All the Fun of the Fair (and a link to Hotel de la Paix)
on So Now It's Cambodia (Cambodia), 04/Jun/2010 06:33, 34 days ago
We have been known to say that there’s no entertainment as we know it here. Yes there’s plenty to be gained by observing daily life, not to mention the fun of dealing with the swarm of wasps that join us for lunch every day (I’ve now finally located their nest outside our kitchen so hopefully we’ll soon put a stop to that!). But we talk about the lack of concerts and shows to go to etc.If we go to a tourist town such as Siem Reap there will be Aspara dancing which is the traditional stylised and usually slow dance, with graceful arm movements and turned up fingers (they must be double jointed!). We were treated to this last weekend when we treated ourselves to a gorgeous dinner at the Hotel de le Paix (all in the interest of research of course!). At least the dancers and live musicians come from local, possibly disadvantaged young people. The following link may be of interest - well worth looking at the photos showing their community work:http://www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com/community.phpSo when we heard there was going to be a rock concert in Sisophon our first reaction was disbelief then a desire to persue it to make sure we didn’t miss something. As it turned out -after chatting to a few locals at cafes etc. it was an event to publicize Anchor beer.We teamed up with 2 younger volunteers: Jen - an education volunteer and Ann and Australian who works for another NGO who’d told us about it. We found a large crowd making its way was across the bridge into a field just like for a fair back home. When we arrived we were greeted by banks of fair ground games which were all the same! There were rows of balloons popping out through wooden frames (reminding me of a recent medical condition I’d experienced!). The aim was to throw a dart and puncture the balloon.Jen was the first to win so I had a go and was delighted with my skill and accuracy by also popping one balloon in three attempts! I claimed my prize which was a little bedside light which didn’t work! (Some things are the same the world over!!). It was a really nice atmosphere with whole families wondering around and eating the candyfloss etc. Much like a fair at home except there was little likelihood of trouble due the presence of armed police! – a little unnerving - maybe they were expecting trouble!But the highlight of the evening was the concert. Anchor had set up a big stage which brilliant professional lighting and sound and various pop singers came and sang with a live backing band much to the frenzied delight of their adoring fans. I thought the standard was really high and enjoyed seeing a well produced show for a change. We heard the“stars” were quite well known in Cambodia but have no idea who they were. The event was really a showcase for Anchor as they had enormous replica beer cans on and around the stage.We didn’t stay for the whole evening but were interested to notice how once the initial frenzied response had passed the crowd very quickly fell silent -there was even short, polite applause at times. This seemed to tie in with the reaction in the school I visited. Our friends agreed this is typical andseems to reflect a lack of spontaneity or maybe effusiveness in this culture generally.Another highlight of the fair was the photo booth! We couldn’t resist “all the fun of the fair” where not only could we have out photos taken but could choose a wide range of (often bizarre) backgrounds. We duly posed and had chosen a lovely seaside blue background but when we saw it we realised that Alison was wearing a blue top and so her head appeared to floating around us! We then opted for a flowery background which appeared quite innocuous. However, when the photo came out it was soon observed by my eagle eyed lady friends that that there was a big flower in my lap (to put it politely!). It was suggested that this might have been a result of my recent surgery! You can judge for yourselves!!