Visited Fiona's house over Khmer New Year, down in the south by the Vietnam border. A little town called Svay Rieng. Very very cool place, and now my weekend retreat from the city. This photo shows Helen (Australian volunteer), Fiona and I enjoying a home cooked dinner! Helen played mother and spoilt us all, bringing loads and loads of good home comfort food from Phnom Penh.
Here are some extremely happy kids down in Svay Rieng, enjoying the Khmer New Year festivities. Khmer New Year is one of the major festivals here, and a bit like our Christmas (in terms of holidays, and families getting together).
A beautiful beautiful pagoda, called Prahout Pagoda - again down in Svay Rieng. I'm looking forward to passing lots of these on our bike trip through the country in December - they litter the countryside in a similar way to churches in Eastern Europe.
And, best of good luck for Khmer New Year! It rained and hailed on the last day of the 4 day New Year celebrations, a very good sign. Here is me doing a rain dance with the frogs which appeared from nowhere and hopped all over the show. It was the first time it had hailed in 30 years - Fiona's 27 year old friend visited her house after the storm and said he had never ever seen hail before in his life!
And yes - in the name of safety I invested in a helmet (in New Zealand). Very good move, as the roads here are shockingly bad. The trouble is I accidentally brought a SPACE HELMET, not a motorbike helmet. As a result, not only do people stare at me because I am white, but also because I am wearing the most ridiculous sized, hot air balloon shaped and sized thing on my head. However, the oxygen supply used for out of space travel is a bonus on hot days. Was very pleased to find out that the bikes in this country are built for people just my size, so I can easily reach the ground. I also dont usually show as much leg as this photo would suggest... i am in actual fact wearing an ankle length skirt!