Travel enriches the mind... Part 2

With impeccable timing, the universe has proved once again that it has a sense of humour.
No sooner had I logged off, it started to rain again.

So here we go.

Cambodia (Phnom Penh)
Encounter: Man on the street with a little brochure
Characteristics: This encounter proves nothing except that prostitution exists. However, the all too common sight of old Caucasian men and Khmer women lead me to reach the conclusion (correct or otherwise) that it's a pretty big business. Of a more sinister nature is the sheer amount of children running around the country. Why sinister? Because as the many advertisements warn, child prostitution is a very serious offence (and rightly so). Now, the children of Cambodia are a really delightfully lot. Always smiling and full of energy. They also happen to sell loads of trinkets to tourists and are not above using the dark arts of emotional blackmail to make a sale. You have kids asking you why you buy from someone else and not them. I had this girl tugging at me and saying "you only like small girls, buy from me". Thus accused, I had no choice but to buy a bottle of water at an inflated price from her. One boy even cried when we left without buying anything from him. (Joshua, you are strictly not to learn anything from them about e-mail and I can assure you that if you cry because we refuse to pay for your cabfare, I will personally run you over with my dad's car). And then we have children who talk to us, and then ask for money. Because they are such cute children, Chen Kiang actually paid and I"m sure other tourists have too. If you just extrapolate from that scenario, you can easily see how paedophilia can be a problem. OOO, kiddie, look at this new USD 5 bill. Would you like to have it? Just follow me. Living in poverty, this might begin to look like an easy way to make some money. Phnom Penh, more than any other place I've been to, filled me with a sense of hopelessness. I was glad to leave the place.

Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City)
Encounter: Another Man on the Street
Characteristics: Actually I can't honestly really say anything about it. Though with a little encouragement from Chen Kiang, the young man-pimp said that he had everything: Women, Men, Lady-boys. How true this was I'm glad to say I never found out. However, the guy was advertising his wares right in front of the tourist police. Now I'm not sure what the laws of Vietnam are but something tells me that this probably wasn't too legal. The police didn't even bat an eyelid. Oh yeah and they (5, 6 of them) were congregating at the entrace of the main street talking. With my experienced army-trained eyes, I say to you that this had all the hallmarks of tuanging on duty. Large isolated groups of pple in uniform talking usually means slacking on duty. If you weren't on duty, you'd probably wanna get out of uniform wouldn't you? Especially when you're the police, simply because pple might approach you for help and you can't possibly turn them down can you? (Oh I can't help you catch that robber cause I'm off-duty and rushing home to catch the last episode of Shen Diao Xia Lu). I have no intention to besmirch the work ethic of this nation and i'm quite certain that in any country you'll see pple in uniform tuanging. Perhaps they just haven't learnt the importance of wayang yet. So yeah, thus in conclusion, I have no conclusion. The pimp was a friendly guy though. We talked cock with him for a while. Somehow I can't imagine that happening in Singapore. Every country, with perhaps the exception of Malaysia, the locals have been a lo friendlier than in Singapore.

This is the end of two very very long posts. I hope that the OOPness of it all will sustain you guys till me return. Oh and No Air-Con, have a good trip in Europe.