The National Museum

On Sunday I went to the National Museum. Upon arrival I was approached by a woman carrying a newborn baby and also by a boy about nine years old who was carrying a thermal cooler full of bottled water. She was begging and he was selling. She was insistent, asking repeatedly for a dollar. I told them both to catch me on the way out. The woman followed me to the entrance of the museum grounds, still pleading; but the boy pointed to the ball cap he was wearing and said, "OK mister you look for green hat."

Statue of Ganesha--god of wisdom and education

Sure enough when I left the museum, there he was. "OK mister now you buy." He was as charming and polite as he could be--after all I was the one who told him to watch for me on the way out. "2000," he said (meaning 2000 riel, 50 cents USD). "You get two for one dollar, OK?" he asked. I replied, "How about one for one dollar?" "OK, mister. Thank you," he said with a big smile.

I was half a block away when the woman with a baby caught up. She resumed demanding a dollar. I checked my pockets. I had a 20 USD note and Cambodian 100 riel note. I gave her the 100 riel. She took it and said, "Noooo, 100 not enough money." She's right, too. Two and one-half cents USD doesn't go very far even in an impoverished country like Cambodia.