Flowers in Cambodia

The first time I was in Cambodia, there were no ATMs in the whole country. We had done a slight miscalculation with this one, so had to leave earlier than I would have liked as we were running out of traveler's checks — still a common currency at that time funnily enough, now I can’t remember when I have last seen such a thing!

On our last day before heading to Thailand, we were counting our last dollar bills and hired a tuktuk driver to bring us to a beautiful lake outside of town. The amount we had agreed to pay him was ridiculously low even by Cambodian standards at that time, I realized on our way back having seen the distance and the dirt path we had taken to get there. I felt awful, but there was not much I could do seeing as that was our last money.

On the way back on the dirt road, we passed villages, shacks, people, and life — while the sun started setting, giving the surrounding rice paddies an amazing pink glow. Kids would try to run along with our Tuktuk, waving and cheering as we went. A boy, whose face I will never forget, was running, catching up, cheering and babbling in Khmer as he ran, and once he caught up close enough to the carriage, flashed a smile like no other, and threw a bouquet of lotus flowers on my lap and watched us drive away, waving.

No spoken language was needed for me to understand — He was wishing me good luck.