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Hi guys, Last weekend was the water festival here and an amazing time to be in Cambodia because everyone celebrates it, it has been going on for about 800 years. On the Friday which was the first day of celebrations, me and Charlotte went with the children from her project to Takeo province to watch them perform in their traditional dancing and music, they also did a small play, they are so good!When we arrived we stopped outside this families house where they were going to play. They had a huge marquee set up with hundreds of people around, we sat down and ate while we watched them. Everyone out here is so generous, they have so little yet they are still willing to share!Once those celebrations were over, we went to the house we were staying at and it was really nice, me and Charlotte were given the matress to sleep on and the mosquito net though, while everyone else just slept on the floor, we felt so bad but they wouldnt take no for an answer and its rude to turn down their offers!Before bed though the girls took us down to the well to have a wash, they gave us sarongs to go down there with and more to change into to wear to bed. The water was just pumped straight out of the dirty lake next to us but who cares it was a wonderful experience. The girls sat us on the floor and poured the water over us, it was freezing, once we were done we had to change there and then into our dry ones and go back to the house to eat dinner, not that we could eat much because we had already been given the equivalent to about 4 meals during the day! We woke up at about 5.30 the next morning because of all the animals around the house and went to the pagoda at about 7. They performed again here and it was an amazing procession around the temple, there were so many people there and they were excellent at their dancing. Saturday night we went down to the riverfront green back in Phnom Penh to see the many concerts going on as well as the fair, its really nice to see so many people there enjoying themselves. Everywhere is so busy because not only does everyone come from all 20 provinces in Cambodia to see it but people also come from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia, its jam packed you have to walk around because the motos just cant get down the streets, its incredible! Sunday morning we went down and sat right on the the river banks with the locals to watch the boat races, they are long dragon boats that look just like centipedes, each boat holds about 50 people and they go quite fast. There are hundreds of boats from all over and there is never just one winner because it would take weeks of races to work it out! All the Cambodians get well into it and all have their drums out, singing and chanting its an amazing atmosphere and so much fun, every where is so full of colour! We also went to Wat Phnom to have a look and again because it was the celebrations it was full of life. In the evening we went down again to see all the boats lit up and with our Khmei friends to see the fireworks at midnight and went to the fair, had a go on the bumper cars, it was great fun!! Monday morning we got picked up to go to the boat at 6.15. The boat trip was well worth it, even though it took about 6-7 hours!There were so many beautiful sites on the way, floating villages, fishing boats, mountains and lots of lush greenery, when we got close to one of the main floating villages, they even had a floating basket ball court, very bizzare! On our first evening there we went to the silk farm to see how they made it all which was really interesting, and of course bought some fabric. We then went for dinner with our tuk tuk driver and later went to a cambodian concert-awful music!! On the Tuesday morning we got up at 4.15 to see sunrise at Angkor Wat but unfortunately it wasnt that good because it was quite cloudy and neither was the sunset, but that didnt spoil anything! I wasnt as impressed with Angkor Wat as I was with some of the other temples, although it was still beautiful!We did so much during our first day, my favourite temple was Bayon, its the one with all the faces carved into it and everywhere you stand you can see one looking at you its fascinating, I also loved Ta Phrom which is the one with the trees growing all over it, with the big roots, it was magical ,it is also the place where they filmed the Tomb Raider films!As well as the big temples we tried to visit as many of the small ones as possible too! The second day we got up again just as early to see sunrise at Bayon temple which was beautiful, we then got an early morning elephant ride which is something i've always wanted to do and loved every minute of it!We did a circuit of the far out temples today, the furthest away being the womens temple of Bantei Srey, which was stunning, its made of a pink stone and the decoration is just incredible, its on almost every stone! We later did sunset at one of the temples lakes which was beautiful! This morning we did the rest of the temples that were far out, one that we had to get to by boat, before getting the 6 hour bus journey back to Phnom Penh. I am definitely all templed out but they were all just so beautiful that I could have still seen a million more!!It is just such an amazing and magical place, if only there hadnt been any Japanese or Korean tourists!!! Back to work tomorrow and then the weekend again, we have been invited to a wedding on saturday which I am really looking forward to, will let you know all about it, Lots of love Laura xxx
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