Cambodia's Kids and the lovely Gov't

For the last 3 days or so, we've been in Sihanoukville in Southern Cambodia. It's a nice beach town, with a TON of expats. And I can see why, it's a very nice place, good weather, and it's cheap. We've learned some interesting things about the cambodian people in our few days here, one of which is about the kids who work on the beach selling little bracelets, trinkets, and such. These kids are adorable (hello, have you ever seen Maddox Jolie-Pitt...probably the cutest and most famous Cambodian EVER), have great personalities, generally speak good English and you can see why most tourists (ourselves included) are sucked into buying souvenirs from them. Hey, they're only a $1 right?

Well according to a lot of local organizations here, these kids make close to $500 a month, most ranging from the ages of 7-11. $500 is an exorbitant amount of money to any Cambodian, let alone a pre-teen. So this could still be okay if they give it to their family who needs it? Wrong. Because they make so much money, they don't go to school and become accustomed to a life a relative 'wealth.' But what happens when they turn 15, are no longer cute, can't make even close to that much money, and on top of that they aren't educated and don't want to get a normal job? They go into prostitution. Unfortunately, sex-tourism is a huge industry out here (as it is in all of southeast asia) and tourists are encouraging the industry indirectly from its start. It's all very sad.

Another interesting thing we witnessed was a prime example of inefficiency in the Cambodian government. We were having breakfast at an Australian restaurant, when literally 15 people (about half of them in police and military uniform) approach the restaurant, inquiring for the owner. Needless to say, we all were a bit weary of the group. Turns out, the owner has failed to fill out a census form and apparently it requires 15 people to ensure he fills it out properly! The owner was rightly outraged, saying that he didn't intimidate that easily (and honestly as individuals they weren't all that scary, more just the fact there were 15!). Talking with the owner after the incident(and in case you're interested, he did fill out the form in a hasty manner), he said this is pretty typical procedure. I asked how he dealt with it and he said it helps that he knows the numero uno guy in the government to go to in cases like these so normally he isn't affected.

In Cambodia, the military owns and operates everything, inefficiently and corruptly. Basically, a couple of years ago the person who got into power was only put there because he was a puppet to the military and now gives them everything they want (including ownership of all the land, which they sell mainly to ex-pats for lots of moolah). It's also incredibly hard to get into the military, because once in it's a frat-boy super club where you are feared absolutely and have to pay for nothing. Apparently, you have to either be born into it or pay $50,000 to join.

It's very sad the area around these beaches is being so built up and the government is selling all the beach front property to 5 star resorts. By next year they say there will only be 1 public beach in the area (last year there was close to 10). I asked a lot of the ex-pat owners if they are worried they'll just be kicked out of their business one day without notice and they say it's always a very real possibility. To the point that most Cambodians are so used to it that they build their businesses very impermanent (Like non-cemented tiles) so they can move at any point. However, there is money to be had and the lifestyle's great so until they are told they can't be here there is no where else they'd rather be. Very brave and good on them.