I thought Vietnam was an eye opener…but Cambodia definitely took first in the poorest country I’ve ever witnessed. I learned a lot and I really appreciate everything I’ve been blessed with in my life and growing up in the United States in a beautiful healthy home and town. Being exposed to all of the poverty in Cambodia was unbelievable…to see people all around you grabbing you and begging for you to buy their bracelets or take a 'tuk tuk’ (their way of transporting people) was overwhelming. We were offered a free shuttle service from the ship to the town market and wow…as you can see by the photos on the bus still people with signs for their Tuk Tuk service and advertising themselves. Immediately when we stepped foot off the bus we were being grabbed at and poked and spoke to and like i said it was overwhelming. I remained calm and just went with the flow of it as opposed to a couple other people I was with started yelling at the people to stop touching them…i chose to just be open minded about it and just relax and get a tuk tuk driver to the resort/beach we were all going to meet up at. It was a large group of us out of the crew and we went to this beautiful resort…the Tuk Tuk ride to and from the market was probably about 10-15 minutes and for the entire day…we paid $5.00….total. On the way to the resort there was a young girl who followed us from the shuttle with bracelets and necklaces she made with embroidery floss…She handed us what she had made and wanted us to purchase some. So of course she was such a trooper and persistent so I bought a nice bracelet from her and I’ll never forget the story behind it the way she followed us…she sold it to me on the scooter not ever holding on while we were moving. $1.00 I’m sure goes such a long way for them.
Once we got to the beach I was blown away by the outstanding beauty it had to offer….absolutely gorgeous as you can see. We went swimming a lot…and my roommate attacked me in one of the pictures! Here we were going to do this nice picture posing in front of the water….and she comes out of nowhere full blast running at me and dove for my legs in full attack-mode! haha…it was great! I went for a nice long long walk on the beach alone thinking about how lucky I am to have this brilliant opportunity at the age of 22 years old…Unreal. Its been so amazing so far! We were at the same resort the entire afternoon soaked up the sun…then we went to the pool at the resort and it started down pouring while we were swimming. Ahh that was so much fun…I snagged a picture of me and a couple of the other spa girls. Overall such a great day!
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