Christmas this year was always going to be a non-event. Travelling in a predominantely Buddhist country with an atheist socialist doesn’t exactly lend itself to crackers and Jingle Bells. That being said, this Christmas Day was the best I’ve had in years.

After waking Jess up with an improvised Christmas cake (a cupcake with a flower on top) and a less-than- enthusiastically-received Xmas present, I took the hostile reception as a sign that Christmas just wasn’t going to happen.  Spirits dampend, I took myself off to the rooftop hammock for a good sulk. Poor Jess dragged herself out of bed, surprised as I was to discover that Christmas was actually of some importance to me, and did her best to feign enthusiasm.

We have long agreed that the festive season is on the whole a  bit of a farce yet I couldn’t let the day go by without some type of celebration. In the end we agreed that we’d both like to do something fun so upon the recommendation of a fellow traveller arranged for a moto driver to take us out into the countryside.

Ever since my first tentative scooter ride in Broome, I’ve loved the feeling of being on a bike and would therefore have ranked this Christmas pretty highly for just the moto ride alone.  What made it even better was the amazing scenery, villagers waving at every corner and the unforgettable experience of a ride on Cambodia’s bamboo train.

Train was actually a rather hopeful expression, “motorized bamboo platform” would be more accurate.  We zoomed six kilometres up the track sitting cross-legged with the wind blowing in our hair, trying not to think about trains coming from the other direction. Turns out there’s a very practical solution to the one track problem: whoever is smallest gets off. The bamboo platform was easily lifted off by our driver and his helper who couldn’t be any more than sixteen. Laughing at our offer of help, they then removed the wheels from the track, waited for the other train to pass and cheerfully reassembled ours. It was a process repeated many times during our half hour ride and was always done with the utmost in patience and good humour. ­

To cap off our Christmas adventure, our friendly moto driver (who offered to let me drive the bike while he gave me a shoulder massage-I declined!) drove us to the local version of Cirque de Soliel. Run by former refugees, the circus trains Cambodian kids in performing arts and puts on a show once a week for locals and tourists alike. Despite not understanding the language, we absolutely loved it. The performers were brilliant, the tricks were amazing and the complete and utter lack of any safety standards only added to the overall effect.

Impressed and exhausted, I went to sleep that night  happy and content. My non-Christmas turned out to be the best Christmas ever.