Dancing in Koh Kong
Each year the teachers and staff of the organization I worked with in Phnom Penh are treated to a weekend retreat usually at a sea side resort in Cambodia. I had the opportunity of meeting two of their main donors in Phnom Penh who were visiting from the U.S. and Australia. Days leading up to our retreat, the other teachers mentioned that they had gone to Sihanoukville the previous year which I was glad to discover since I had already visited that beach town with my friends. The year I worked with them they were going to Koh Kong, which was a five-hour journey from Phnom Penh and I was excited to leave the dusty city. We boarded a big bus in front of our main office, left super early before the roosters woke up, and were by the sea before noon. I was disappointed when I suggested we try Koh Kong’s local food only to find my fellow teachers had packed their own food from home. I went down the street to buy my usual freshly squeezed sugar cane juice before returning to eat lunch in the hotel room.
In this video* Thida is teaching me old style Khmer dance in our hotel room. Thida, as I’ve mentioned before, is the one of the school’s receptionists. She picked me up each day from my home and dropped me off at either the main school or one of the various village schools. I had heard she liked to dance so I asked her to show me. Dara filmed and then joined us shortly after.
*My waterproof Pentax W30 came in handy during the heavy rain while riding on the back of motos but not so handy in this dimly lit hotel room.
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