Cambodia would like to welcome you to the third world. The one where people are genuinely poor and no amount of cultural relativism can make these living conditions seem okay.
Gabriel and I took a bus from Saigon, Viet Nam to Phanam Pen, Cambodia. Almost immediately after crossing the border between the two countries, the differences were evident. In Viet Nam, most of the poorer people lived in cinderblock homes and had a motorized skooter (even if it had to be ridden simultaneously by all 5 family members). Whereas in Cambodia, it seems that everyone in the countryside is living in thatched shade covers made from what look like palm fronds. Everything is dirty, everything is dusty, and even the chatchkees wrapped in plastic that are being sold to tourists are sunbleached.
As I looked around and saw this, I said to Gabriel: "Shit just got real."
The nicer homes bordering the river are all on stilts. The regular rain and flooding seems to be the rationale.
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