awesome to teach them some skills, but a bigger problem than their sales techniques was that they were skipping school because at the beach they could make up to $20 US a day, perhaps more in high season. That of course beats going to school but the future in it doesn't seem so good. Not unlike some at home, typical teenagers seeing the now and unable to think big picture. As well as wanting to tell the teenagers how to be better sales people, I wanted to tell Kosal how to make his restaurant more tourist friendly! I didn't of course, but it was a great place to sit and read a book, despite the in-your-face youth!
From there, we bused back to Phnom Penh, then the next day took the bus to Battambang, where we did the bike trip (check out Jono's blog below, with his description of the amazing bamboo train). From there we took the boat to Siem Reap, where we are now, until flying out on the 30th.
Today we took the shopping plunge. We had avoided shopping so far because we are carrying everything on our backs. Didn't buy too much, but it was fun. I managed to find the cool coffee making thingy's we had lots of coffee from in Viet Nam. I also got my hair coloured at the local market (back to my natural colour minus the gray!) and for US $10, got a colour, a short shoulder massage, and my hair done in a french plait. They have this cool bed thing at the basin that you lie down on instead of sitting in a chair and feeling like your neck may snap at any moment. Cool.
While we were on our way to breakfast this morning a young boy of about six wanted to sell us stuff. He asked us where we were from and proceeded to tell us NZ's capital city, population, prime minister (he might have to update that one soon!), and queen. We thought he was very clever and quaint and bought some bracelets. Later today a young girl did the same routine. Funny. Clever still, and new to us so far!
Yesterday on the boat trip, we saw people washing themselves, their teeth, and their clothes, in the river. It was so dirty. I'm amazed that there isn't a lot of sickness and perhaps there is. This is just life for them.

Some more reflections about Cambodia (please forgive any repeats):
So much rubbish - people just dump their stuff in the street, down the bank of the river, in the river. Such a beautiful country with beautiful people, the rubbish is a shame.
The contrasts are amazing - a Remuera type house next to a shack. Perhaps people own land and when their circumstances change they just upgrade their accommodation rather than upgrading their geography/ friends etc..
So many smiles considering so much devestation.
So many hawkers, tuk tuk drivers, motorbike drivers, and beggars. I wonder how the country will be able to sustain itself in the future as more and more young people come into the workforce.

More photos ...

Battambang