Chai doesn’t want to discuss politics with me since the government forbids anything negative but, on the second day, I sidle up next to him and we both watch contractors at work on his hotel extension. Pretty soon he’s telling me that a visitor may conclude that Cambodia is a pretty nice place to live but that he thinks corruption ruins it. He explains to me that, as a small business owner, people extort bribes/protection money from him all the time. The Firefighters and Police all come demanding money for beer for their parties etc and it all adds up to a lot of money. He tells me that if he didn’t contribute then they would make any small problem that he happened to have into a big problem. Siem Reap seems a pretty clean place but there is no recycling.
We go by boat to visit the villagers that live on the stilt houses/boats on the large lake that form one of the headwaters of the Mekong Delta. They All seem to have cell phones and TV sets (each boat has it’s own generator) and lounge about in hammocks all day and do some occasional fishing.
The people of Siem Reap seem to like the Christian Missionary Churches and Schools because they give to the poor.
No comments:
Post a Comment