A few of us were chatting to one of the local guys about Cambodia and how he finds life here. He was telling us about how much the country has changed. He said that in the 60s, Cambodia was one of the most developed countries in Asia. People would come from Malaysia and Thailand to learn about how they’re doing things here. It used to be known as the pearl of Asia and the Paris of the east. But then the Khmer Rouge came and destroyed everything and now its one of the poorest. It must be horrible to see the country you love destroyed like that. He was telling us about life here now and how hard it is for them. The minimum wage here is just $80/month and yet the cost of living is so high! There are no public buses here so people rely on tuk tuks or riding on the back on a motorcycle. I go to work by tuk tuk, it is a 20 minute journey and costs $3 each way. If I’m lucky, I can find someone to share it with me but it isn’t always possible due to varying start times. A can of coke here costs 50c and a meal out costs $3 – $10 depending on the quality of the restaurant. So while it is definitely cheaper than London prices, it is extremely hard to imagine living here on just $80/month. He was saying that a lot of the young people here dream of moving to nearby countries such as Thailand to have a better life. He hopes that things will change here, but in reality, it is hard to see things changing in the next 10 years. There is currently an election going on here so there is a lot of unrest here as a result of it. The reigning party here – Cambodian People Party, have been in power since 1979 and a lot of the people here want change and they think the votes are being rigged to keep the same party in power. You can just imagine how the future must seem pretty hopeless to people here.