angkor wat child アンコールワットの子供 (cambodia)

Posted by timothy sullivan (Tokyo, Japan) on 26 January 2008 in Architecture.

Whenever I speak with Japanese who visited Angkor Wat and the surrounding area, people undoubtedly mention (or even speak volumes on) the "polyglot" children who inhabit the area: children who can speak and understand certain basic key words and phrases ("postcard", "you want?", "photo?") in a wealth of languages Eastern, Middle Eastern, and Western. This girl shyly followed me as I walked around the temple; eventually I smiled at her. She smiled back, said something in what I believed to be Khmer, and then pointed at my film camera. "You photo?"
I nodded, and took my camera off from around my neck; she came closer and I offered her to have a look. She smiled as she looked through the lens--and I wondered whether this was the first time she had ever seen through a camera. She looked me, asked a question, and I nodded, tacitly understanding that she wanted to try taking a photo (which she did--I'll post it in the future).
After returning my camera to my hands, she looked at me, said, "You, photo?" and pointed at herself. I blinked, then nodded. "Ok, if it's okay," to which she replied, "one dollar."
A wave of vague uneasiness swept over me; while this was not in the very least illicit in any sense of the word, I still felt like I was crossing some sort of line when I handed her a dollar.
Reflecting on that moment, I wondered what ever became of her--and what happened to the money. Was she "free", and only seeking money to help her family--or was she a slave, and my money had gone to her master's hands, and had helped encourage a system I find disgusting?
So many questions came to mind. And lacking answers, I just smiled, waved farewell, and let the peace of the temple resume its hold.

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