MANicure

The hotel's aircon is so powerful that immediately after breakfast I had to take my frozen feet and thaw by the pool. Beyoncé and Westlife was the bar music, and I can't think of any other musicians who I've heard more often around the world. Westlife transcends international boundaries like very few other entities.

With some of the friends who've gathered for the wedding, Allison had a bachelorette gathering at a Khmer restaurant, which moved onto a nail salon. I went with the group but drank beer on the sidelines and kept the others supplied when their nails were drying and they didn't have use of their hands.

The wedding guests all met for cocktails in the evening and a few of us went later to the hub of Siem Reap, which is centred around Pub Street. Especially at this holiday time Pub Street is a seething mass of crowds, alcohol and all manner of other substances. It felt particularly frenetic compared to previous visits, which is symbolic of the general changes I'm seeing on this return to Cambodia.

As I jumped out of the tuk tuk on Pub Street, the driver grabbed my stomach and exclaimed 'small abdomen'. If he'd seen the gradual creep since I left Cambodia he may have reacted differently.