Cambodia Christmas!

Hello everyone...MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SIHANOUKVILLE CAMBODIA....We miss you. We love you. Send money. Mwaaaw!!

Ok, I have to qualify this email. This morning I woke up angry, sad, mad, blue, melancholy..you get the picture. I just can't put my finger on it but as much as I wanted to have Christmas on the beach and chill out here, it just hasn't happened. I have not found a comfort level here at all (as for Ivan - he's just glad to wake up).

Ok, for all of you out there that have seen the movie Groundhog Day - THIS IS IT...you wake up every day, see the same people every day and for the most part, there is hardly a minute of the day that isn't the same as yesterday was and tomorrow will be!!!! But..we do have to make the best of it when we can so today we booked into a swish hotel for tomorrow night - had an amazing Italian dinner tonight - a wee small thatched hut off the far end of our beach serves Italian food to die for - the restaurant is called Little Italy. The walk home was fun as we stopped off to watch Cambodians doing their traditional dance around candles in the sand and when they saw us, they asked us to join them, so we did and.....we ROCKED. Then we stopped to watch a bunch of pickled revellers (English, mostly, of course) playing with the fire dancing. I'm not sure but I think we saw a first or second degree burn here and there. And then...we met some Cambodian dudes who work at guesthouses and want to practice their english and so it is in Cambodia on Christmas eve. The bars are rockin' on the beach, there are buffets galore and garish lights and garish decor and Santa hats and tiny fireworks...and humidity and..nyah, nyah...the sea, the sand and the sun.

And so - another crazy day fades away and I am no longer mad, sad or out of sorts (and Ivan's still just glad to wake up in Paradise)....

We wish you love and happiness tonight and peace of mind and soul this holiday season. Namaste. Shel n' Ive.