Caught the Mekong Express bus back to the bustling city of Phnom Penh. It was full of Barangs (tourists), in Thailand it's Farangs, so easy to just change the f for a b and we have a new label. The trip took about 6 hours passing daily life in the countryside with many worker bees bein bizzzzzzzy! We felt large in the smallish asian bus seats but adapted by moving little and sweating less. Now the currency is interesting! Here they use the US dollar along with their riel. Their money reminds me of Mexico 25+ years ago as it is used here for the change. For example, 1000 riel = 25 cents. So when paying for something that is $1.25 we give them either $1.00 +1000 riel or 5000 riel. Now for those that know me, I am mathematically challenged, so this country is great for exercising my gray matter or getting ripped off. Stayed one night at a guesthouse that was a little sketchy. We should of taken a hint from the name "Angkor Shadow". The next morning we moved a few doors down to the "Silver River", aircon, wifi, flatscreen, and breaky included for $28 bucks and not to forget the 2 pillows each with fluffy bed coverings. Hooked up with Anne's neice Lindsay and her possy for a 30'th birthday celebration. So it was off to the countryside to party with the village people. In the morning they went to the market and bought enough food for the 150 kids going to the free English school along with beer and rice wine for the adult villagers. Over 200 people were treated to a Khmer style feast. We westerners chipped in $10.00 each and that was enough to cover the cost. Lindsay spent $140 and $40 of that went to the D.J. We hopped a ride in a tuk tuk for $13 each way. Now this mainly dirt road ride was about 1 hour from the city and the tuk tuk driver stayed and enjoyed the festivities. What a system! We arrived in time to help the village ladies prepare food, they had most of the prep done but we were able to help peel and chop garlic. We are talking a lot of garlic here. We sat on bamboo matts and I so enjoyed the hang time with the local ladies and participating in food prep. It was funny as one lady was chopping lemon grass on her wooden burrow cutting board and took a large bunch and chopped down into mini slices in a minute or so. Well I tried and it took me like 10 minutes, the ladies would look at me and smile (I know they were really laughing). They use similar spices as the Thais but just not as spicy. That night we dined on pork curry. This dish had lots of potatoes, carrots, yummy homemade coconut milk, along with freshly pounded curry. The children were fed first from youngest to oldest, then we were served and finally the rest of the adults. We wandered around and visited with the kids, as they were eager to practice their English with us. After dinner the loud dj music kicked in and we all danced for hours. First it was the techno sounds our kids are familiar with then later in the evening their Khmer traditional stuff. The kids were so funny, they had some cool moves that they must have learned from tv. They showed me a few moves to go with their music. A table is placed in the middle of the dance area and they line up in rows and dance around it. I had one guy trying to help me with foot work which is like our three step waltz and a few young girls demonstrating some fancy hand movements. Got a few dances in with a couple of the local ladies and our tuk tuk driver. Chhorun (Annes Cambodian friend) came over and asked if we wanted to watch them butcher chickens. I declined but Steve checked out the action. They hold the chicken and run a knife over it's throat while draining the blood into a bowl. I am not too sure of what dish they put it into, I am just hoping it wasn't in our curry, oh well if so it was yummy all the same. We were asked many times to stay overnight in the village. It was an honor for them to have us stay as overnight guests. So even though we had our sweet room in the city and our tuk tuk and driver waiting we accepted the invite! So at 2:00 a.m. when the music was done, we slept in a big room (above the school is their library) along with many others, both locals and Barangs. Tucked in nicely in our separate moisquito netted area on a bamboo mat. There were 5 nets in total. These people are tough as there are no fat matresses in this village let alone two pillows each with fluffy blankets. We were so glad to be part of it all and do something that was not the same same and definitely quite different!
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