Thursday, our last full day – PARTY TIME!!

I told Savong we wanted have a party for our last night and he suggested we combine it with Sunna’s birthday (Aneed and Savong’s youngest daughter). When I suggested a party, I was thinking of something small for the kids – but when Savong hopped on the bandwagon, what we got was a CAMBODIAN PARTY!!

The girls in the Tuk-Tuk with 40 baloons for decorating the marquee...

Preparations started in the morning, with the marquee being erected at the orphanage – with seating for 100 guests... We decorated with leafy branches (fresh from the forest...) and balloons and the ‘caterer’ had crew of ladies working on the 7 course (!!) meal, including a calf on the spit...

Calf on the spit and chickens ready to drop into the stir-fry...

The 'caterers' at work...

The marquee at the orphanage - on the left is s temporary generator and on the right are huge amplifiers that BOOMED Khmer songs all night...

Setting-up the marquee... :)

The boys washing the dishes before the party - this job would have been almost impossible without the new water tank... As you can see, everyone's thoroughly saturated... :))

At about 2pm a group of monks were invited to come and bless Sunna and the kids at the orphanage...

The monks blessing the orphanage and Sunna for her birthday...

We're all cupping our hands in gratitude... :)

Mich with the stir-fry... Now THAT'S a wok!!! Would be handy back home for large family dinners... :))

Putting the final touches on the marquee...

The guests started arriving at 4pm and the party was in full swing by 6pm... We arranged for a balloon vendor to come-by and each of the kids (and surprisingly many of the adults...) got balloons – they were a BIG HIT...

After the 7 courses were consumed, we moved on to the ‘dance-floor’... And we danced, and danced, and danced... With the glow-in-the-dark sticks we brought from Australia, and the sparklers and marshmallows toasting, this was a very memorable way to finish-off our month in Cambodia...

Our ballon-vendor was a hit - with balloons and masks for everyone... :)

Jess, Alex and Steph with our 'orphanage mother' and some of the boys...

We had over 120 guests... :)

Smiles all 'round... :)

The girls with Chom Rong...

With Savong, Mich, Aneed and Sunna... :)

Party, Party, Party!!  We learnt some new moves and got right into it!!

Our sparklers were a HIT!!

:))

Mask and glow-stick in one hand and a sparkler in the other... :))

We danced the night away - with our tuk-tuk drivers (Songnam in the blue shirt, Mr. K in the pink shirt), Chom Rong and Steph in the front, Kadeb, Jess and Mich in the back... :))

And then we toasted marshmallows...

Y U M !!

Kedang about to tuck into his first-ever toasted marshmallow... :)

Sari with hers...

Thourn came back for seconds and thirds... :))

And then we danced some more... :)

We’ll be sad to leave tomorrow, but there is always the next time... September 2010...


In the next few days I’ll Post the last day’s activities from this trip – and an unexpected turn of events...