You see papa, mama, little boy and little on the sampan. And no .. they are not on a fishing trip for vacation. This is their life and their work everyday under the scorching sun. Imagine at the tender age of 3 years old, you had to start to contribute to the family's income. What were we doing at age 3 ? Watching cartoons, eating KFC and fighting for toys with our siblings ?
Everyday, papa, mama and the kids would hop on to this small boat. They would furiously row their sampan to catch up with tourist's motor boats. They would then cling-on to the boats in a precarious manner, and try to sell us soft drinks like Coke, Fanta or Pepsi. Usually the kids are the one who would appeal to you with big-wide-eye "Sir, you want water ... one dollar only". At first, I was amazed that they could have such perfect English pronunciation at such young age. Later I found out that, they only know these few 'survival sentences'. If you try to speak to them, or ask them questions, they are more likely to give you a blank look or just smile. Most of them try to sell you soft drinks or bananas, that's mostly all they sell.
Notice the cute little boy had the task of scooping water out of the sampan - he was already doing his part for the survival of the family.
Such is the world apart at the floating village of Tonle Sap lake at SiamReap, Cambodia. I hope tourism will eventually improve their life for the next generation.
I am grateful to be born in Malaysia, that i get to go to school, and did not have to start working at age 3.
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