Happy birthday, Your Majesty!

21 June was Queen Elizabeth II’s 81st birthday, and to mark the occasion the British Ambassador held his annual party in Phnom Penh, to which all the Commonwealth citizens living in Cambodia were invited. For me, it was a great excuse to put on my glad rags, eat good old British grub (miniature portions of fish and chips, Lancashire hotpot, fisherman’s pie and Cornish pasties!) and drink Pimms and wine surrounded by wonderful ice statues of London sights (Tower Bridge behind us in the photo!). I enjoyed my taste of the high life, but for me the evening was in stark contrast to the rural village of stilted huts and barefooted people wearing kramas which I had visited that morning.