Reason #276 Why I Love Cambodia

I had an incredibly simple yet beautiful experience last time I was in Cambodia. As I was walking through the Killing Fields with some members of my group, a few children who were playing in a nearby field approached us. At first they echoed the ubiquitous chant of "photo! photo! one dollar!" in an attempt to convince us to pay them a dollar to take their photo. While I declined the staged photo op, I instead started chatting with them and playing some of their games. Went I went to say goodbye, one of them came over and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek; I smiled and gave the child a hug in return, and again turned to leave when another child came over to hug me. Giggling and flashing their beautiful Cambodian smiles, all 5 of the kids lined up to hug me and give me a kiss on the cheek before I left. It was such a beautiful experience at a site where such tragedies had occured only 30 years earlier.