Day 9

Today took us to see the famous marketplaces of Phnom Penh. Still

incredibly hot, the marketplaces were definitely not the place to go to
cool down.

The tradition in Cambodia is to barter with the vendor in order to save
some money, so every market place is filled with the sounds of people
yelling numbers over the top of other people. In order to stock as much
product as possible, the walkways between stalls in the markets could
hardly fit two people at a time, but one lady dragged an entire 10 kilo
bag of rice behind her whilst trying to stop her children from running
away!

Hectic, busy, loud and somewhat smelly, the markets were definitely a new
experience.

After the Orussey, the Russian and the Central markets,  we'd bought enough
school supplies (excersise books, pens, pencils and other stationary) to
last the children in the Sisters of Charity AIDS Orphanage for one school
year.

We arrived at the orphanage expecting to see about fifty kids running
around, but instead the lovely Sister told us that athe children were away
in the city, rehearsing for their yearly dance performance!

We were invited into the big blue building and were greeted by about six
of the youngest or sickest kids who couldnt do the dance performance.
Although they were obviously not well, they had the brightest smiles and
were so excited to see our bags of presents!

One little boy attached himself to Alex and simply lead her around,
showing her his home. Sophie (like always) was hugged by a little girl
within the first two minutes. After talking to the sisters, we discovered that

the Orphanage was also used as a womans refuge, a hospus, an aged care facility, 

a hospital and a mental health care facility. The sisters do not turn anyone away.

It was emotionally a tough experience, but it has inspired us to do what
we can to stop innocent children getting diseases from poor hygiene,
untrained medical staff and mistakes that would not be made in a more
educated society.

Bridget