After posting 2 depressing entries earlier on, you would be glad to know that this entry will be a joyful one.

One of the advantages of doing a backpacking trip is that you can go to places where guided tour packages may not bring you to. After our trip to the Killing Fields, we requested our tuk-tuk driver, Sakoor, to bring us to a nearby village primary school. We thought that it would be a good idea to buy something small for some of the kids in the school, so we dropped off at the nearby market area as seen in the picture above. This is the road that we usually travel on. All sand and no tar (read dusty!).

This is the "wet" portion of the market. It actually looks quite the same as some of the wet markets in Singapore, agree? Anyway, we decided to get pencils for the little students in the school, and managed to buy 40 pieces. These pencils are those cartridge-type ones, which the shop seller claimed them to be the children’s ‘hot favourite’.

So here we were, at the primary school compound. I didn’t get the name of the school though. All the buildings are single-storey, and there are quite a number of classrooms, so I guess it’s pretty big for a village school. Guess who we met first in this school?

These adorable kids! I presume they were let off earlier from lessons since they were roaming around the compound before they spotted us. However, after they acknowledged our presence, they just kept following us behind! Cute! Haha..

I couldn’t help but to snap more pictures of them. They just love being photographed.. and you should see their expressions when I show them their photos on my camera’s review lcd screen. All of them were so excited to see themselves in the magical black box! I can’t seem to find the right words to describe their "happy-go-lucky" character, but it always brings a smile to my face whenever I picture them in my head now.  

So, we started walking along the corridors of the classrooms.. and I think we managed to stop all the kids from paying attention to their lessons! See how the little children turned towards us? I wondered what they were thinking.

When we walked past the second classroom, some of the kids started smiling and waving to us. I really enjoyed their innocence and friendliness.

And on to the third classroom. Ahh, I like this class! As soon as we walked near the door, the teacher requested the students to greet us, and all of them immediately placed their hands together and made a slight bow! Well-mannered, very likeable and adorable. I went in for a few seconds to snap a few pictures of them, and they were delighted.

See how they waved goodbye to us when we left them?

So, the group of us eventually decided to give the pencils to the third class. However, the class size was quite huge and we didn’t have enough pencils to give to everyone.

Fortunately, there is a school bookshop behind the classrooms! We bought more pencils from them after a bit of bargaining. (See those little kids watching us buying the pencils? I told you they were following us everywhere!)

As we walked back to the third classroom, students from other classes were all gathering at the side windows to look at us. We acknowledged their curiosity and waved to them. For a moment, I felt like a celebrity.

And so, we returned to the classroom. The kids must have been wondering what we were up to! We got the permission from their teacher and started distributing the pencils. I tell you, they are super polite! Upon receiving the pencils, each of them would place their hands together again and bow their heads to thank us. I could tell from their eyes that they really appreciated our gesture, and that really made my day.

So, it was time for us to go. But not before taking a final picture! I walked myself up the front platform, and gestured to the kids to wave their hands in the air while holding the pencils (they don’t understand English yet). See how enthusiastic they are? My friends and I truly enjoyed ourselves a lot.

Time to go… and they are still following us!!

Ok ok.. wave goodbye.. farewell, little ones.. thanks for the hospitality!!