Chol Chnam Thmay

Friday the 13th was not an ordinary day. Despite my supersized hangover previously mentioned, it was also AGU’s Khmer New Year party. Chol Chnam Thmay, the Khmer new year, was organised by the Khmer students association. This year they organised a big party and were holding it just by my room, at the volley ball court. All morning I had heard them set it up and was starting to feel eager about what it was going to be like.

When you entered the volley ball court you went through a tunnel of people for lack of a better description. Each of the students bowed and smiled and it felt nice to see so many friendly faces. When you walked over to where the seating was all arranged you saw this stand of fruit. Its purpose beyond decoration was unknown to me. It looked really nice with bananas, pineapples and tied in sugar cane.

The welcoming party

Once the ceremony started I again realised that this could be boring. Usually in VN, a ceremony generally consists of long speeches (in VN). Yet this ceremony was different, most speeches were short, and broken up between dancing and award ceremonies. The dance is very similar to Thai dancing and was astonished by how much effort the students put into all the intricate moves. Another thing that really caught my attention was that the girls were wearing traditional Khmer clothing. I was stunned in particular by this one girl was wearing a yellow and blue outfit which just stood out from the others. The embroidery (or weaving not sure how to describe) was of flowers and looked like it would take hours to do just 1.

Traditional Khmer clothing

After all the formalities there was one thing left to do, dance. I felt horrible about the thought of dancing in front of so many people when the students asked me. Yet all the other foreigners were dancing so I felt that I would dishonour them if I didn’t dance. I felt rather awkward and wished for the song to end (it really was the never-ending story).

With ending of the dance we all moved to the eating area. I was anticipating eating Khmer food as I haven’t tried any yet. I was disappointed with two things first Van said it was a non alcohol table and second the food was not Khmer. The first course was chicken salad which was lush.

Next was Bo Kho, a type of stew possibly inspired by French cooking. It was also delish. As we were enjoying it to my relief came some alcohol, traditional Khmer liquor. That relief was short lived once I got a whiff of the aroma. It really was indescribable. I recall one person said it smelt like fermentation yet all agreed it was unlike anything they had smelt before. The way to drink it I found was don’t smell it. The taste was not as bad as the smell would suggest, it was like sugar and bitter lemon juice.

Lastly we had fish soup. The fish was huge. The cooks had cut it up into 3 pieces and each piece was bigger than my fist. When I was eating I came across some bones and was floored by how big the bones where. I pulled out a part of the bone from the piece of fish that I had and it was the size of a hairclip – 5 cm long. I thought I should polish them up and use them as a gift.

After eating and drinking, I was still tired from the previous night and made my escape while the students, many who just came to see, had started Khmer dancing until late at night.

Students dancing to Khmer music.