This weekend was my final one in Cambodia so I decided that I would have a good sort out of my room, throwing out toilet rolls that I was collecting for some reason but for which I'd not found a suitable activity; all the bits of drawings the children have given me (I still ended up with some very nice ones) and getting my onward clothes sorted. I did bring a reasonable amount with me as I remember getting so fed up with my only sweatshirt in North Africa and I was only there for three weeks! Not a problem here I've had plenty to choose from.
After this clear up which took ages, on Sat pm I went to do the second part of the cookery course. This was most enjoyable - I made fresh spring rolls, Cambodian curry (not very hot) and Nom Tong Noun, a crispy pancake. The others in my group were from the UK, Canada and USA. As you get to eat what you make in a 'floating' restaurant in the middle of a pond with huge catfish, it made a most enjoyable afternoon with some good company. The group had been travelling through Indochina for five weeks and had had some adventures with flooding in Vietnam including having to be taken from their hotel by boat.
On Sunday Mr J had suggested that I go to the Cambodia Cultural Village which is one of the places that has reopened since the start of November for the main tourist season. The number of visitors around has really hotted up since I arrived which is very good for the local people. I had had conflicting tales about the CCV so I went, not expecting too much.
Well, we got there at about 2pm and went first to the waxworks of Cambodian life which were pretty good - nicely done and presented. There was also a small museum with some stuffed and surprised looking animals. I've been concerned about giving the children the word squirrel as I didn't think they had them here, but here on display was ... the variable squirrel! Just what he was a variation of, I do not know.
We then we walked into an enormous theme park but without the rides. Everything was beautifully laid out round a big lake representing the Tonle Sap - life size representations of ethnic villages; miniature Cambodian cultural landmarks (the Royal Palace, National Museum etc); a replica of a reclining Buddha from the landmark local mountain. Mountains are revered places as it is so flat here.
What there wasn't was people. We walked around this huge area on our own with the occasional distinctive sound of local music to prove that we hadn't walked into some strange sci fi movie. We went to see some gibbons, a couple of deer and a lone wolf in some cages near to some random concrete statues - Tom and Gerry, a superman with no head and some large brightly coloured blobby heads in a play area. I was beginning to wonder why I'd come when Mr J (who had been allowed to come in for free as I'd paid the foreigner price of $15) who had been looking at the schedule said it was time to go to the Cambodian Wedding Ceremony in the Millionaire's house.
And there were the people!
And it was great. The performers, because that's what it's all about, were very good and got the audience involved by picking one or two to participate in each 'play'. We were a mix of Cambodians (that Mr J said were visiting from out of area) plus mainly Asian tourists with very few Europeans, but they managed to find one young Dutchman man to 'marry' the Cambodian girl in the first play. This was thought to be hilarious by the Cambodians. The bridegroom's parents were Chinese tourists much to the amusement of their tour group. As we went through the plays and dances, the audience got the idea more and the participants were hamming it up it to everyone's huge entertainment. Of course, the more they did that ... the more fun we all had.
After the wedding, we moved to another arena where Chinese culture was celebrated with some good acrobatics and tumbling - and Chinese dragons that focused on the front bench full of young children, much to their delight.
The performers were putting a lot of effort into what they were showing us, and taking much pleasure in their dances and acrobatics.
I can't work out which legs and arms belong to which girl in this snake routine.
There were two other performances as it got darker.
This one was about three men trying to woo the pretty young girl in the red costume. The audience had, by this time, got mixed in with the performers as you can see from the mum and her baby. The three suitors were clowns so there was lots of slapstick - it really amazed me to see the old music hall joke where the fall guy is given a sword in a scabbard to fight with ... of course, when he pulls out the sword it is a very short one compared with the man he is going to fight.
The final show featured a water buffalo which did what comes naturally to animals when they are under stress completing the performance with a plop!
It was practically dark by this time, and there was going to be a break for dinner before the last two spectacular events (one in front of the large replica Buddha) finishing the evening at 9pm, so Mr J and I went back to his home where his wife had prepared dinner for us.
They rent a room with a bathroom within a compound which has two other rental properties in the grounds of the landlord's home. It is on the edge of town, down dirt roads which were flooded in the rainy season so he had to leave his tuk tuk on the paved road and wade about a mile to his home. The rental is $50 a month including water (which even the Cambodians don't drink) and electricity. It is smaller than my hotel room, made even smaller by the five huge speakers in the corner. They don't work and he has though about selling them but he said "if I do I have $15 and no speakers. If I don't sell them, I have no money but I have the speakers".
His wife had prepared rice, a lovely fried fresh fish, vegetables and sauce with chilli on a small portable stove on the floor. We then had mango for dessert. We sat on a mat on the floor, laid down specially for the meal. The family's dog tried to join us but was firmly pushed outside. It is unusual for young married couples to live on their own but both their parents are too far away in opposite directions for them to do this while Mr J rise running his tuk tuk in Siem Reap. It must be lonely for his wife who doesn't work and is newly pregnant but living nearer town isn't an option because it is so expensive. Before he married, Mr J shared a room with his unmarried brother within his uncle's house near the Old Market but again although the uncle has room, it isn't their custom to live there as a married couple.
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