17 January 2010

An Excellency party

An entire day was taken erecting a 50m long tent in our street.

Everyday, somewhere in Phnom Penh, one of these tents is being erected. Usually it is for a wedding. Sometimes it is for a funeral. This time it's for a party.


"It will be very noisy," said our neighbour.
"Would you like to come?"
Our neighbour is 'His Excellency', a high-ranking official within the Cambodian Ministry of Environment. He's a wealthy man, and so this is going to be a party of the 'minor' Cambodian eite

These events are loud so we opted to go; there would be no sleep in Street 510 tonight!

The food was never-ending. Exiting the big house were platters of noodles, rice, vegetables, whole fish, the Cambodian specialty, fish Amok, seafood stir-frys, soup, fruit, desserts, and plates of small 'bird'. The man next to me laughed and said, 'He works for the environment, and we are served  this bird?!'



Cambodians know how to enjoy themselves and make a lot of noise doing it. A rotating group of ten or so singers entertained as the 150-plus crowd ate, and drank copious amounts of Johnny Walker. Even the band was drinking beer.

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