Not in the Lonely Planet

After getting acquainted with the city for a few days, we finally went to a more 'touristy' place of Phnom Penh. The waterfront area which includes the royal palace, is one of the first places listed in Lonely Planet but it was nice that we didn't do the touristy things. That was never the plan anyways. Instead, the area we work in Tuol Kork, is known for its number of brothels. Not in the Lonely Planet's itinerary of things to do.

One day I was at the clinic hanging out with some of the girls from the brothels while George and Loretta treated them one by one. Our travel Connect Four came in handy and the girls picked it up quite fast. Again, not a very Lonely Planet kind of thing to do. It was early that morning and we were kind of surprised to see a number of girls at 9 in the morning; most of them probably worked through the night. After some fruit and waiting around they eventually fell asleep on the mats. We had bought wicker chairs but no one except us barang, foreigners, seem to be sitting on them, we may just invest in a few more pillows and mats. Our hearts break for these girls. When they see us they are often smiling, but their reality is nothing to smile about. They come to the clinic to get as much treatment and meds that we can provide for them but it's no way out of the brothels. As they slept we prayed for them. It was almost all we could do...