Christmas Day
Hooray it's Christmas! I got Phil a hammock and this is Hiroko lying in it!
We did something a bit different today. We decided to visit a local orphanage and bring the kids some presents, because we had heard about a lot of the institutions in Cambodia need all the help they can get.
After speaking to our guesthouse people who were really pleased at our suggestion, the four of us piled into a tuk tuk and made our way to the wholesale market where we bought things like pens, pencils, exercise books and toys like a nice football and a hacky sack type feather thing, which everyone plays with here.
So we go down these bumpy roads into the middle of nowhere and arrive at this little building, where we are shown around by the headmistress. It's basically a home for orphaned kids and they also support older kids (not necessary orphans) so they can go to school and get an education and have help. In all, there are about 50 kids living in this place and they all go to school. Some are a lot older, some are still very young and some are handicapped, but they are all living together and look out for one another.
After the tour, we got to meet the kids in one of their 'assembly rooms' and we all introduced ourselves and were told to speak English with the kids. Almost all of them spoke it very well and one girl spoke really good Japanese! Almost all of them want to be tour guides when they grow up, though there was this one very soft spoken boy, who wanted to be a writer and study Khmer history. I really liked him and all the rest of the kids.
Initially it was a bit awkward but then after we did the intros and joked around for a bit, Phil made a little speech and we gave out all the bits we had brought. They seemed really pleased and so we all ran out to the yard and had a good old play! The boys hogged the football and some of them were really good! I ended up playing this hacky sack thing and I'm hopeless at it... it was really good fun though and all the kids ended up adopting one of us and pulled us about here and there.
I was looked after by this one girl who didn't speak any English but she was very bossy and funny. I think she was about 9 years old and well cheeky! So cute though and very loving and she kept force-feeding me buns that she got from their kitchen. They were very good but after eating three, I did feel a bit full... we ended up trading bracelets and I'm still wearing hers, which is just blue wooden beads.
All the kids were so lovely and they all seemed happy though I'm sure none of them had an easy life so far. They are well looked after and cared for, though of course by our standards, they are still living in poverty. But to them, they have somewhere to live and have food and can go to school, so what if you don't have lots of toys or a mattress to sleep on and you own two outfits, one for school and one for playing and one pair of shoes?
I think we are spoiled...
We left them late afternoon and we were thoroughly knackered! Back to the guesthouse, shower and then out for Christmas Dinner, which was at a Khmer resto in town. It was alright, not too special, but at least we tried! The other option was to go to the Irish Pub and pay a fortune for a turkey dinner - maybe not.
Out after that and lots of drinking and dancing at the Temple Bar and Angkor What? again. Somebody had too much to drink and then ended up being sick out of the tuk tuk on the way back. I won't say who though! Hehehehe! Merry Christmas!
We did something a bit different today. We decided to visit a local orphanage and bring the kids some presents, because we had heard about a lot of the institutions in Cambodia need all the help they can get.
After speaking to our guesthouse people who were really pleased at our suggestion, the four of us piled into a tuk tuk and made our way to the wholesale market where we bought things like pens, pencils, exercise books and toys like a nice football and a hacky sack type feather thing, which everyone plays with here.
So we go down these bumpy roads into the middle of nowhere and arrive at this little building, where we are shown around by the headmistress. It's basically a home for orphaned kids and they also support older kids (not necessary orphans) so they can go to school and get an education and have help. In all, there are about 50 kids living in this place and they all go to school. Some are a lot older, some are still very young and some are handicapped, but they are all living together and look out for one another.
After the tour, we got to meet the kids in one of their 'assembly rooms' and we all introduced ourselves and were told to speak English with the kids. Almost all of them spoke it very well and one girl spoke really good Japanese! Almost all of them want to be tour guides when they grow up, though there was this one very soft spoken boy, who wanted to be a writer and study Khmer history. I really liked him and all the rest of the kids.
Initially it was a bit awkward but then after we did the intros and joked around for a bit, Phil made a little speech and we gave out all the bits we had brought. They seemed really pleased and so we all ran out to the yard and had a good old play! The boys hogged the football and some of them were really good! I ended up playing this hacky sack thing and I'm hopeless at it... it was really good fun though and all the kids ended up adopting one of us and pulled us about here and there.
I was looked after by this one girl who didn't speak any English but she was very bossy and funny. I think she was about 9 years old and well cheeky! So cute though and very loving and she kept force-feeding me buns that she got from their kitchen. They were very good but after eating three, I did feel a bit full... we ended up trading bracelets and I'm still wearing hers, which is just blue wooden beads.
All the kids were so lovely and they all seemed happy though I'm sure none of them had an easy life so far. They are well looked after and cared for, though of course by our standards, they are still living in poverty. But to them, they have somewhere to live and have food and can go to school, so what if you don't have lots of toys or a mattress to sleep on and you own two outfits, one for school and one for playing and one pair of shoes?
I think we are spoiled...
We left them late afternoon and we were thoroughly knackered! Back to the guesthouse, shower and then out for Christmas Dinner, which was at a Khmer resto in town. It was alright, not too special, but at least we tried! The other option was to go to the Irish Pub and pay a fortune for a turkey dinner - maybe not.
Out after that and lots of drinking and dancing at the Temple Bar and Angkor What? again. Somebody had too much to drink and then ended up being sick out of the tuk tuk on the way back. I won't say who though! Hehehehe! Merry Christmas!
posted by Phil and Tanja @ 2:07 AM
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