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Banteay Kdei

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alan_nesbit
alan_nesbit
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3 out of 5
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Banteay Kdei

  • March 7, 2006
  • Rated 3 of 5 by alan_nesbit from Singapore, Singapore
Banteay Kdei

This was our introduction to the temples, and our first encounter with the children selling postcards, bracelets, books, and souvenirs at the entrance to every temple. Grubby children in grubby clothes, with pleading faces.

It’s difficult to know what to think. Of course they’re very poor and need help, but I began to think their dependency on the tourists is not healthy. They had a routine ("Where you from?", "England", "Capital London", even followed on one occasion by "Population 65 million, Population of London 10 million"). By the time you had heard this often enough, along with "Need money to go to school", it began to look simply like a sales pitch, presumably taught by adults. I was also not sure of what to make of the display of disappointment when not successful in making a sale. Whatever, these children shouldn’t have to do this at an age where their counterparts in developed countries are being brought up wanting for nothing.

We also listened to a small group of musicians within the grounds of the temple, land mine victims with crutches and artificial legs laid out on the ground beside them.

From journal The Temples at Angkor

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