Places
Siem Reap is a large tourist attraction, many businesses and organizations focus on educating and assisting the locals on tourism and business. There are many ads promoting tourism. Many banners state "Tourism: A vital force for poverty elimination" can be seen everywhere. The picture is of Samatoa Design, which is a free-trade store that specializes in producing silk garments. They work to teach Cambodian women a sustainable skill. Here is their link if you would like to learn more about Samatoa Designs: http://www.samatoa.com/cambodia-fair-trade.html
Aspara Dancers
This city has many tourists, mainly to see Temples of Angkor. The locals are very friendly and quite relentless when trying to make a sale. The local tuk tuk and moto drivers are also quite persistent. Once we stepped out the door of our hotel room, we were bombarded with at least 20 different men saying "Madam, you need moto? You need tuk tuk?". One of the common things to see are traditional Cambodian Aspara daners. We were able to see some of the local Aspara Dancers at one of the many local restaurants and hotels that offer free shows of Aspara Dances. The dancers are very elegant and dress is very ornate and beautiful.
Local Transportation and Vendors
People rely on multiple modes of transportation. It was amazing to see people transport just about anything on a bicycle or moto. There are many vendors, selling all sorts of food such as shell fish, fruit, sandwiches, ice cream, etc.
Local Children
Similar to the Temples of Angkor, there are many children who try to sell books and postcards. This little kid became our buddy.
Landmine Victims
There are many landmine victims in Cambodia. Many try to sell books or other items to support their families. There is a landmine museum in Siem Reap that I am told is a very powerful experience. Unfortunately I was unable to visit the museum. Here is the link if you want to learn more about the museum. http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/home.html
Politics: Ours and Theirs
An interesting thing to see were the multiple U.S. campaign ads. I met so many people from other countries who were following the election just as closely as I was. This ad was in a gas station and I think it's a bit funny that it is in Spanish. There are many different government parties here. Many of the local physicians I worked with and the local newspapers stated that there is still a large amount of corruption in the government. The corruption stems from the years when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia. There are many articles in the newspapers about how children must pay their teachers to go to school (even though the teachers are paid by the government) and how houses burn to the ground because people do not have money to bribe the firemen. It will take many more years before the Cambodian government can become less corrupt. In addition to corruption, there are many newspaper articles of personal stories of government indifference. For instance, there are certain parts of Phnom Penh and other provinces that were experiencing flooding and the locals were not receiving any type of help from the government. The locals were so tired of government indifference that they protested outside the U.S. Embassy (although the U.S. had nothing to do with the flooding).