Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi everyone am back in England now, am going to tell you about my birthday and last weekend in Phnom Penh, it all feels like a dream now which is so weird!!
My birthday was absolutely amazing. I went in to work first thing like usual but got told to go away again until 11:30 so that my party could be a suprise. When I went back in everyone was sat around the table in the shop, even my English students from outside of CHA were there and on the table was loads of fruit and drinks and a big birthday cake that they had bought for me with gorgeous roses made from icing on top, I was so flattered I was speachless, they are so so lovely. It was a perfect Khmei style birthday, I lit the candles while they all sang happy birthday to me then when I blew them out they sprayed silly string all over me, such a strange tradition for them to do but it was so funny. I then cut the cake and gave a piece to each person in the room, having my photo taken with each as I went, it is also tradition for them to feed you a bit of the cake, which then turned into a bit of a food fight, once one person had got me, i got them back and then everyone ended up covered in cake it was brilliant! Next was present time and every single person had been out and bought me something with there own money, i was so touched i wanted to cry, everyone is so generous, no matter how little they all have, they are still willing to give to others! And of course I had to have my picture taken with everyone giving me their present as well, and then again when Kim Tha gave me a big boquet of flowers, not that I minded, I couldn't take the smile off my face all day! To finish it off, Kim Tha presented me with my certificate for working there and they all sang me a song that they wrote for me called, 'When Laura Departs CHA'. This time I cried, and so did most of them, the words were so sweet that I couldn't help it. It was an incredible day that I will never forget and definitly the best birthday ever!!!
In the evening of my birthday me and the other volunteers got dressed up and went to Raffels hotel to the Elephant bar, which was really posh. It was in a huge French colonial building with big gardens out the front all lit up. The girls had a bought me a birthday cake which the staff at raffels brought out to me with candles in and sang happy birthday to me with the man on the piano playing too, so sweet. We had cocktails here then on to Friends restaurant for dinner where a couple more of our friends came to meet us. It was such a special evening!
On the Saturday we met all the boys at the Boddhi tree and by there motos went to the Water Park, it was completely empty as Khmeis like to swim in the afternoon but the boys had to be back to work at lunch time. But it was excellent, we had the whole run of the place and it was so much fun and definitly an experience. You had to swim in your clothes following the whole conservative dress thing seen as it was a Khmei park, which was a bit strange, they wouldn't know what had hit them if they went to one in England, defintely a good idea though as no embarrassing moments coming down the slides! The boys had a great time they were acting like kids going up and down the slides about a million times, we had big rubber rings to go down on and we were getting as many people on as possible and the faster it went, it was great. There were no life guards or people telling you you can only go down one at a time like over here and if you looked closely the whole thing looked like it could actually fall down at any minute, so we just didn't look too closely!!! And we had a fantastic time. We left when the boys all had to go back to work and they all handed me birthday presents, they are so so sweet, and have good taste!
In the evening we went to the Boddhi Tree for dinner before meeting them all again to go to Spark. They all drove us there and loads of them came which was so nice! I absolutely love Spark, it is the strangest but best night club ever, especially with such a big group of people, we danced all night and drank way to much local beer, but all was good, and boy can they dance! We were with a famous Cambodian pop star all night who is friends with all the boys as he used to work at the Boddhi Tree with them. Later in the night we were all just sat in one of the booths and Non and everyone started singing happy birthday to me and then I looked over at the stage and Sum on, the pop star was singing it to me with all the other singers and the whole of the night club had joined in it was so cool, definitly the best birthday ever!
Sunday me and Charlotte went with Thou and Arun to Tonle Bati where we hired one of the little bamboo huts on the side of the river and basically just hung out. We ate a proper Cambodian meal of a whole roast chicken, head and all with rice and some form of soup, with yes more beer. Was nice though for our last weekend. We went swimming in the river, again in all our clothes, the water was filthy and freezing cold but we had big rubber rings and had races and stuff it was good fun, but so so cold when we got out, didnt think I would actually ever get that cold in Cambodia!
In the evening I took everybody from CHA out for dinner at a Khmei restaurant called boat noodle. We all got tuk tuks there an dthe girls were so excited they were all singing the whole way there, they were so funny. We had a really nice meal, we ordered lots of different things and put them in the middle of the table to share, in Cambodian style. I got a lot of funny stares from the rest of the Khmeis in the restaurant because I was the only white chick there. Kim Tha had written me another song which they sang at the end of the meal called, 'Its time to say goodbye' which made me cry again. Was a great night, lots of laughter.
Monday was a very sad day as I went and said goodbye to everyone at work, which of course resulted in more tears, but these ones just didnt stop because then later we went and had our last meal at the Boddhi Tree and said goodbye to all the boys, it was horrible! And yes I still miss them all loads!
But is nice to be home now, just wish I could have brought them all with me!Hope you enjoyed following my journey, love and hugs, Laura xx
- comments