Christmas in Cambodia

Despite having lived in Australia for nearly 13 years, I never really got used to Christmas in warm weather.  It just never felt right, some how it never really felt like Christmas.

Well it is even less Christmassy (is that even a word?!) in Cambodia.  Which is not surprising, seeing as it is a Buddhist country.  You do see the odd Christmas decorations around and some shops play Christmas songs, but it all feels a bit tokenistic and half hearted.

Some of the Christmas decorations are also quite interesting.  There is a car show room near me which has decorative tinsel seals with lights on - nothing quite says Christmas like a seal balancing a ball on its nose! It was quite sweet though because when I started taking pictures of the Christmas decorations, the security guard put on the Christmas music and played Jingle Bells.  I felt a bit bad when I walked away after he had made a special effort to please me....but I really couldn't spend any longer looking at the decorations!

Christmas Seals!

 More traditional snowmen

I think part of the lack of Christmas spirit might also be because it is traditionally a time you spend with friends and family.  With Adriana in the States and having only been here 5 weeks, I didn't really have much of either around.  However, despite the short time I have been here, I have met some really nice people and thankfully some of them took pity on me.  So on Christmas Eve I went over to a new friends place for a Christmas celebration.  It was a really great evening, good company and delicious food.  We even did Secret Santa so there was some gift opening! 


On Christmas Day, I went to the office.  I would say that I went to work but to be honest I really didn't get much work done!  It didn't feel right to be working on Christmas Day and the office was pretty quiet.  Weirdly, there were more Westerners in the office than Cambodians who it seemed had decided to take the day off (I think a lot of people are having to use up their leave before it expires).

In the evening, some of the volunteers organised a boat trip on the Mekong for volunteers and staff.  We hired a boat for 3 hours and everyone brought some food and drink to share. It was a really beautiful evening, the full moon on the river was incredible and it was very peaceful (something that you don't experience very much in Phnom Penh).  A very enjoyable Christmas celebration.

Phnom Penh skyline

Moon on the Mekong

More moon