A day of firsts

Now meets Ambassador Sichan Siv and his wife Martha for the first time at Monument Books

Saturday was a busy day and Sunday should be the same. Now has come to town for one of her rare visits and after spending time with her cousin in the morning, whilst I was at work, she joined me in hooking up with Ambassador Sichan Siv and his wife Martha at Monument Books for a book-signing of Sichan's Golden Bones memoir. Good to see William Bagley as always, the GM at Monument, who has further increased his excellent selection of books on Cambodia by stocking a few new releases, which I had to buy of course, including Kilong Ung's Golden Leaf and Sambath Meas' The Immortal Seeds. I also donated a copy of Golden Bones to the chief librarian at the National Library. After a quick bite to eat at the Red Orchid restaurant, Now and I then headed for the new premises of Sovanna Phum which wasn't too easy to find. However, the tuk-tuk driver got us there eventually, just in time for the start of their Hanuman and Giant Drum performance. And what a performance it was. If you like co-ordinated drumming and monkey antics, you'll love this. I did. The plan for Sunday is to take Now to see the Royal Palace for the first time and then in the afternoon, it's the start of the BIDC Cup at Olympic Stadium with two games scheduled to take place, including the Cambodian Under-23s and this will be her introduction to live football. The 'first's' keep on coming.

Another team photo, this time including Willam Bagley, the GM at Monument, alongwith Now, Sichan, Martha and myself

Some of the big-hitters at Monument: LtoR: Prince Sisowath Sirirath, Japanese Ambassador Shinohara, Sichan and Martha

Mann Kosal, the man responsible for Sovanna Phum, sings a traditional Khmer song

The Giants take the stage, the monkeys came later

The Giants supported by Sovanna Phum's fantastic drummers