khmer new year!

---

I knew that when i set out on saturday, I would be embarking on an adventure, but i did not realise that i would have the experience of a life time! life became so different by travelling only a few hours away from the city!

this will be an epic tale...i hope you are comfortable!!!

soriya and i got a shared taxi to her village; a mini bus with no air-con and over 30 people for a 18 person vehicle and all the luggage in the back! we were so lucky because we got the back seat and could stick our heads out of the open back where the luggage was strapped in tight! we talked the entire journey while most people slept and i immediately realised that this was going to be such a wonderful adventure because i was with one of the most genuine and kind friends i will ever make!
we arrive at her village just before 4.00 and we stumble out of the 'taxi' with our bags and i take a look at where i will be staying for a week...it is nothing that i could ever have imagined or prepared for...i dont even think i knew what i was expecting! it was a two roomed wooden house on stilts. the toilet was wooden floorboards with a sheet of metal for cover (for the number two, it was a few mintues to the next door neighbours hole in the ground with a door!), the bath was a bucket and water and my bed consisted of a cushion, mosquito net, mat and floorboards. i knew i had come to the right place for my khmer new year!!!

i met soriya's aunt, uncle and two cousins (beautiful girls aged 3 and 13) who we were staying with and had the grand tour of the coconut, mango and banana trees in their back garden! at the back of her house was the river where people were still continuing to work hard until sunset. the sunset over the river was spectaculor. i cannot describe it in words, because it was one of those images that can only be summonded to the mind if yuo ahve seen something so peaceful, tranquil and natural. we saw the wooden carts pulled by cows leave the fields and the people fishing draw in their nets, signalling that a hard days work was over. that night i had my first experiece of the wonderful cooking of srey mom (her aunt)!!! because she knew i was vegetarian, that worried her even more, she was so nervous of what to cook, but rice, veg and salad was divine! i never thought rice could taste so good!!! especially since it was cooked on a tiny gas stove and we ate sitting on the floor. after dinner we walked to the other side of the village with her aunt and cousings and met some of her friends! it was like walking aounrd with royalty! soriya knew everyone in the village! whenever iw as introduced to someone she knew, there was the instant unsurity of how to react to someone from england, but after a few minutes i was being hugged and treated like family!

the following day i was woken at 2am by dogs fighting and then again at 5am by the rooster signalling that it was time to get up! we went to the market and i have never felt so white!! the cambodian word for foreigner (tourist) is "barang" and i could hear it being whispered wherever i went. But soriya held my hand tight and i smiled at everyone i met. by the end of the week, the people in the market were so used to me and had my order of iced coffee made to perfection! after breakfast i had my proper tour of the village and we stopped at her neighbours for ice cream and then a few houses down, we helped to spead the tabbacco on mats to dry in the morning sun! soryia's village is a very rural area; many work in the fields or make products or foods to sell from the harvested crops. after we have toured the village i have my first moto lesson! she drives me to the school and goes over the basics...i then take to controls!! it was fantastic! i ride around the grounds of the school until i gain my confidence, soryia coaxing round each corner (and does not even squeal when i drive through cow pat!!). we decide to take a trip to the end of the viallge and i zoom out of the grounds. people on the side of the road are stunned to see 'barang'driving!! we reach a placee to practice turning round and i brace myself!! controlled and eased round we speed back towards her house and get to the house in time for lunch! after lunch we went to visit more of her family just outside the village and they are immediately stunned but warm so quickly. one speaks some english and we get by laughing over grapefruit and photo albums! when we return soriya's parents have arrived!!!! they are the most wonderful people! so thin and dark from working in the fields and i get shown into their hosue and realise why i am staying in her aunts house; there are two rooms, but it is very small, dark and dusty. her father is such a strong and kind man, doesn't say too much but was obviously a father to be proud of! her mother was indescribable, but i'll try; she would not elt go of my hand to being with and kept smiling. she loves her family so much and had such a beautiful aura (if that does not sound too corny), it is the only way to describe how beautiful she was! soriya ahd been telling em of how hard they worked in the fields to provide for their family (soriya did not finish education beacuse her parents were so poor) and i met soriya's younger sister who i soon found out was adopted by her mum. sreynang (her sister) was found with a very poor cambodian lady who could not look after all of her children, soriya's mum took her home and raised her as her own (aswell as having three other children to look after!). the day ends with a bike ride to the pagoda along the tree lined and dusty track and we talk to some monks, cycle home and watch the sunset (it really was the highlight of each day). dinner was a fabulous noodle and vegetable dish, with fresh mango and coconut to finish! because they know how much i love apples, there was a constant apple supply 😊 the evening was spent playing cards under a battery powered light and woken once again by the annoying rooster!!

