Angkor Temple Kids, Cambodia

The rest of my Birthday week, we explored more of the ruins, sweltering in the unrelenting heat, somtimes occasionally heading back into town to our guesthouse during the middle of the day to avoid the unmerciful sun. (We drink a lot of rehydration salts just because it is SO hot). To get around, our first day we hired a motorbike trailer-tuk tuk-thing which was very nice. The next couple of days we had electric bicycles instead which was different, though a little bit of a pain as we would have to make sure we had enough battery life to get around. Fortunately, there were a few stations set up around the temples to do that. Later on in the week, friends Joy and Earl came in, and we shared a tuk-tuk, showing them around the ruins. There are so many that it can be quite overwhelming and difficult to know where to start.

One of our favourite things about the temples was to interact with the many kids that hang around trying to sell stuff: mainly postcards, guide books or books about Cambodia's horrendous history. One little girl, Kia, could count her packs of 10 postcards in five different languages - definitely a result of all the interaction the kids have with tourists! One day they asked us for pens and we enjoyed watching how engrossed they were drawing picures and very proudly writing their names beneath. The next minute, we were inundated with their drawings as gifts back to us. One quiet and shy boy, Ahn, had an obvious talent sketching one of the stone gateways from memory - he spent that much time there! To encourage him and to make him realise that he had a gift, we bought his sketch, returning later on in the week with more paper and a set of coloured pencils for him. Maybe, just maybe, we might have changed this boy's life for the better... I hope so, Ahn. * Mush