Khmer Wedding Crashers!!

So our social worker down here at ole Skateistan Cambodia, Chanthou, has a lil brother and guess what, lil bro decided to get hitched this last weekend to the lady of his dreams. Now in Cambodia weddings are just like everywhere else, a gathering for family and friends to enjoy the start of a young couples new life together. What would be logical is that after the lovely ceremony Friday night, we would show up to work on Monday, Chanthou would show us some pics of the event in the War Room over a couple of nice cup o'joes, and the rest of us would speak about how lovely the wedding must have been.

Well since this is Cambodia, the exact opposite happened(side note, I have actually stopped trying to expect anything, in a totally good way, as that way I am always surprised), Chanthou invited us to her casa located about 45 klicks from Phnom Penh to celebrate and meet some new people. And let me tell you, it was AWESOME!!!! We loaded up the Skateistan cruiser with three round eyes (Dani, Rachel, and Uncle Rory) and two of our Khmer staff(Sochada and Sam Pose) and headed out. I got to drive Mad Max Road Warrior style through the countryside, dodging motos and trucks, and putting my SoCal road skills to use, especially when I had to shoot the gap between two semi's, gnar gnar. We got also lost along the way and it just so happened to be on a dirt road in front of a rad pagoda, where I got a few nice photos, not bad.

Eventually we then made it to the ceremony, got sat and were promptly served the best grub I have had yet here, and oh yeah and plenty of beer. We were invited to partake in traditional Khmer dancing, and were stared at by just about everyone in attendance, as I was told that few westerners made it out to the countryside to such events. In between eating, walk-dancing, and cheersing our iced up Angkor beers literally about every minute, I was able to snap some photos of the momentous occasion. Now this time instead of just telling you about these photos, we are gonna play a game and get all interactive on this blog. I am gonna ask a question about each photo, maybe its a y/n or maybe a bit more complex and requires a short essay. But don't worry your pretty lil heads if you are having trouble, I will provide the answers at the bottom.:)

QUESTIONS:

1. Pagoda in middle of nowhere? Y/N


2. Which was the tastiest treat?




3. Marshmallow or Fishmallow?


3.2. Did this guy touch me inappropriately?


F.Did one of these people get peed on? If yes which one and by whom?


6. Is this a dance machine sent through time?


7. How many times did we walk around this table?


I. Did this tent just get dominated?


Oh yeah, Here are a some pics of the lovely bride and groom the whole reason for this wonderful evening.







ANSWERS(I would have put em in upside down to make it more difficult, but I am pretty sure I would melt my brain trying to figure out how):

1. Yup, it was on this road if you want to find it, and there were some super chill old dudes just kicking it out there.




2. Actually any and all would be correct here, food was legit! Beer would also have been accepted as a correct answer.

3. Fishmallow for the win.

3.2. Definitely. It actually happened when the power went out in the tent and he started rubbing my back, in the dark, creeeeepy. Dude got weird, then poof he kaiser soze'd his way out of there. Thank God.

F. Yes indeed, Dani(in the middle) got peed on by a lil baby. Diapers are not in existence here. 1/2 point if you guessed any of the people in the pic and the creepy dude from question 3.2 as the culprit.

6. Also yes. His name and model is the CHADA5000, and he has moves that will blow your mind. His other primary programed function is to make sure our office runs well and the printer has ink.

7. Trick question. We actually danced around the table about a million times!

I. That is correct, and then we drove home.

All in all it was quite an amazing time, and Mrs. Kong if you are on the internets Thank you so much for inviting us into your home, it was an amazing time and I feel privileged to have been a part of the great day for you and your family.

Vaya con Doritos
Rory

Next week: Angry Bird Flu

Welcome To The 'Hood

Ok,I have been in the magical land of Kampuchea for exactly one week so far, and I feel like I might be finally catching up and figuring out what is going on in this wild place. During this time I have realized two major things:

A- I am pretty sure the entire country is held together by duct tape, string, and a couple of used pieces of bubblicious gum. Not in a bad way, but in a totally lets just make whatever work for today and then when it breaks again tomorrow, we will just figure out something else to make it work kinda way.

2- There are pretty much no rules here, at all. Literally. None. At all. It took the ride home from the airport to realize that starting with the traffic all the way to the ever so creepy lewdness that occurs, one can pretty much do whatever whenever.

My personal favorite is the driving here, which is mostly a sea of motos(being little moped type of thingys), that weave in and out of traffic both oncoming and ongoing. It is quite common to see a moto(maybe with me on it) riding the wrong way into traffic and it is totally acceptable. There are no stop signs, and if they are I am pretty sure they are not written in any legible language recognizable here, as nobody would obey them anyways.

Oh yeah and they eat dog here. Saw a BBQ'd canine head and bits being sold en route to our river front skate session, where we work with street children a few times a week. If the youngins keep up the good work and learn a couple flip tricks, maybe ole uncle rory will bring them some nice Fido nuggets as a reward!!!!

Anywho, Enough with the jibberjaw.

I will now give ya'll a virtual tour of my new casa, the neighborhood, and a couple odds and ends that I have experienced in my first week.


Guest House


The Hood


The War Room


My Room


Our Lovely Kitchen


Bano (PS, Cambodian's have finally figured out the easiest way to pee in the shower!)


Primary Mode of Transport, excluding motos, but they are so special they will have a blog post of their own, just you wait.


Secondary Mode of Transport. Much slower though :(


Burning Trash Dump. Located a stones throw away from the house. Don't be alarmed, it only burns like 20 hours a day. There are smaller ones like every every block which never go out, which is a great substitute for street lamps.

Well until next week, vaya con doritos.

P.S. If all goes well the next post will include Wedding Crashers, Cambodian Style! Can't wait! Mahalo.

Here Goes Somethin

So here is my pre-departure blogness coming at ya. I leave the good ole US of A today, with a yet to determine return date to the land of Cambodia. Getting ready to leave I have taken care of all the necessary arrangements: lot o'shots-check, malaria and other pills to keep me from perishing-check, extra deodorant to keep me from smelling like a sweaty foot-check, 25 hour flight-check, Broncos first round playoff win-double check, where I am going to watch the Broncos take on the Patriots 14 hours in the future next weekend- uh oh.

Anywho for the next six plus months I will be keeping yall up to date with all the happenings and not so happenings of Phnom Penh and beyond. For those of you that have followed me before expect more of the usual blogginess, for those of you new to me and my overseas writings bear with me and be prepared to laugh, cry, and as I mentioned at some point probably see photos of me eating a deep fried tarantula(really no joke, they fry these critters up on the reg here). Oh yeah, and I will be posting a lot about the work I will be doing with the Skateistan crew on a daily basis.

Vaya Con Doritos
Rory