Siem Reap "Reaping life's small rewards"

My last day in Siem Reap I decided to walk down to the pub street for a drink and some food, I decided to be daring and try the fried scorpion which i could not quite manage to eat so I tried a bit of the fried snake to get the taste of the scorpion guts out of my mouth. The vendor told me it tastes just like chicken which was maybe about 10% percent accurate I managed to eat about a third of it and decided my fried critter experience was about done and went to another vendor for some fried ice-cream which did a pretty good job a restoring my appetite.

while i was eating my ice-cream a small boy tugged lightly on my shirt and said "I don’t want money, only food.” this is very common in Siem Reap. With all of the Tuk Tuk Drivers offering rides, drugs and lady massage on a regular bases it’s very easy to get used to just saying no, no thank you, i don’t want any all day long. So i wondered if the kid was just working for someone or if it was a scam, whatever. I asked him what he wanted to eat. He said “only milk I just want milk” He pointed to the super market two blocks away and I followed him there. When we got there he took me to an isle with some large containers of baby formula. The sceptic in me still said maybe he just plans to sell it or someone is making him do this so he can sell it.

I bought him a container of baby formula for $15 U.S. He was very grateful said thank you many many times and ran away smiling.

Not sure if what i had done was good because made someone happy or whether it was bad because I was encouraging a small child to beg on the street I decided “hey least I tried”

On the way back to my hotel a short distance from the city centre I saw the boy again. He was was going door to door dividing the powder into bags and and giving it to his neighbours who would run back into there homes with smiles on there face.

I was both overwhelmingly happy and overwhelming sad at the same time.

I hope I helped.

Photos Taken with Canon 60d, 18-200mm zoom.