Friday, March 2nd, I am now back from Poum Steung's 'Dream Project' with bittersweet heartache, finishing up and checking out Siem Reap, my beloved home for the last 2 months. By tomorrow early morning I'll be on a bus to the capital Phnom Penh, then to Kampot for peace of my mind.
Things to do; I have to send a parcel to New York, full of books I brought from there but never read, weights a lot, total weight of parcel is 7kg and I pay $91 for the air mail, which still takes 3 to 4 weeks. Bummer! Another thing to do is to get rid of my moto. I talk to Mark, who originally hooked me up with this motorbike dealer, saying 'You pay $600 to buy it, then when you finished here I can help you selling it back for $500' So Mark and I take the moto to washer, who cleans it like I just bought it. Now it's the time for the deal. The owner of the shop run the engine for less than a minute and notice the sound is different (which is true, after all I went to Battambang with this moto) and he and Mark talk for a little bit, Mark then comes to me and tells that, he can only offer $350!! I show a great deal of my dissatisfaction so Mark quickly talks to the dealer, then in turn tells me that $400 is the best he could do. Now this guy's taking advantage knowing that I'm leaving and there's no other way than to get rid of it anyhow. Is Mark in on it? Probably. He makes $200 a month as a tuk-tuk driver, and he's gotta 6 months old daughter to take care of. Whatever he could get from this funny business of extra $100 all the sudden, should be used for what he needs. I don't feel resentful. And I still think $200 for the cost of having transportational freedom for a month and a half, is cheap. I just wish that Mark would just be straight and say that he's taking commission fee.
Siem Reap is a crazy town. Growing in the speed of madness, all for to cater tourism. You walk the same street everyday for a week and see the whole new story of guest house is constructed. No tourist would even imagine that Siem Reap province is actually 2nd to the poorest province in the country. You can, if you want to, stay only in the city and the Angkor park area and never see the poverty, take that beautificated version as the representation of Cambodia. In the center of town there's another building like this under construction, with real estate's value growing by something like 78% annualy, I can't stop worrying about what might be effect and spiritual cost to the newer, younger generation of this once-severely damaged country.
Friday, March 2nd, I am now back from Poum Steung's 'Dream Project' with bittersweet heartache, finishing up and checking out Siem Reap, my beloved home for the last 2 months. By tomorrow early morning I'll be on a bus to the capital Phnom Penh, then to Kampot for peace of my mind.
Things to do; I have to send a parcel to New York, full of books I brought from there but never read, weights a lot, total weight of parcel is 7kg and I pay $91 for the air mail, which still takes 3 to 4 weeks. Bummer! Another thing to do is to get rid of my moto. I talk to Mark, who originally hooked me up with this motorbike dealer, saying 'You pay $600 to buy it, then when you finished here I can help you selling it back for $500' So Mark and I take the moto to washer, who cleans it like I just bought it. Now it's the time for the deal. The owner of the shop run the engine for less than a minute and notice the sound is different (which is true, after all I went to Battambang with this moto) and he and Mark talk for a little bit, Mark then comes to me and tells that, he can only offer $350!! I show a great deal of my dissatisfaction so Mark quickly talks to the dealer, then in turn tells me that $400 is the best he could do. Now this guy's taking advantage knowing that I'm leaving and there's no other way than to get rid of it anyhow. Is Mark in on it? Probably. He makes $200 a month as a tuk-tuk driver, and he's gotta 6 months old daughter to take care of. Whatever he could get from this funny business of extra $100 all the sudden, should be used for what he needs. I don't feel resentful. And I still think $200 for the cost of having transportational freedom for a month and a half, is cheap. I just wish that Mark would just be straight and say that he's taking commission fee.
Siem Reap is a crazy town. Growing in the speed of madness, all for to cater tourism. You walk the same street everyday for a week and see the whole new story of guest house is constructed. No tourist would even imagine that Siem Reap province is actually 2nd to the poorest province in the country. You can, if you want to, stay only in the city and the Angkor park area and never see the poverty, take that beautificated version as the representation of Cambodia. In the center of town there's another building like this under construction, with real estate's value growing by something like 78% annualy, I can't stop worrying about what might be effect and spiritual cost to the newer, younger generation of this once-severely damaged country.
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