Cambodia Day 7 : An Experience That Lasts a Lifetime 

We had breakfast at the coffee shop just across our guest house at 6:30 am - half-boiled eggs, delicious fried mee hoon and coffee again. Today, we will be visiting a site that would never be found in any tourist guidebook nor would it be in the list of places to visit. This will be our last place before we fly back home this afternoon.

We stopped by the city and bought two big bags of bread to take with us. The streets were already buzzling with morning activities and monks can be seen moving from shop to shop getting donations from shop-owners. When we reached our destination, smoke and stench greeted us as we alighted from our van.

Steung Meanchey Municipal Waste Dump (yes, it is a dump site, for those of you who can't believe we actually visited one) is located in southern Phnom Penh, more than 30 minutes away from where we stayed. This dump site covers 100 acres and about 2,000 people live and work here, of which 600 of them are children. Thanks to KK's friend for recommending this place for photography, we got to witness and experience this ourselves.

There was an article written about this dump site which said an adult rubbish picker earned an average of 4,000 to 5,000 riels (US$1.00 to US$1.25) a day and children earned half as much. They built makeshift huts to live in the landfill and had to pay rentals to the landowners, as the lands were privately owned. Some children attended school but most did not, as the adults needed them to help contribute to the family income.

The dump site was filled with very thick smoke, which prevented us from seeing clearly. I did not see many makeshift huts, perhaps they were located on the other side of the hill. But I did see many children, some playing, some eating while others were picking rubbish. There were food stalls in the dump site - fruits, ice-kacang and noodles, and the people just ate there, surrounded by garbage. It was a sad sight for again this reminded us of the many privileges we have waiting for us at home.

As each garbage truck approached, the adults would get ready, eagerly await for the truck to unload. Then, they would move in to grab as much as they could find. That's their way of earning a living.

We gave away the bread we brought with us. Little hands and big hands that reached out were black with dirt but the owners didn't seem to mind at all. Not being able to withstand the situation any longer, Cat and I were one of the first ones to leave the site, just couldn't take any more photos there.

We waited for everyone to finish and headed back to the city. With extra time to kill, we stopped by the Russian market to look at souvenirs. We returned to our guest house, did our final packing, showered and checked out for good, then off to the airport.

The soles of my favourite Reebok shoes (heartache) gave way and I decided to leave them behind, wearing my slippers to fly home...haha...

I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this as this was a truly experiential week for me - the many ancient sites of a once lost kingdom, floating village, dump site, new friends, ample supply of photography tips. As someone mentioned somewhere, "imagination is more important than knowledge", I'll be bold enough to add "it is also the experience that counts".

A tribute to:

• Uncle Lee, our almost 70-year old veteran photographer who managed to climb the steep hill of Phnom Bakheng and withstand our craziness
• KK, for planning this entire trip, from doing reservations for our air-tickets to providing us useful information to coordinating until the last day, our sincere gratitude
• Lillian, for being able to carry that very heavy camera bag with all the lenses wherever you go, we kept wondering how you deal with that weight
• Bernard, Irene and Cat for providing all the fun throughout the trip
• My hubby, for bringing me...*muacks*...heh heh...

Hey guys, next trip...Beijing.

(Photograph courtesy of KK Tan)