This afternoon we have to ourselves, and tomorrow we leave for Siem Reap. I can’t say right now that I’ll be sad to leave.

Some of us wandered around the local market place briefly. The whole area was quite large and very dank and not nice. It’s not at all like the comparatively tourist-friendly markets of Phnom Penh. It was a hard shock again that in a real sense this is a depressing place, and after a very intense few days we had just started to unwind so the shock was hard to take. One area (surprisingly, not the raw meat) conjured up memories of my illness and made me feel queasy so we left after a short while.

Now I’m tired physically from fighting for my health, tired mentally from finding simple and interpreter-friendly answers to a stream of curly questions, tired emotionally from hearing and relating with these lovely eager and hard to refuse people, tired spiritually from straining to keep upbeat and missing time on my own in a comfortable place.

Home of the local World Vision Director
Tbeng Meanchey, Preah Vihear province
Cambodia