Oh La La!
Natter and I arrived back in Phnom Penh on the eve of Christmas Eve. Our Christmas was nothing too special . . . I don’t want to elaborate much more. After Christmas though, we packed up and headed off to the beach.
I felt that Natalie needed to experience Chiva’s Shack, plus I promised Mama that my sister would be coming down soon. Natalie immediately began working on her skin cancer; I started hitting the sauce with Papa.
Mama has her two children Chiva and his sister, Kaya studying overtime on their French, Japanese and English as Kaya is going to start going to high school in Spain. So they were pretty busy. The three of them are heading off to Paris this summer, and then to Madrid to get Kaya all settled in. It will be the first time for all of them out of the country (Papa will hold down the fort while they are away). It will be a great experience for all of them; I just wish I could go along to see their reaction as they visit those great European cities for the first time.
Papa’s English has improved a lot since I first met him, but he still isn’t the most confident speaker. He has become much more involved with the guests as his duty as night manager encourages him to be social during peak drinking hours. If you are a friend of Papa, he will force buckets of Mekong Whiskey and Coke on you all night long. He is also a crafty pool player, turning into quite the shark once he gets a few buckets himself. As we played a few games (buckets being the wager of course) he got funnier and funnier. “Oh La La!” he would shout (in his Cambodian accent) when he pocketed a ball, reeling back with his bucket in hand at the same time letting out his booming laughter. When he wasn’t playing, he would drag various girls to the dance floor (using just the right amount of force/coercion) and try and hook them up with guys around the bar.
If he wasn’t satisfied with customers efforts to get out there and shake it, he went over to the microphone hooked up to the stereo and tried his MC skills. “Ok everybody stand up dancing, eat drink eat drink happy dancing NOW! Get up, Stand up for your right!”
A few days on the beach was just what the doctor ordered for Natalie’s pasty skin. I had a great time drinking with Papa, I think Nat got a kick out of him too. We headed back up to Phnom Penh to prepare for New Years. Oh La La!
Tags: Cambodia
Neil
January 10th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
“Have I turned into a travel snob?”
no you’ve always been a snob. reading about you travelling with the fresh meat was like remembering every conversation i’ve ever had with you regarding the subjects of food, beer, drugs, or driving.
hope the trip is going swell and that your dad, et al are getting a good dose of SE asia. it wouldn’t hurt to put a few pics of your sister up either.
utah was tits .. you’d better be coming on the next trip next year. check out pics at http://home.comcast.net/~rnv470 but it’ll take a long time since there’s 25 MB to load over what’s most likely a crappy dial up connection in some sweaty internet cafe.
aids,
raj
January 20th, 2006 at 12:57 am
S Neil, I believe I detect a hidden
talent you are hiding, you need to
start writing..later gpa C