Day Six; Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville

Up early today we left Phnom Penh on a local bus and headed down to Sihanoukville; a beach town. We arrived at lunch time and spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. On my way out the water two young boys came rushing up to me and grabbed my hands and started jumping about in the waves with me and giggling with infectious laughter. I played with them for a while then went back to my sun-bed. They came over and put their clothes (which were shabby and dirty) with my things and their bin bags full of the cans and bottles they were recycling then went back to play in the water. When they got out they came to sit with me while they dried off. I helped the smaller one with his t-shirt, although both boys were only just old enough to know how to dress themselves. After giggling a bit more sitting on the sun-bed with me they grabbed their sacks and went back to work. They were totally alone on the beach; it was anyone’s guess if they had an adult at home sending them to work or if they were street children going it alone. I sat and imagined what it would be like if two children under the age of 5 were found wondering around alone on a British beach. Half the entire population of Cambodia is under 18, and a large number of these are street children. When a problem becomes common place we have to just extend our tolerances and limits to accommodate it I guess. And Cambodians seem to have the biggest capacity to carry on normal life with a six foot smile in the face of adversity I have ever come across.
In the evening we went for dinner along the beach; the disco strip of restaurants and bars only betrayed it was in Cambodia at all by the occasional beggar and child street sellers wondering by. We talked about the fact it seemed a nicer place to live though than the big city, and that being poor there seemed nicer than being poor in the city.