First Khymer Wedding

Well after only two weeks in  Cambodia we were invited to our first wedding. We had been informed about the importance of weddings here and the etiquette so here goes.
Firstly the wedding season runs from November to March- during the cooler months! Ha Ha
Secondly, you cannot refuse - its very rude and you still have to pay!
Thirdly, the women really go to town on the outfits and make up here.
Fourthly, they start early from 4am with loudspeakers to announce and awful music.
And they drink a lot of alcohol which you cannot refuse either!
So  this was our experience -
the very flashy invitation in red and gold was from my boss, the Director of Education in Ratanakiri. We rarely see her so we knew how important it was when she came to deliver it personally. Quite a challenge for me with my limited skills. There is no need to reply as apart from illness everyone goes.
Firstly I had to have a new outfit, the clothes I had bought from the UK were not flashy enough.
So the wife of the Dutchman I work with and I met in the market to have outfits made. she went all out glittery but with true British reserve I went for the most simple and plain fabric I could find which was not easy. We were measured and discussed in full view of the market of course and agreed to go back in one week.I paid $10 deposit  which was half the cost.
On the Saturday at 8.30am after an electricity cut for 2 days  for final trying and paying. We communicated via a few words of Khymer from me and hand signals from her. I agreed I would press it at home when the elect. came back.
That afternoon Dave and I went to the airfield here (still complete with windsock and terminal buildings and even a fire engine) sadly no planes for over one year. anyway we practised me riding side saddle for my entry to the wedding and then me driving and Dave as the passenger so he could drink more.
The next day the three VSO females went with one of the female translators to the beauty parlour. This was Sunday afternoon at 3pm. The beauty parlour turned out to be a shack tacked on the end of the market. Why was I not surprised! There is only the market to go here. The place was really busy and I could write a book about my experience that afternoon. So here is the edited version, I had planned to have nails painted and possibly makeup. I was given small bowls to soak my toes and hands in. But they were soon forgotten and I was called to the makeup chair. I pleaded with Sereyden to have only natural makeup - but the next thing was the young girl got a razor blade and proceeded to eliminate my eyebrows and then my whole face was shaved!!!
the next stage was thick makeup, false eyelashes, heavy painted eyebrows and the whole works. this happens in the open shop and everyone is watching the barang in the chair.
So late home and dark with no helmet on my glittery hair I just have time to change and off we go.
The wedding was different! You have to arrive late and you have to pay - $20 for us which is a lot here. You wait until a table of 10 is complete then you are seated and the food is served. We had 7 courses including BBQ duck which seemed raw, pickled vegetables, fish soup and stewed chicken plus lots of rice. There was lots of drinking and only whisky and beer to choose from. After the meal everyone has to either dance or drink toasts. We chose to dance but really only the men dance, the women seemed very unconcerned about dancing. You dance around a table covered in fruit and the moves look easy but of course are not!! When it got too complicated we stopped but then everyone wanted to drink with us so we had to start dancing again!!

The VSO team



The heavy make-up

 We weaved our way home at 11pm watched by the police who are not at all bothered about drink driving just who was there - it was a very important wedding so almost 1000 people there and the police were all dressed in their best costumes.

Waiting for 10 people so we can go in

Wedding outfits

The bride and groom plus myself, Lucy from the Phillipines and her husband Yasser from Pakistan