The scoundrel was loitering around till he saw me in his peripheral vision. Then he became all religious. Once he heard my camera stop clicking, he engaged me in a wonderful conversation that – as he knew all along – ended in a dollar for him. 

It was just past sun break at the Preah Khan temple in Cambodia. A lazy ray of sun light snuck through the east gopura to gather at the base of the ancient shivalinga.  As the Khmer boy fell to his knees, the smoke from the incense sticks changed directions and headed straight for his face.

In the inner most sanctum, surrounded by the lovely diffused morning glow, I almost felt pious.