monday...my birthday!! the morning was so random, we went to the market and went for a game of badminton with the local kids at the school! then waited for lunch before deciding on the spur of the moment to make an hour journey to visit other volunteers in the town of kampong cham. it was such a random morning because it did not feel like my brithday and i felt really homesick and everybody was staring at me really weirdly. we got on to the boat to leave the village and i tell soriya that i'd like to be back by 4, she seems so happy and soon confesses that we have to buy a cake for a surprise party! she wasn't going to tell me, but her 13year old cousin broke the cake by dropping it and could no longer be a surprise! we arrive at the town just after 12.30 and sopheap (one fo the main people at the school i work for) and me and soriya drive motos to pick up sarah, carrie and bill from their hotel. haha i surprise everyone by pulling up the visor on the helmet!! the look on their faces was priceless! we get shown round sohpeaps house (which has the most outstanding back garden of fruit trees!!! so many jackfruit and mango!!! me and soriya say our goodbyes and ehad to the market for a cake and some bread!! i buy her mum and aunt flowers and precariously balanced on the back of the moto with flowers, cake and bread, we set off home! it was hilarious driving along and we laugh all the way over on the boat playing cards and singing and arrive in time to say hello to her sister and one of my students that have arrived! it was so nice to see her and speak english to someone in the village!! i get the phone call i was waiting for all day, 4pm my parents singing happy birthday!! my homesickness vanished and i felt rejuvinated afer hearing their voices! the smile didn't vanish as at 5pm i got ushered to the tree outside her aunts house and a herd of people appear!! literally everyone of her friends came to sing happy birthday!!! i got a beautiful cake, a card soriya had brought from my volunteer friends in phnom penh and she had boughtmy the most gorgeous pair of earrings from a random conversation i remember having about 2weeks ago about what i like and i remember saying that whenever i go shopping i always look at earrings and even described the ideal ones!! haha she got the ideal ones!!! srey mom cooked my favourite...khmer curry.......i have never eaten something so amazing, second and third helpings were had with break, and rice!!!! the sun set and people started saying goodbye and we rolled up the stairs full of cake and curry and sit to play cards then bed!

at 1.30 her family got up to watch the khmer new year on tv at a neighbors house. i thought i should stay in bed...it was a cambodian holiday and i thought they would like to see in the new year as a family! also i knew that in a few hours the annoying dogs and rooster would be waking me up!!!! the new year began llike any other, ciced coffee and breakfast, but then aat 8am we got ready to got o the pagoda! wearing our best white khmer tops and my brown skirts, me and soriya looked so awesome! we met her parents and drove to the pagoda to give food to the monks. we prayed and then went to the graves of her grandparents where i was priviled to sit in on the monks blessing the family. the chanting was magical as we sat under the tree with incense. in the afternoon we drove to the famous pagoda mountain and the hill man and hill woman which were about an hour from the village. we went with her beautifull and kind friend srey art! on the mountain, there were about 5 pagodas and so many people, the atmosphere was electric! lots of dancing and games and drink stands! we wandered round, got stopped by the tourist police (i really was the only white person there!!) and i managed to get out of paying because soriya told them i was a volunteer!! we climbed the 193 steps of the hill woman (i had to scream at srey art to get to the top!!) but drove up the moutain and hill man!!! after a long adventure we went back to the village and relaxed until dinner (it could not top the wonderful curry but came close, it was a noodle soup with the best potatoes and carrots!! completely spoilt!!) after dinner we got ready for the dance!!!! we met her friends at 8pm and danced until 11!!! stopping for about an hour to have a snack (omg soriya ate fertilised duck eggs...i couldn't watch and instead resorted to an angkor beer!!). at my wedding i have decided that there will be khmer dancing!!! it was fantastic, i taught them the most ridiculous moves when the hiphop came on!! haha, i'm the owrst dancer, but i made them all giggle!! self respect goes out the window when you dont speak the same laguage, so innate being takes over and body language becomes so important, by the end fo the night we were all hugging and walking back laughing at nothing! cambodians have a wonderful and silly sense of humour!!

wendesday became the day things turned, not sour but it became obivous that there was a cultural barrier! i found it hard to relax in the village because it was so different; i didnt not know what to do. also i was not allowed to do anything by myself, like wash up or even go for a walk. soriya or neron had to come ith me. i was fussed over all the time...had i eaten enough, eat more, what shall we cook for you, have you washed, can i wash your clothes, do you need an apple, do you need an apple, are you sure you dont need an apple!! it was ok at the beginning but after 3 days, pateience begins to wear as you are being guarded and fussed 24/7 with little space to breathe!! i know they just wanted everything perfect, but trying telling poeple who do not speak the same language, that everything was perfect!! i should have left on the wednesday to meet the others at senglay's house, but iw ated until the thurdsay and wednesday night soriya was so tired. she was feeling ill, and i think it had something to do with the lack of opportunities to relax and also soryia's english is really good, she picks things up so quickly, but by the end of the week, she was obviously getting tired from thinking so hard!

i dragged her for a walk and then we relaxed at her house and i read my book while she slept. we then met her other uncle and we went on a longmoto ride to visit his friends and various pagodas outside the village. the roads were quite dangerous with kids setting up road blocks and throwing talc powder and had ropes on the road, i was glad her uncle was driving!! but it was a great day, we picked aubergines and met lovely people but i still felt like such a burden. we got home and didnt know what to do, i could not go sit by the river so soriya had to come and then i went for a ''bath'' before sunset. we got back to the river and played cards and soryia slept again before dinner (which was again fantastic, as was lunch, but her aunt was just getting quite panicked about what to make for me! which was very stressful because i felt even more of a burden). we went to the adance again and after insisting she would not dance, soriya got dragged in by her friends. we stumbled sleepily home and after much faffing it was decided that in the morning i would leave eearly to meet sarah, carrei and bill again who were at senglays house.

