At this time of year, in Cambodia’s dry season, there are a phenomenal number of weddings, as well as the usual funerals. The celebrations and memorials begin before sun break and continue long after the sun has set and all amplifiers are set to 11. Finding any respite from the over modulated music and speeches can be difficult, if not impossible.
For us, the onslaught of noise has reached breaking point. The well of cross-cultural understanding has run dry. Our heads have reached mega Tylenol-ingesting proportions. Our tempers are very short. We can’t find a haven of solitude in this town; everywhere we turn is noise. We come up with new phrases of blasphemy. We hope for a major power outage coupled with the malfunctioning of all generators. We would commit ourselves to a cell in a white padded room, but they would probably play really loud music there.
With twenty-plus years in the wine business and event management under our belts we've made a lateral career move. We are in Cambodia for two years to transfer some of our business skills and experience to the local community and to learn as much as we can from them.
Definitely not something we’re missing on our travels, although to start with we were convinced the noise had followed us over the border with a couple of troublesome building works on or near some of our early hotels. Luang Prabang comes highly recommended as a close-to-silent retreat if you need one…
if it helps, i’ll go sit in the hot tub under the stars and have a zen moment for the both of you!
It only gets better. This morning sonny-boy started hammering on the tin roof, an all day project. I think we’ll be enjoying several glasses of wine somewhere far from the house this evening.