Bouth Sonn's best friend was getting married on the day we left Cambodia. We planned to take an airplane to Saigon at about 4:00pm and our driver asked us to attend the wedding reception with him. We tried to dress up as much as we could in the bummy clothes we took over, packed our bags, and headed out.

January and February are the main months to get married in Cambodia and Vietnam. Brides wear either red or white and they say the wedding day is the happiest in a Cambodian woman's life. The bride was beautiful in her red jewelled dress and her new husband was quite dashing in a red suit. The bride's hair was a mass of lovely curls and her makeup was exquisite. The bridesmaids and ushers were elegant and polite. The entire wedding party remained at the entrance to the reception area until the party was well under way and guests were actually beginning to leave.

We didn't have a gift, but fortunately they passed around wedding envelopes and Doug was able to pop a bill into one for the couple. They had fried rice, hot pot, delicious hors d'ourves, noodles and other scrumptious dishes, as well as sodas and lots of beer. The men drank quite a bit of beer and threw their empty bottles under the tables, until there were quite a number of bottles building up. There was a karaoke machine and the guests serenaded us while we ate. The families were all dressed in beautiful clothes and there were about 200 guests - it was a wonderful, fun wedding reception and must have cost a fortune!

We had a fantastic time, but had to leave for the airport, so we bid them farewell and hope to come back again someday.