Christmas in Cambodia

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January 3rd 2013

Published: January 3rd 2013

A second night on a sleeper bus saw us arrive in Siem Reap looking pretty dishevelled, exhaustion had pretty much taken over and with a big night planned for Christmas Eve it was essential that we had a bit of a kip!

It may have lacked the traditions from home, but we had the times of our lives!

Our mission:
To try and steal a Santa hat each by the end of the night

The Result:
A hangover from hell!

Best not to discuss all the escapades of the evening but leave a few points to remember...
.* waiting over an hour for dinner at 'My Buddha' but it was worth it
* buckets in OMG bar
* Playing "what's the time mr wolf" on the way to Pub Street
.* Absinthe, tequila, jäger bombs and buckets in Angkor Wat (starting to see where we went wrong!!)
* singing "Santa Claus is coming to town" at the top of our lungs
* dancing on the tables
* Stealing Santa hats at any opportunity for a photo
* Tom fireman lifting Rosie home
* Rosie refusing to pay $2.50 for the spring rolls she hadn't eaten while there was blatantly an empty plate right in front of her
* Rach may have been a little sick on return to the room!

All in all, a great night, but some very fragile people for Christmas Day festivities!!

Truth be told its not the hottest either of us have felt on Christmas Day but we weren't about to let it dampen our spirits!

I can't say I've ever done last minute shopping on Christmas Day before but 2 photographs and frames for Phalla and Sreyleap later wrapped alongside Saihak's Abercrombie T-shirt my shopping was complete!

Claire, Cassie and Lauren prepared a real feast, not your average Christmas dinner but amazing all the same! Roast beef and pork, roast potatoes with bacon, pasta salad and pumpkin salad. Pudding was homemade cheesecake and carrot cake! It was delicious!

The tables were set with crackers, with sweat dripping we fought the heat to keep the Santa hats on our head even just for the duration of the meal, all to keep up the festive spirit which was strange for us in 34 degrees of heat!

The Khmer staff who had specially dressed up for the occasion were individually presented their presents by Claire, who introduced each one! A really nice touch to acknowledge all their hard work! They received a piece of material each to get a pair of trousers or shirt made. They were ecstatic, this was an amazing present for them!! It was incredible as we laughed when we said about what your reaction would be if you opened a piece of material on Christmas morning...

The Khmer people had prepared a dance for us! We all sat in a "U" shape to create a stage for them! They performed a street dance where we all clapped and cheered, Seihak was wearing his new t-shirt! After they grabbed all the westerners by the hand and we danced around the table!! What a special celebration to be a part of!

CIS Orphanage.

We were invited to the orphanage with Rosie to celebrate Christmas with 14 of the most beautiful, untouched children of Cambodia, aged between 2-9, all wearing hand made Santa costumes and dancing to Christmas music when we arrived!!

We brought them candy canes, their eyes lit up as slowly they began to recognise others were eating some sweets! The beaming smiles on their faces was a delight to see. They savoured every mouthful and had the stickiness everywhere. It was priceless to see the joy they got out of such a small thing!

The staff had planned a really special day with lots of fun and games, the atmosphere was alive with excitement!
* getting sweets out of a tray of flour with their mouth
* eating spaghetti like lady and the tramp
* putting money in and blowing up balloons then stamping on them
* the teachers tied balloons to their backsides then ran at each other to try and pop them.... It was hilarious!

The children had prepared a song, singing "Santa Claus is coming to town" and Sopheap, the only male member of staff who they all called Pa dressed up as Santa and came out mid song with presents for them! The look on little Simone's face was a picture, his smile was enough to make you melt! The boys were given a small plastic toy the size of your baby finger and the girls a pretty plastic hairband. These items were treasured, it was amazing for them to get a present! It made me think of all the children at home with more presents than they know what to do with that barely get looked at before flung over their shoulder! These children jumped up and down with excitement showing off their new toy!!

We were invited to stay for a buffet and eat with the children, and when it came to leaving Sopheap thanked us which was just incredible, we had done nothing to contribute to such an amazing day but yet our company was so valued. It was an honour for us to have been a part of such a special celebration!

We continued on to our third party at VDCA school, its funny how you agree to everything and worry about the possibility of fitting it in after!

