The Strangest Thing About Cambodia

It's not that lots of people are missing limbs (from landmines).
It's not the baguettes sold everywhere (French influence).
It's not that despite it being the poorest country I've been to since Guyana, it's more expensive than Thailand.

Is that all the kids know all the world capitals.

Typical conversation between Karla and five-year-old Cambodian child:

FIVE-YEAR-OLD CAMBODIAN CHILD: Where are you from?
KARLA: Canada!
FYOCC: Capital: Ottawa!
K: Very good!
FYOCC: Ten postcards, one dollar!

Admit it, did you know that the capital of Canada is Ottawa?

Then I would start quizzing them and they'd tell me the capitals of the US, France, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, etc, and try to sell me postcards in six languages. And we're happy if our American five-year-olds don't wet the bed. Of course, things don't get much better for your average five-year-old Cambodian child, as there's not much to do in the country except sell stuff to tourists. Which is an immense improvement over much of the past half-century in Cambodia, when the predominant activity was getting killed.

Of course we ended up buying a lot of postcards and bracelets and other junk we didn't really need. Because for a dollar those five-year-old kids get to have dinner, and we got to make somebody's day.

Pictures from Thailand/Cambodia coming soon.