Posted by: Gabri(ella) Spitz

Angkor Wat is absolutely gorgeous, but I can't stand it anyway. We get out of our tuk-tuk, and the first thing I hear is "Two for one dollar! ma'am, Two for one dollar!" An eight year old girl is trying to sell me wooden, beaded bracelets. "Lady, I saw you first! You have to buy from me!" shouts a malnourished boy. All of the souvenir weilding children seem drawn to me; I can't walk ten feet without meeting someone else who says, "Lady, you pay for my school! Buy wooden flute, cheap!"

Tourism seems to help the economy, but I dont think that it is helping anyone socially. Maybe if Angkor Wat weren't such a large tourist attraction, these children would be on the streets begging, but this really isn't very different. Instead, people feel morally obligated to buy from these kids (as I do,) because they are using an honest means of making money. Unfortunately, many of these children will buy glue to sniff with the money we give them. Many children are also sent out by their parents to make money and are then forced to give it to them. I tried to remember these facts as children practically sobbed at me, but I finally broke down and bought some water from a woman. I had been led to the woman by her daughter, so her daughter yelled at me and told me I was now responsible for buying a pack of ten post cards. I bought it. Then a little boy told me he had seen me first, and that I had to buy the bracelets he was selling. I bought them. Finally, another boy told me that I had promised him that I would buy his postcards the day before. I bought them. So now I have twenty postcards, a bottle of water and ten bracelets.