Land of Unscented Soaps and Curry

After two (or three) long years of business school, we are embarking on a 48 day journey to India, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. We'll be bathing with unscented soaps and shampoos to keep the mosquitoes away (and therefore malaria and other fun viruses), and eating all sorts of delicious and aromatic foods.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

US Dollar: National Currency of Cambodia

As Jeremy talked about in an earlier post, friends of ours had said how awful Cambodia was in terms of poverty. From their descriptions, we anticipated something close to what we experienced in India. Having arrived in Phnom Penh this morning, we have been pleasantly surprised (if you can call it that). While the country surely is poor, and poverty can easily be seen, it is not on the same scale as in India.

We walked around a bit today - went to see the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, National Museum - and were aggressively approached by children, some begging for money and others selling items such as books or water. As a rule, we have not given to anyone begging in any of the countries we have gone to. While the begging can sometimes be hard to handle, we believe that money given to children doesn't always stay with the children and by giving money, foreigners help to keep children on the street because that is how they learn to make a living. It has also been clear to us that some amount of begging is dramatized (women pretending to breast feed babies when we come closer). While the government is unable to currently provide social service support, NGOs exist to help out (even in terms of restaurants that employ street children).

Compared to India, Cambodia on the outside appears to be in a better state - trash is not laying everywhere, people are not urinating wherever they please, emaciated people do not seem to be as common of a sight. Given the sheer number of people in India, the current economy does not seem to be able to support the number of people trying to eeck out a living.

The other interesting thing is that the most expensive parts of our travels will actually be in the poorest countries. Whether it is because of increased competition in richer countries or because the lack of a local middle class in India/Cambodia wanting similar goods as foreigners, we are charged higher prices for things like drinks, hotels, and even souvenirs than in countries like Thailand and Vietnam. In Cambodia, the US dollar functions pretty much as the main currency (with the Cambodian Riel provided as change for small amounts); it is very difficult to determine the value of items you are buying. It sort of makes it hard to swallow paying US prices for things with US dollars, but not receiving US quality in return.

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