By this stage we were pretty exhausted! The teachers and friends had spent all afternoon putting together a feast, roast duck and all the trimmings! We were invited to join but kindly refused food and just enjoyed the atmosphere and the company

! I was able to give Sreyleap her Christmas present! As usual the male teachers were getting into the swing of things drinking countless beers and using the playground as a dance floor!! They were very keen for Tom and I to get up and do a slow dance, we politely declined... Can you imagine our attempts at that, Rach with her two left feet and no sense of rhythm and Tom with his fears of any Public Displays of Affection!!!

All in all, it wasn't quite home, but what a Christmas to remember! Not everyone will have had the opportunity to have such a personalised involvement in how Christmas is celebrated by different cultures and for that we feel very lucky!

Boxing Day

Lack of sleep had us reluctantly decide to give Angkor Wat sunrise a miss in favour of catching up on some much needed sleep! Getting up at 4am wasn't going to do us any favours, instead we enjoyed a lie in and casually cycled to Angkor Wat for about 11am.

Perfect timing to fit in a visit to all the recommended temples on the 12km loop before heading to Bekeng Mountain, along with the rest of the visitors of Angkor Wat so it would seem for sunset! It was a really enjoyable day, topped off by a visit to the all you can eat Khmer BBQ and a foot massage at the night market... Pretty successful Boxing Day, baring in mind the past few years we've been snowed in!

We took Phalla out for a meal of her choice on the Thursday, and she turned up with a present for us. 2 mugs that split down the middle, one for me and one for Tom! How thoughtful, but less than ideal to carry around for the next 4 months! Lets hope they don't break!! We enjoyed a lovely meal in a restaurant Phalla had seen and liked because of the BBQ at the front and the fact you could sit and eat under the moonlight! It was a really lovely night!

Last day in Siem Reap!
We kick started the day with our standard muesli and peanut butter smoothie from 'Five Sons Restaurant' which could easily compete with the banana porridge we had so enjoyed in Pan's Place in Vang Vieng! Top two favourite breakfasts so far!!

After forgetting the day before we cycled to VDCA hoping Malyvan had remembered our painting date! Who would have known Tom was such an artist underneath all his sporting and academic talent?! God it must be such a hard life being so damn good at everything!!

In the afternoon we rushed to Anlung Pi school, and arrived just in time for afternoon lessons! It was disappointing to have missed out on lunch but we were delighted to have made it! Sreyleap had been waiting for us all day but told us she had faith we would come! She gave Rach a lovely pink bracelet with her name on it which was very sweet and we got to join her for two lessons!

The children are so small in the countryside schools, we were teaching a class that if asked we would have guessed were around 7 or 8 years old when in fact they were 14-15 years old! As it was Friday we sang some songs and played a few games with the children! Sreyleap is a fantastic teacher and had lots of new ideas to make the classroom environment really good fun!

We played the 'word board game' and a game where students had to run outside to a passage and try and write down the exact same only going one at a time in their team! The children had such a thrill from both games, having the freedom to be up and about in the classroom! We both thoroughly enjoyed the experience!

Afterwards we took a quick visit to the dump, which with all the smoke and buzzing of flies is enough to get the idea of how sorry a state of a place it is! Sreyleap was telling us how she had spent 4 hour interviewing some of the 200 families that lived and worked here..
.* they earn 3000reel (75 cents) to fill a tub with left over food for pigs
* they earn 25 dollars every 3-4 weeks depending on the success of what they have collected
* many children don't go to school but help their parents at the dump
* the dump is expanding and a second hole has been dug
* ten trucks per day will now drive past the school to unload the cities waste
* at times you can smell the dump from school and its only going to get worse!

Sreyleap travelled back in the tuk tuk with us and told us a little about her history:
* when she was 8 years old both her parents were ill
* she had a beautiful singing voice so went to sing <a>from 6pm-12am</a> every night to earn money
* she earned $3-10 per night*

She did this for 2 years Listening to her story really made us appreciate how easy we've had it, for people in Cambodia it's all about supporting the family from any age. For a lot of us we are still being supported by our parents well into our 20's!

Alot of Cambodian people leave their families in rural areas and move to cities to find work to send money home, they will do whatever they can and many learn English as a means to get a better job! They work so hard to get where they are!

Sreyleap helps her mother at the market, nurses her sick father, works as a teacher <a>from 8am-4.30pm</a> everyday, cooks for her 11 siblings and collects them from school, studies and attends university at the weekend!

We both thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Siem Reap, it was a nice break from all the touristy things we had been doing, experiencing some of the Khmer culture and meeting some amazing people! It was fantastic to enjoy together!

Christmas in Cambodia

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