Staying with a Cambodian family

One of the highlights of my Intrepid tour in Cambodia in the winter of 2013 was the opportunity to have a homestay with a local family for one night.  

We stayed in the home of our local guide's mother-in-law - the house was built in 2000 so was quite new and very clean.  All cooking was done below and we slept in the house above.  I am not sure where our host slept -at her daughter and son-in-law's home I suspect.  Having guests overnight is not a nightly occurrence for them but it certainly provides our host with a welcome supplement to her income.  Intrepid is very committed to supporting local people and businesses.

Here is a picture of where we stayed.  

After a very welcome cold drink we headed out on a walk which ended in a field watching the sunset over a pond. Here are a few of the sights we saw on the walk...

Local cows having a good gossip

Then it was back to the house for a lovely home-cooked meal before turning into bed at 8 p.m. Well, there was nothing else to do...  The upstairs was an open concept with curtains separating small areas containing two single mattresses - very thin mattresses I might add.  I quickly got into my jammies, located my flashlight for later, crawled under my mosquito net and waited for sleep to take me. Every time I moved the floor creaked and I am a very restless waiting to fall asleep/sleeper.  The household had two dogs - not pets...but watchdogs.  In the distance I could hear a small dog yapping and then one of the household dogs joined in and then another dog down the road howled backup.  I suddenly got the giggles which was certainly not helped when one of the others in the group said in an exasperated voice "oh for God's sake" at the nonstop barking and someone else had a bout of flatulence. I was shaking with laughter and had to put my hand over my mouth to not laugh out loud - sleep was no longer an option.  I then realized all that laughter had stirred my bladder up so I then had to locate my flashlight, ease myself up (NOT easy when you have arthritic knees...let's not go into detail but my ascent was not quiet...and I just don't mean my knees creaking..) and proceed down the "hallway" flashlight on the floor to locate my shoes.  Oh yes we had to take our shoes off and leave them right by the door - not any lower or the dogs would steal them.  So I hobbled down the stairs which I am sure was not a pretty sight but luckily there was no one to see it.  Off to the bathroom which was in the yard....thank goodness there was a western-style toilet...stepping around sleeping dogs (they had given up the barking by then)   Then back up the stairs and repeating.  I had to be careful I pulled back the right curtain and did not plop myself on some poor sleeping soul!!! Luckily it was a full moon so the flashlight was not necessary outside - otherwise it would have been worse as no lighting anywhere.  Back to bed to lay there - although as my unfortunate "roommate" was Thyda I was informed that yes I did snore so obviously I did sleep at some point.  

The bladder did its thing again so repeat as above at about 5 a.m.  Mine has the wonderful habit of figuring out the worst possible time for me to find my way to a loo and says "hello, it's me again".  Just after this, the rooster competition started with one down the road doing its thing and the family one showing off his 'cock a doodle doos'.  Although it sounded like he was strangling at the end - I would definitely vote for the other rooster.  Finally about 6 a.m. I heard voices so I quickly dressed (after a quick clean-up with antibacterial wipes as I had missed the "memo" about putting a towel in your overnight bag and having a bucket shower which might have been kind of cool in more ways than one ) and headed downstairs for coffee.  I survived the night!!  We used bottled water to brush our teeth  - brushed our teeth in the yard. It felt strange spitting toothpaste and water onto the ground!! (I know the campers are laughing at me right now)   I can't even remember what breakfast was...I think I was still either in shock or overtired.  We had an hour or two before we headed on to the coast so I walked around the area a bit taking photographs. 

Breakfast - toilet and "shower" (bucket provided) building behind and yes one of the dogs who had provided our entertainment the night before. 

Family home opposite the homestay

Our host family was absolutely lovely and I now realize how lucky I was to experience a stay in a home in the Cambodian countryside.  I think we all have experiences has us thinking "why the h*ll am I doing this..and I paid money to do it?"but in retrospect, it becomes a treasured memory.  This was one of these!!