Celebrations

7th January 2006 marked the 27th anniversary of the end of the Pol Pot time, and Kompong Thom came to life with a big outdoor show of dancing and singing. There were lots of side stalls, with local versions of roulette and throwing darts at balloons – great fun! On the same night, Rachel, Bram and I were also invited to party held for the staff to celebrate the re-opening of a restaurant. During the restaurant's building works, we had become its best customers while it was in its temporary pavement location. We were the only non-staff members at the party and we were, as ever, the centre of attention. We were taught how to dance Khmer-style, which mainly seems to involve wrist and finger movements. Rachel and Bram are dancing here with “our” waiter, Kimbo, who has become an informal language teacher, as he helps us to practise our Khmer several evenings a week while we are eating our fried rice!