Stung Treng... Apparently not THE place to be here in Cambodia. Even the locals diss it and try feverishly to sell us tickets out of here. People seem to think we have ended up here against our wills or something. "There's nothing to see there. Buy a ticket to Phnom Penh. I can drive you to Ban Lung. When are you leaving? You should go to Seam Riep."
The Cambodia we've seen so far couldn't be more different from Laos. The people here are a lot more profit oriented and try to make extra cash at every turn. Hence the "stamp fees" at the border which S and I tried to refuse paying, which didn't turn out to be such a huge success. Our advice is: Just pay them or else, prepare for trouble. Oh, and hand the bribe money to them with care, otherwise they'll start whining and whimping. Besides bribing bargaining is apparently also customary, so we'll have to start practicing.
Just when our (read my) longing for Laos was starting to reach epic proportions, a girl at the seamstress we visited (to get Hanna's clothes fixed) invited us to visit her school, Eastern International School. Again we were reminded of how lucky we are in Finland to get free education, and to have everything handed to us on silver plates. The pupils paid for everything ranging from tuition fees to bicycle parking.Some kids went hungry as they had to pay for school and thus couldn't afford proper meals. Bribing the teacher was also common, just another way of getting ahead in life.
The English class we participated in consisted mostly of oral practice. Them talking to us. Us trying to interpret their questions and answering them. The class ended with e-mail swapping and a photo session. The Cambodians seem to be more like the Chinese in this regard. They looove taking pictures and looking at them. Even had to pose with the principal.
The teaching standard wasn't exactly splendid, but since they were taught conversational English I suppose the grammar was of less importance. It's always fun to spend time with your local peers!
Bye Bye Laos, hello Cambodia. We really should start learning some Khmer now.
//R
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