On Sunday Anne and I went to a wedding out in Banteay Srey so a couple of weeks ago we bought material from the market and took it to a dressmakers along with a dress design. We were supposed to be able to pick them up on Thursday but they weren't ready, nor were they ready on Friday. On Saturday afternoon we turned up at the dressmakers and although my dress was complete, Anne's was still in little pieces waiting to be sewn together. When I tried my dress on it wasn't quite what I had designed or expected, but it was really nice nonetheless. Anne tried on the bodice of her dress and then the women making the dress pinned on the skirt, and it was completely different to how Anne had thought it would be. After some adjustments we were told we could come pick the final dresses up at 7am on Sunday, the day we were supposed to be going to the wedding!!

Earlier on Saturday Anne and I went to a Cambodian produce fair where there were stalls selling silk in all forms, stone and wood carvings, as well as recycled materials and natural beauty products. We saw a stall which sold tops and dresses made out of pashminas and both ended up buying one as they were so original and quirky.

On Saturday night just as I was about to go to bed I heard some noise in my wardrobe and then saw a tail swing down behind it. I completely freaked out because I thought it was a snake and went to get Anne and together we debated what to do for a while. It was quite late by this time and the Cambodian family who also live in our volunteer house had gone to sleep so I went and woke one of the men, Mr Mien and told him what was wrong. The three of us traipzed back into my room where Mr Mien looked behind my wardrobe and calmy informed me that it was not a snake but a mouse. Although a mouse is much less dangerous than a snake, for me it was equally creepy because I did not like the idea of a mouse scuttling around my clothes so I let Anne and Mr Mien get rid of it.

On Sunday we got up much too early for a weekend day and had to wait nearly an hour at the dressmakers while they continued to sew Anne's dress. We had bought jewelry to wear with our dresses on Saturday night but we still needed to buy bags so we went to the market, did some bargaining and then had breakfast. From there it was back to the Cambodian hair and make-up place to get our wedding faces put on. In general I think we had more subtle make-up than last time but we did each have three fake eyelashes per eye. We both had our hair curled, and as we were running short of time we decided to have photos taken after we'd been to the wedding.

Literally as soon as the car pulled up outside the wedding venue, every single head was pointed our way and it felt like there were a million eyes staring at us as we walked it to greet the bride and groom. It is thought a good thing for Cambodians to know foreigners (barang as they are called in Khmer) and having them at your wedding is considered an honour. For this reason, once we had sat down at a table the bride and groom came to get a photo with us, which we thought was kinda of weird until it was explained why. Although the wedding was supposed to start at 11am, we didn't arrive until noon, and it wasn't until about 12.30 that everything really started and food was brought out. Beer, water and soft drinks were provided alongside 6 plates of food put in the centre of each table to share; a platter of mixed meat and shrimp, beef lok-lak, chicken pieces (all on the bone which was rather hard to eat with chopsticks), something with veg and beef and shrimp, a whole fish (again hard to eat with chopsticks, you kind of had to poke at it), curry and rice, and finally raisins. By the time all the food had come out people were up and dancing, although it wasn't dancing as I know it. Everybody made a big circle on the dance floor and bopped around slowly while twisting and rotating their hands in a way akin to apsara dancing. Anne and I were pulled up to dance several times, as the men also considered it an honour to dance with a "barang". Whilst all this was going on the bride was changing her dress - 5 times!! Weddings in Cambodia are a 3 day affair, with the bride and groom getting up at 5am on all 3 days of the celebration to welcome guests, so I'm guessing that weddings here aren't quite the best day of a bride's life. Instead of gifts it is expected to give money, so we were each given an envelope and a pen which we filled and put in a box on our way out. The celebrations can go on all day but we left about 3pm and when we got back to Siem Reap we had photos taken at the photo studio. Like last time, they are hilariously posed but rather cool in a Cambodian way!

Today 5 of us volunteers did a Cambodian cooking class. We turned up to the restaurant at 10am and had free choice of the menu to choose a starter and main course each to make. We all went for dfferent things - I chose spicy shrimp salad and beef lok-lak. Most courses include a free tour of the market where yoo can buy ingredients, but having lived here for nearly 4 months, we've been to the market countless times and we really did not need to see (or smell) the food market again. We were brought upstairs to a little kitchen where all the ingredients for our meals were laid out, and we proceeded to peel, grate and chop vegetables, herbs and meat. Our teacher also showed us how to make a dessert - sticky rice with mango which is suprisingly easy although very tasty! Three hours later and we were sat downstairs with 2 plates of food each and a massive plate of sticky rice to share. We hardly managed to eat half of the food we had made, and so we all went home with little doggy bags!