We sat together, though not communicating with each other, whilst a parade of all her family came forth, muttering what sounded like obscenities at us in turn, placing white string around our wrists, my arm held out in front of me for an inordinate time.

Before us, a cane basket filled with what was left of my forty dollars, the five dollar notes on top, bulked out beneath with many more smaller Cambodian notes to give the impression of much greater wealth. Each of the relatives or friends added to the pile of money with low denomination notes as they muttered words at us in turn.

Rice whisky taking effect, the men in a relatively ebullient mood, the women had sly, doubtful expressions as they took their place at the outer ring of the activity. By the time the procession of supplicants had ended my arm was ready to fall off but still there was one more ordeal, as the eldest of the elders went into a long colloquially in place of the usual Buddhist monk who would’ve cost serious money to hire.

When it was finally over, Wan gave me a fleeting smile that broke up the layers of her make-up, but I flicked my eyes down to her sarong that did little to hide the wondrous lines of her body, hoping to fill myself full of the energy of lust. I failed dismally, the heat seemed to disconnect all my extremities from the rest of my body.

The music turned up so high that the whole building vibrated to its spectacular bass rhythm. The young men danced, jumped and screamed to the tune. The older men hit the rice whisky in a sudden fervour.

The girls and older women congregated in groups, Wan talking with each in turn. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, filled up a large tumbler with pure rice whisky and slouched against the heftiest of the wooden pillars that supported the house – I wasn’t sure if it was I who was lurching out of control or the whole doubtful edifice, or a combination of the two.

One of the older men came up to me and started to make obscene gestures, feeling me up and waving his hands about in a drunken frenzy. In normal circumstances I would’ve kneed him in the balls but didn’t figure that the general reaction of his friends and relatives would be at all favourable.