Here is the latest recipient of the Coolest Kid of the Week award, which I award periodically when photographing children in third world countries. He was quite the camera hog yesterday, but I don’t blame him. I would do the same if I were in his shoes (or lack thereof). The sores all over his skin do nothing to darken his smile, nor are they enough to make him at all self-conscious when asking me to take his photo over and over and over again, and then calling his buds to join him. You wonder about his life, though, and what sort of a future, if any, he will have.

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For those unaware, I had been planning on moving in with a Cambodian family this week, until they were kind enough to decide last week that it wouldn’t work because they were moving to a smaller house.

I heard about a flat with some young foreigners in the area of the Russian Market across town, so I went to check it out on Saturday. The part of town where I am now staying is almost completely residential, and many of these are homes of government officials, so there are not many things to do nearby. The Russian Market area, however, Toul Tom Poung as they call it, is bustling with shops, restaurants, cafes, and well, the market. So anything I could ever need or want would be right outside my doorstep. The vacant room in the flat is on the third floor, and then up another flight of stairs, through the neighbor’s flat, is a rooftop terrace - a veranda, one might say - complete with plants, chairs, hammocks, a breeze, and a fourth-floor view of the city. The place was perfect. Except for one small detail: the other three in the flat are French women. We would have each had our own separate space, so it wouldn’t have been a problem, but I know it could appear shady, so I find myself back at the drawing board.

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Tomorrow I head up to a town on the Thai border to get footage and photos of street kids. Geof and his wife have adopted many Cambodian kids and one of these grew up as a street kid in this border town. In March, Geof will be speaking at Lake Avenue in Pasadena, CA and Calvary Church in Lancaster (woot woot!), so this footage will accompany his presentation on the very grim and important issue of human trafficking. I am crossing my fingers that our filming will take us into Thailand, adding one more stamp to my passport. At any rate, it should make for some stellar photos and footage. Wikitravel.org, incidentally, has this to say about the town: “Poipet more or less rhymes with toilet, and this caustic observation is, sadly, true. Poipet is a miserable huddle of touts, beggars, thieves and dodgy casinos for daytripping Thais, and spending any more time than absolutely necessary is not recommended.”

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My mom has asked about my health a few times, and I’m sure all of you are dying to know but just don’t feel comfortable asking because you are not my mother. So here it is: I am pleased to tell you I have had fairly remarkable intestinal fortitude thus far. Most times, number twos are more like one and a halfs, but the stomach feels normal, so no complaints. I did throw up a few weeks ago for the first time in years but this was due to taking my malaria pill first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. I have since made sure to take the pill following my breakfast of bread and Starbucks coffee (courtesy of a never-used French press coffee maker in the Amstutz residence and a bag of coffee given some months ago by some well-meaning Americans to a family of tea drinkers).