Dancing Orphans, Light-Fingered Hookers and Collective Nouns

In the last 24 hours in Siem Reap I have both found and been unwittingly given reasons to spend both a long and a short period of life in this ancient, colonial town. Both of which depend, in entirely different ways, on me finding a job soon.

Ok, let's get the bad one out of the way first so I can end this short post in an optimistic fashion void of the annoyance I am currently feeling. Last night after going to a shop to but standard sitting in your room alone at night stuff (i.e. crisps, ice tea and cigarettes) I was almost definitely pick-pocketed by a small group of of Cambodian prostitutes, what's the collective noun for prostitutes? A whorde? Anyway the last two nights, including the last, I have been pounced upon by a drugged-up, desperate hackle of hookers who did their best, in the very Cambodian fashion, of getting some business. It's a horrible thing to be attached upon by horde of thoroughly annoying, spaced-up probably-not-women. So I did what I did last night, walked on with a few attempts of releasing myself from their finger-sharp holds, saying 'no' perpetually for the last 10 yards of my walk home. It was only when I woke up this morning when I realised that my wallet had gone... Now obviously I can't know for sure that it was them, but it fucking well was. I had my wallet at the shop, a mere 100 yards away. Earlier I had a few beers and a free shot of tequila so I was a little drunk but wasn't out of it on any level. I went back to the shop today and I didn't leave it on the counter, I didn't put it in the shopping bag, I put it in my pocket... I mean I can't explicitly remember the action in itself but one rarely does even in an pure and sober state. Their hands. They were all over me, extreme body contact... how could I notice? I was concentrating on keeping my cock covered just incase one of them regrets the operation s/he once had and decides to rip mine off in a desperate karmic attempt. So there we have it, my cash, my cards, my contacts all stolen by a lechery of ladyboys, that's SE Asia in a nut-shell. So yeh, no money, and I thank God for the invention of the restaurant tab but a job soon, hopefully. The dude in the hotel here says I should go to the tourist police, and I will... but I can say now they won't do shit... "Ah! Stolen by a lady-boy prostitute now?... And you say you didn't sleep with her?" I'm told the tourist police station is a good 2 miles from here and with not a dollar in my pocket and mid 80 degree, 100% humidity heat I hardly see that happening. So I'm going vigilante, the receptionist says they're on that corner most nights and he wouldn't be surprised if that's the scam they're maneuvering rather than what they were advertising. I'll wait, and if they come back, well I don't know... shout at them, ask them for my shit back and threaten to call the police or rip their implants out, that'll scare them.

So before all of this pathetic pandemonium I was really enjoying my evening. I had a great talk with my Father on skype, met some an interesting group of people from Holland (a fly of Dutchmen!) and found a reason to stay here other than to make money. I was invited to go to a local orphanage by a volunteer that I met the day before yesterday in town and watch the kids preform in a dance-show that they put on 3 times a week in order to find contributions from tourists. After a pleasantly long walk I arrived at 'COFCO' just as it was getting dark. I was shown around the place by the volunteer's husband and got to talking to a few people involved there. The place didn't nearly have enough money for what it was... no surprises there. It was over-crowded and ill-equipped for Cambodia's character. But it wasn't dirty, or smelly. It had a good supply of food and the kids were fed 3 times a day... and the kids! They were amazing, so happy, approachable and personable. The dance idea I'm sure would shock a lot of people... These kids dance 3 times a week for money? Outrageous! And maybe some would be correct, but they loved it... they were clearly never bored by these activities... I mean that's what it was to them, just fun. I'm sure most had little clue that their dancing was keeping rice on their plates and a roof over their head, it was just a game. Plus Khmer traditional dancing looks just as fun to preform as it is to watch. It's different to the dull, slow, finger-bending Thai dances you might get pulled into by one hotel or another out here. It's tribal, rhythmic, a little bit exciting as well. They dressed up mainly in animal outfits, most commonly the bizarre monkey/lion amalgamation traditional in ancient Khmer art and architecture. Three kids also changed the tone a little with a hip-hop number centered around an acrobatic 5 or 6 year old with classic orphan hand-me-down-three-sizes-too-big clothes that suited the genre exceptionally. They were amazing fun, after the performance was over a couple of the kids got a hold of the laptop and started playing some of their favourite music and invited us all up for a little trip the light fantastic to Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga and all the 'greats' that music has to offer... I was transported back to Boudhanilkantha in seconds, faith that children in almost any situation have one thing in common, they love their life. Nothing was different about this rascal of rapturous orphans. I spoke to one of the locals at the orphanage and told him that, provided that I do find a job, I would love to help out there and teach English if they needed me, he excitingly accepted and shook my hand - presently they had only two Spanish speakers, Cambodians speaking Spanish eh? And that was it, my night... another adventure of misadventures tangled up in both the fortunate and the luckless. But you know what, I'm still, and always will be, smiling. :)