Boo to the Embassy!

I was so excited for July 4th. Independence Day has always been my favourite holiday and what with being away from home and my impending financial troubles, I was really looking forward to one day of celebrating and feeling at home.

Unfortunately, this was not in the stars.

The day started with an enormous thunderstorm, dashing all of my hopes for fireworks. After surviving the humid drive to the embassy, I was relieved to find that all of my friends were arriving at the same time. We entered through the ridiculous security gates and finally got our first glimpse of the festivities. I immediately knew we were in trouble.

The decorations, somewhere in between patriotic and garish, were only the beginning. Add to that the Cambodian band singing “My Humps” and the vendors selling overpriced food and my friend and I knew we wouldn’t be staying long. We decided to walk around and see what there was to see, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much. A few tables selling “Democrats in Cambodia” t-shirts- which were very cool- and U.S. Embassy hats, caps, and shirts stood on one side. The vendors were on the other. In between there was a bad band and a few tables. That was it. Oh yeah, except for the stage constructed specially for the HOT DOG EATING CONTEST!!! Yes people, the embassy has an annual competition for the biggest glutton in a developing country. You have GOT to be kidding me.

This was more than I could take and Becca and I left pretty quickly. I was so upset! To make ourselves feel better, we walked to the riverfront and went to The Quay/Chow, a fabulously chic hotel, restaurant, and rooftop bar. We had ½ off drinks (Happy Hour extends through the weekends in Cambodia) and yummy appetizers until the rain forced us under cover. As soon as it stopped we moved to Touk, across the street from FCC. The manager is a friend of my roommate’s and I had met her the night before. Touk was so much fun. The pizza is amazing and there was live music by two really cool expats. We hung out with one of them for a bit, he works for the UN and is super nice. He and the manager insisted on telling me a lot of Cambodia horror stories about foreigners getting shot and thrown in to the river or how many moto accidents they’ve been in and how many times they’ve been robbed. Good times. But then the music started again. They played a lot of old classics and by the end of the night I felt much better. At least I had a nice July 4th and met some good people. But boo to the embassy!!

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz