Party in the Front, Business in the Back

We're moved in, partied out, and ready to grind.

We moved into a palace in comparison to our last place of residence (see dead gecko minutes before the rat attack below).  We have the second floor of a house with 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a living room too big to furnish (were thinking mini soccer goals could be in order..) We live above a family of 6 - Mr Ni, Hoa and their two boys and two girls.  We are still working on their names except for their daughter at the bottom of the pictures below - "Honeymoon". There are also enough real and fake cousins around to fill a small stadium.  We have a few more purchases to make before our house turns fully into our home but it is something we will not come to take for granted and are certainly all thankful for this holiday.

We of course are due for quite an update on the past few weeks but they are best summed up by two stories in particular.  Last week Jed took us to his friend Rya's farm just outside of the city for what we thought would be a light lunch - just hours after we packed in our standard big breakfast.  His house was beautiful, built on stilts creating an indoor/outdoor living room below with several hammocks and a large stone table and chairs.  There were babies and animals everywhere the eye could see.  I counted 7 dogs, 3 cats, 5 cows, 12 ducks, 120 (yes) quails, and a partridge in a papaya tree.  Setup for us on the stone table was a gas grill with a metal top to cook on - shaped like the northern hemisphere of an aluminum globe.  "Beef Climbing Mountain" is the exact translation of this Cambodian feast.  After starting the grill the first step is to put spoonfuls of butter on top of the grill, letting it bubble and waterfall down each side.  Mmmmmmmmmm.  Next plates after plates of beef, each with an egg cracked on top, were brought to the table and grilled in front of our eyes.  Halfway through the meal we were told there were 12 pounds of beef being cooked for us - 2lbs each that is.  If that wasnt going to fill us we could pick at the array of vegetables also being cooked in the butter on the grill or at the plates of grilled quail covered in thai basil.  To wash everything down fresh coconuts were brought down from the trees above and machete'ed tableside.

As explained previously last weekend was the water festival - celebrated around the country saturday to monday.  Our family, as we have already come to call them, invited us out to join them riverside for the fireworks and festivities.  It took nearly an hour just to find them in the crowds of thousands, but when they did we snapped this photo and had some fun...

We walked and danced and watched people sending off floating candles into the river.  We took turns carrying "Honeymoon" and tried our hand at the carnival dart game - I won a bottle of Wrestler, Rice Wine Whiskey (both pictured below) and a box of cookies.  We watched people setting off fireworks towards each other on either side of the river, keeping an eye out for stray shots in our direction.  Finally the youngsters and Mom and Dad headed home and we were left with our fake cousins and a language barrier.  They wanted to dance so we went to the best place for it "HIP-HOP" (pronounced 'heep-hop' of course).  Hip-Hop is just outside the city center, towards our neighborhood, and 99.99 percent locals only spot.  They don't discriminate at the door of course, only show some surprise upon our entrance.  You then walk through 6 sound proof sets of double doors and into a nearly pitch black club - the only lights are black lights and red and green neon signs on the walls in fake graffitti saying english phrases like "BOOM BOOM!, HIP-HOP!, and I LOVE YOU!"  We shared a few beers poured into glasses of ice at our table alongside the dance floor and then jumped on nervously.  We soon found there was not a damn thing to be nervous about when you have the best rhythm in the entire place.  Literally not one person could dance to the beat, so we felt like we were killin it!!!  I was bringing out every move I could think of and then some more.  I even taught a couple of girls my favorite move - finger pistols on each side of your waist and then just bounce your hips back and forth to the beat - I call it the Sheriff Woody. Dropped em dead of course.  Our cousins wanted to stay until the place closed at 3am but we finally convinced them we were falling asleep standing up some time after 2.

It is friday night our time and we are sorry we are just now giving you this update but we are about to really get things going.  We have our newest webisode already shot and our going to finish editing and add a sountrack by this weekend  - hope you enjoy.  Again, please get on top of the comments folks - we want to know what were doing wrong, right and what you want to see next.  Much love and a Happy Thanksgiving to all!

MM