we woke at the crack of dawn and said a rushed goodbye to her family, then her brother (who had just arrived late that night) drove me the two hour journey so i could make it before senglay's family left for the water pagoda at 7!! he also would not accept my money and i thanked him and soriya so much! it was so great to see other barang!!! and talk in english!!! lot of people in the village surprised me by their english, but it wasn't the same as having a fluent conversation!!!! 😊 we drove 2 hours in a truck on a bumpy road with about 25 people squished in and arrived at the pagoda!! after wandering around and waiting for the offerings to the monk to finish we had a VERY early lunch!! and then went swimming in the waterfall!! it was amazing swimming underneath ot!! but teh rocks were bery sharp and i didnt have a spare pair of trousers! also many of the girls we came iwth couldnt swim well and i'm not the strongest swimmer! it was scary being responsible for them as we went along the uneven rocks! (everyone survived with no injuries! except sokleang did find a drawing pin on top of the waterfall! it started to rain and we dived into the cave where senglay had brought our bags for safety! i feared that my flip flops had been stolen until sokleang turned up ones that looked like mine!! almost had a heart attack!!! we pile back on to the truck when the rain had apssed and stop at a pagoda to dance on the way home! it was wonderful dancing with about 8 girls, but tiring after a long day and when people lept trying to podwer my face with talc (which is what happens at new year) i just didnt want them to. the agression of drunk cambodians (or even sober ones) became apparent and they were so strong as even the girls grabbed my wrists dragging me to dance. i walked away for a few minutes after 2 men grabbed my arm, not in a mean way but it was so rough that it kind of frightened me. i pullled away and breathed for a little bit and got shown round the pagoda by my beautiful cambodian friend who was 14 and so lovely, she took so much talc powder shots for me!! got back on the truck and drove to a second pagodoa! the cambodians screamed in delight, the barang groaned! after about 15minutes of dancing the rain came puring down again and the truck had gone back to the village! we walked about 30minutes in the rain and mud!!! soaked to the skin...again!!! singing with my lil cambodian friends and skipping along the track 😊 it was wonderful! got back to senglays huose and there was no where to dry. we hung up our clothes to wash them in the rain and 'bathed'with our bucket and finally had dry clothes on!! the rain subsided and we watched the most amazingly red sunset imaginable!! drank honey wine (omg it was vile and strong...i gave mine to bill) and then ate at the house. our early lunch ahd caused angst for our cambodian hosts as we didnt eat that much without constant éat, eat, eat', but then at dinner we were watched by the entire family (senglay has 5other brothers and sisters and her parents also watched). it was very intimidating, and after eating so much at soriya's i really wasn't that hungry!!! but we gobbled it down, smiling through the experience (mumbling a little about being such a spectacle!) and then retired to play baminton in the dark with broken shuttlecocks and then me bill, sokleang, her sister and her mother played ''old maid''. it was hilarious, they were holding their sides!!!!!! me and bill were being stealthy in hiding if we had the ace, but they were just so open and hilarious to play with!!!!!

senglay and sokleang (two people who work at the school) their house was much bigger than soryias because it had two floors, but it was the same sort of design, but with a better toilet (still pretty much the same, but more of a door and there was a light!!) however, there were so many more bugs and insects!!!! i was spraying myself with deet, but even at night i was picking beetles off my back!! we woke up the next day (i drove to the market with senglay, who was very impressed, and we bought breakfast) and said our farewells to the family! they were amazing hosts, but i was glad to let them have their space back, they like soriyas family tried to make everything wonderful that it was so exhausting for them.

we boarded the airconditioned bus and headed back to phnom penh!
upon our arrival, every item of clothing was thrown into the washing machine (i refused the let soroyas aunt hand wash my clothes, her hands were so so strong though through rinsing!!) all of our clothes were disgusing...dirty, dusty, smelly and the ones which we wore in the rain that we hung out and didnt properly dry were actually steaming!!!!!
after a wonderful shower, cup of tea in a lovely cafe, beer on the roof, i felt back to normality. we had dinner not under the observance of many eyes (it was nice to eat as much as i wanted without being judged) and then i called my mum! was so tired and looking forward to bed which i collapsed into at 9.30!!! steph arrived back at 11...and woke me up flicking the light on and off...i really had missed her 😊 and now everyone has filtered back to the house with tales of their holidays and we are all heading out tonight for cocktails and mexican...and possibly karaoke!!! i really did miss everyone...its weird how i feel that after only 5 weeks of knowing them, but i know i will really miss them and my life in phnom penh when i have to say goodbye at the end of may. the differences between western and cambodian culture were so strong when i was in the province. i was so sad to leave soriyas and senglays, but at the same time, having a shower and sleeping on a matress showed me how privilaged i really was! going back to england will be harder than i thought!!!

---