Happy Khmer New Year!

It’s the year 2555 and on the 14th of April we just celebrated New Year’s Eve in Kampot, a small city in southern Cambodia! Honestly, we had expected some celebrations right across the city, a lot of water throwing or at least some fireworks, as it is one of the year’s most important festivals that lasts for three days.

It was rather a religious and reflective holiday, celebrated within the families: locals visited pagodas, many made their offerings to the monks and got their fortunes told for the coming year – the year of the Rabbit. They offered food and drink to bring good fortune; we didn’t fail to notice that the spirits seem to drink a lot of Coke and Fanta.

We witnessed the most famous Cambodian folk dance called Robam Trot, which features a hunter chasing a deer, performed by children to remind of culture and heritage and chase away bad luck. We checked, you can download it as mp3 for your iPod!

The quiet riverside town with plenty of old villas had us for a few relaxing days. We kept looking for pepper plantations, as Kampot is best known for its truly excellent black pepper. We discovered the beautiful Ocheteaul Beach of Sihanoukville and caught first-degree burns. Then we took the wrong way back and extended our motorcycle ride far into the night. With animals and locals crossing in the darkness, it was an adventurous trip, but the male driver did a very good job!

Tired of tapping our feet to karaoke music, one night we enjoyed live music in a bar and the company of a few expats, among them Les, who has a great raspy voice he surely got after having swallowed a pack of razor blades Each year he works six months in North America and then lives the other six in Cambodia. We liked the model but wondered if you can simultaneously enjoy work and life.