Christmas 2009 in Cambodia
on Mary In Cambodia (Cambodia), 30/Dec/2009 09:44, 34 days ago
Christmas in CambodiaChristmas is not celebrated in Cambodia. This is mainly a Buddhist country with less than 5% of the population Christian. Business, schools and markets work as usual on Christmas day. We volunteers had to book special leave for the season. We have to make our own Christmas atmosphere as there are no Christmas trees, decorations, lights or carol singing to create it for us. Christmas gifts are not possible as there is nothing worth buying available here.A trip to Bangkok in mid December solved my problem in that area. Don and I shopped till we dropped and a visit from St. Michael ( not St. Nick) with mince pies, cheese and chocolates sent me back laden with goodies for a pre-christmas celebration with my new volunteer friends. I even brought back a few bottles of wine of Don’s choosing which went down a treat. The scene was set for a good Christmas!   Setting the Scene for Christmas!It’s Christmas.My Family arrive.On Tuesday 22nd. Don, Michael, Roz, Mackensie, Brian Curtin (from Waterford) and Be arrived. We set out for the city of Kep by the sea. Michael confidently suggested a stop for coffee and cakes on the way. An hour of bumping along a dust track through some very iffy markets made him less confident. We made do with water, coconut and pineapple. The first taste of Cambodia was a little disappointing. Vegetarian appetites a little put off!However all turned out well on our arrival in Kep. The Veranda eco-resort that Don and Michael found and booked was wonderful. We settled in and had lunch before heading out to explore.   A picture tells a thousand words so why waste time describing! Though not quite a city, in fact a village would describe it more accurately, it is beautiful. It is unspoiled by any commercial development. The town doesn’t even have a bank or a cash machine. All travel was by tuc-tuc and much fun was had negotiating fares, getting out and walking up hills when the motorbikes stalled, and avoiding pushy drivers who took a fancy to a pretty member of our group!              Our First Sunset.                         A View of the resort                                          We visited a pepper plantation, and were also shown mango trees, jackfruit and papuya trees. We saw the pepper on the trees and were told how it is harvested. Black pepper is cheaper because the pepper corms are just dried in the sun. For white pepper the outside skin has to be peeled off before drying, as the peppers are so small this is a lot of work. Everything is done by hand in Cambodia, automation hasn’t arrived here yet unless it’s done by motorbike!     Pepper Trees        Jackfruit                 Looking our best!Caves were our next stop. We were shown through by a guide ably assisted by a group of local children who were obviously training to become guides themselves. A little six year old girl attached herself to me and carefully shone her torch and repeated what the guide said. Later we bought them crisps and sweets and of course paid up, then they hopped on the step of our tuc-tuc and hitched a ride home.Earning a living, age 6 years!On Christmas Eve we went to the nearest town, mainly to find a cash machine. The boys expected a real town, I don’t know why, nothing we saw to date suggested Cambodia has real towns, but hope springs eternal I guess. Walking through the market I could see they were not impressed, but the day was saved. When we reached the river the sun was setting and it was beautiful. We found a good restaurant and decided to stay for dinner. The food was delicious, there was a good wine list and cocktails to everyone’s taste. A happy time was had by all.It was after 10 pm when we made our way back to Kep, a very late hour by Cambodian standards! On the way back Don noticed a red light flashing in the sky which we all agreed was definitely Rudolph’s nose leading Santa Claus on his way. Mac. Was delighted and felt very lucky to witness such a sight. He was anxious to get to bed as quickly as possible, though he did find it hard to drop off.Christmas Eve.Christmas MorningChristmas morning dawned bright and sunny. Mac. Discovered Santa had arrived by 7am. We noted marks where the reindeer landed, Santa left a trail of chocolate coins from the sleigh to the door( must have had a hole in his pocket), He only ate half of the mince pie we left out for him, and the reindeer made a mess of the carrot and lettuce left out for them. We guessed he was in a hurry, he didn’t finish the milk either, but he left lots of lovely presents for everyone, especially me and Mac.    For me?                                     Time for Lunch.We all had a very enjoyable day, though not like Christmas in Ireland. It did seem strange spending the day in glorious sunshine by the sea with nothing to do only relax and enjoy the sunshine. Christmas is supposed to be cold with woolly jumpers and fires and people busy cooking. This was different. Brian and Be left early in the morning as Brian had a book-launch to attend. We enjoyed a bottle of champagne sent to Don by Ken and Julie before going out to dinner to our favourite restaurant. We brought along our own decorations for the table and our Christmas pudding, which they heated for us. We ended the day with wine and chocolates on our terrace. A perfect end to a wonderful day.          Sunset Christmas Day.     Christmas Dinner.