It's already been one month since we entered Cambodia, and feels like much less.. although we can't argue with the moon. And so it's time for us to go for a 'visa run' into Thailand to renew our Cambodian visas.

Before we cross the border, we plan to head in the opposite direction up to Phnom Penh for the night. The reason for the detour is that one of our fellow volunteers, Bar, is celebrating her birthday in the capital city. We would have celebrated in the village, but for a small motorbike accident and a nasty burn, requiring the attention of some of the better doctors available in Phnom Penh.. but that's another story.

After almost a month in the village we are really starting to find our feet. Some of the Khmer language is actually starting to stick, we're getting to know a few of the villagers, and we have been developing a few ideas of how best to help out. We're also learning a bit of Hebrew and all the best Jewish traditions, seeing as the the project was established and is managed by Israelis!

In the weeks before and after our short getaway in Sihanoukville, we found ourselves caught up in a mad rush to prepare the village and fields for a visit from one of the major donor organisations from the US. The organisation is considering funding further similar projects in Cambodia and wanted to see if all it's money is going towards a worthwhile cause. In the lead up to the visit, the stress levels were quite high amongst the staff (which says a lot for Cambodians) as a lot of fuss was made out of the visit. As such, we felt obliged to help out as much as we could to make sure the fields were looking their best. We didn't mind a bit of hard work for the good cause and it turned out to be a great way to really get to know the villagers and understand their lifestyle.

In preparation to the visit, we would start our days at around 6.30am. Still rubbing sleep from our eyes, we would jump on the back of a couple of the technician's motorbikes and ride out to the village fields. Our goal was to encourage the laziest farmers to wake up and tend their crops of corn, eggplant, chilli or whatever else. Once they were up and into it, we'd grab a hoe or a machete and attempt to help by stripping weeds, building rows and planting seedlings. We would knock off for breakfast at about 9, then get back into it. From 11 until 3 it is usually too hot to do much besides eat and laze about in the hammocks. After 3 we would help the farmers again for a couple of hours and were usually thanked with a helping of custard apple or jackfruit. This routine continued until the visit, which went much more smoothly than anticipated.

After all the hard work, we were invited to the wedding of the village committee chairman's daughter. When the special evening came, we were greeted by hundreds of already drunk men and women covered in skin whitening make-up. After all of us Barangs were ushered to our specially reserved front row table, we were provided with a case of beer and a bottle of Khmer Whiskey! It all turned out to be good fun, and we willingly joined in with some traditional dancing. That is until the dance floor started morphing into a kind of meat market towards the end of the night! The modest Khmer customs seem all but forgotten when alcohol and music are combined!

The wedding was also the start to the Khmer new year season - our third new year celebration for 2011! This meant that after the wedding, all of the staff wanted to head across country to catch up with their families and take part in the celebrations. We decided to stay and celebrate in the village.

During the holiday period our main responsibility was to make sure the village pump station continued to supply clean water. We got to know Kien, the pump station operator, who was so appreciative of our help that he took us all to visit his teenage elephant friend at a small local sanctuary.

Other than managing water supply and visiting elephants we spent most of our days over the new year partying with the villagers, experimenting with a home-made woodfire oven, and eating delicious Cambodian desserts. Because there were no other staff around, we were offered a couple of motorbikes to get around on. Aidan managed to teach everyone how to ride, and our only price was a couple of singed leg hairs.

There were sound systems blaring some nice, but mostly terrible, music almost 24/7 for the whole holiday period, which kept us up most nights. The mischief continued throughout the day, with groups of drunken teenagers setting up road blocks and demanding some sort of toll to get past. It turned out that this payment was to cover the cost of the water and talcum powder that they proceeded to cover us in from head to toe!!

After all these shenanigans we have just started to get stuck into a few worthwhile projects. These projects, however, will have to be put on hold until we return from our short break in Thailand.