Khmer New Year Part 2

So I went to the province. . . and it was AWESOME. I spent 5 days and 4 nights in Kampong Thom province, about 3 hours north of Phnom Penh. We stayed with a sister in a village that grows cashews, in the provincial capital with my host mom, and in another village with an aunt. Life in the province and life in Phnom Penh are so different they could be different countries. We did a ton of stuff, met a ton of relatives, and took a ton of photos. (See facebook, coming soon) Here are the highlights:

• Visiting some really hold temples- 600 years older than Angkor Wat (About 1500 or 1600 years old)
• Taking a bath outside, wrapped in a sarong, from a well, with my 3 sisters
• Meeting about a million relatives- families here are BIG
• Staying in a village and experiencing village life- traditional style house, cows, chickens, hammocks, quietness- it improved my understanding of Cambodian culture a lot
  
• Visiting the most sacred site in Cambodia for Buddhists- a mountain with a temple on top containing one of the Buddha's bones
• Playing endless games of the Cambodian version of BINGO (We played for 500 riel a round- I lost 4500 riel- not very lucky I guess!)
• Bonding more with my host sisters. This was the longest uninterrupted time I have spent with them.
• Drinking a coconut that I watched get knocked out of a tree
• Delicious food + no stomach issues
• Eating a fruit that is only harvested at Khmer New Year, only in Kampong Thom province. It tasted like a sour apricot.

The only cons were about 40 mosquito bites and wishing I could speak the language better.

It was truly a privilege to experience this holiday with my sisters. I am so grateful they shared their family with me. And that they consider me- the awkward, bad Khmer speaking foreigner, a member of that family.