Happy New Year!

Celebrating in style

Our New Year weekend started with much excitement as Lucy and Tom arrived to celebrate with us. It was so much fun to watch them walk out of Phnom Penh airport and escort them to Kratie, especially as they also seemed to be loving Cambodia as well. We set off on the morning of New Year's Eve to visit the island opposite, where we also spent Christmas. We hired bikes and cycled round to look for a good place to swim. Lucy and Tom decided to brave the bilharzia and come for a dip as well. It was very refreshing (even a little cold in my opinion, though Lucy said I was being silly).

On the boat to the island. Tom is sampling a tamarind fruit from our landlord.

Sam showing off his body in the Mekong with Kratie town in the background

Tom relaxing with a nice cup of tea before lunch

Me and Lucy, pausing from our continual chattering to pose for the camera
(there's a lot of catching up to fit into 4 days)

Planning our next moves....

Lucy enjoying hanging out on the beach
(we're actually waiting for the ferry again at this point).

Still waiting....but all smiles

After returning to Kratie and watching the sunset with a few beers, we headed back to the house to prepare the gala NY meal. There was a lot of food (three courses in fact: petite pizzas to start, pork with pumkin curry for the main and caramalised bananas with pancakes and ice cream for desert), lots of alcohol and lots of new year's resoultions!


We played a game where we all had to make up a resolution for another person. In the end we made up two and then the person could choose. We all got quite into it and the resolutions are pretty challenging. Me and Sam also made up our own. Here they are:

Sam: to make a book of the handpained signs of Kratie (chosen by Gilly)
His own: to learn to touch type 50 words per minute

Lucy: to achieve a cycling accomplishment (chosen by Sam. This was after Lucy had ridden into a banana tree during our cycle on the island)

Tom: to complete a triathlon (chosen by Lucy)

Gilly: to make entire outfits for me and Sam by hand (chosen by Tom)
My own: to learn more about photography and take better pictures

Tom loved the local Cambodian whiskey at $1 a bottle. The dinner lasted from 8pm until 4am so he had plenty of time to polish off the whole bottle!

Dinner by candlelight

The next day was spent in a sleepy haze, eating more yummy food and posing for a photoshoot with Sven, a German photographer living in Kratie (who is also going to be helping me with my new year's resolution).

Sam testing out his modelling side

Sadly all good things must come to an end and we had to wave Lucy and Tom off as they made their way to Kep and then Siem Reap and we headed back to work. It is lovely having visitors and with only one year left, anyone thinking of coming should start planning now!

Happy New Year!