The three elements

The bustling city of Phnom Penh was left in favour of going to the silent* countryside. The agrarian community of Chambok welcomed us with open arms and a volleyball court with the net high up in the skies, even by European standards. The group was divided and invited to two local homes. Mrs Kim proudly showed us her chateau, which were to be our accomodation for the night. Big, silk clad mattresses, covered in bright blue or pink mosquito nets were spaciously spread around the house, and since Phil have had to stay in the city with Chris due to an unwelcome burst of adult chicken pox, none needed to share beds.
The community centre offered a dinner and a show, in the form of the local women cooking a traditional khmer meal and the children performing a dance and song number (including, but not limited to, a welcome dance, an apsara dance, and the always amusing coconut dance).
Next morning, we watched as the farmers went to work at sunrise, we were shown the fields, and we saw (and smelled) how they collect bovine feces and process it to make methane gas and fertilizer. The methane method is fairly new to the area, but ever since its introduction, it has significantly reduced the amount of trees being chopped down for firewood. This community, and these people, live through the earth.
A quick walk in the beautiful surroundings ended with a swim by the waterfall, before heading south, to the Koh Phangan of Cambodia: the coastal town of Sihanoukville. With the hotel bang by the beach and the afternoon off, we went for drinks, sunbathing, volleyball and most importantly the water toy park they had a bit out in the water: inflatable water slide, inflatable climbing rock and an undulating trampoline provided shits and giggles for the less tanning prone of us.
Before this trip I had 20 logged dives. My goal is to double that figure before going back, and therefore I found myself, once again, on a boat with a lot of air tanks.
To be honest, after diving at the Similans, the dive sites in Cambodia were a bit of a downer. Low visibility and rather few colours. But life was aplenty and I saw some cool bluespotted stingrays, so the two dives off Sihanoukville was decent enough. I said my goodbyes to the Dutch, Danish, Cambodian and French people at the on-island dive centre and took the longboat back. This centre, and these people, live through the water.
At dinner, consisting of the best barbecued seafood ever** (barracuda, shrimps (or prawns), squid and suchlike), we played werewolf, which is a game in which the players are randomly given certain roles, such as werewolf, witch, seer or regular villager. Each night the werewolf kills somebody, and at daytime everybody tries, through discussion and logic, to find out who the werewolf is. Simetimes the villagers succeed in killing the werewolf, sometimes the werewolf eats the entire village. It's good fun, and especially appropriate as the full moon was coming next night.
Everyone who is anyone have been to an FMP. Most people who have, have also hooked up, painted themselves and others with flourescent paint, drunk heaps of cheap booze and/or danced the night away. The best places would certainly be Koh Phangan or any other Thai island in the Gulf of Thailand, but if timing isn't right, Cambodian coast towns work as well. After dinner, consisting of the best barbecued seafood ever** (barracuda, shrimps (or prawns), squid and suchlike), we set off to the close-by Full Moon Party, and experienced most of what's mentioned above.
All the while, fireworks lit up the sky, and talented artist performed an awe-inspiring fire show, including juggling two-end lit torches. This beach, and these people, live through the fire.
Air? Yes, I had that in my tank whilst diving.
*) Except for the plentiful and loudbeaked roosters, early in the morning
**) Definately top 30