Fine Khmer cooking and Angkor Wat

From our homestay we caught a bus to Siem Reap to see Cambodia's Taj Mahal and Great Wall combined, Angkor Wat. It is one of the man made wonders of the world, and the pride and joy of Cambodia. Every Cambodia is expected to visit Angkor at least once in their lifetime if they can (although few can afford it), much like Muslims are expected to travel to Mecca if it is in their means.
Siem Reep is definitely a tourist town, and is far more like one of the Thai Islands than other places in Cambodia we have been. It is also swarming with fair trade shops and NGO's attempting to redistribute some of the money flooding in from foreigners in a way that actually benefits locals. The temples themselves are about 20 km or less away from the town so every morning a flood of motodops, motorcycles, and huge tour buses rush down the road for a day of roaming around the main temples. Making their way through the exhaust and dirt kicked up by these vehicles are also the few tourists who opt for bikes, and Kara and I were members of this brave group.
The area around most of the temples is still jungle for the most part with areas around the temples themselves cleared. Many of the temples actually have trees growing out of the crumbling stone structures and lichen growing over carvings of gods and other creatures. It looks like something out of an Indiana Jones film, as long as you can mentally block out the group of twenty or so tourists filing past led by a Khmer guide speaking fluent German, French, Korean, English, or some other language.
After three days of biking around and climbing over crumbling temples we had had our fill of temples. Angkor is huge enough that given the time a week could be devoted to leisurely explore the hundreds of remains that dot the area. Rather than go to see more we instead spent our fourth day taking a cooking class and attending a really great photo festival. The cooking class was at a vegetarian restaurant which gave us a chance to see how to cook vegetarian versions of the generally meat heavy Khmei food.
Our next stop was Battambang and to get there we took a slow boat through the waterways that are created by the monsoons. The water engulfs trees and whole villages which have been built on stilts in preparation,. Many homes are simply boats or houses with enough tires attached to the edges that they are capable of floating above the rising monsoon rains. When we stopped for lunch at a floating restauraunt we noticed small children in about five different canoes paddling themselves through the water in their school uniforms. Most kids walk or bike to school around here but these eight year olds get themselves there with boat and paddle.
Battambang itself doesn't really offer much excitement. It is the second largest city in Cambodia but that is not saying much. We took another cooking class, but this time were able to prepare the dishes ourselves and of course visited the local market for ingredients. In Cambodia this is always an adventure because of that variety of creative protein options on display. I was happy to be cooking vegetarian versions of the dishes. We made amok, lok lak, and soup. I must say I make a pretty good Khmei cook.

Running Amok in Cambodia

I heard horrible stories about Cambodia before I arrived from other travelers. They told me it was dirty and there were tons of touts. So far though, my only complaint has been the heat. Although the country does make it a little hard to stray far from the well travelled tourist routes because of the risk of land mines and the fact that many roads are no more than patches of pavement scattered between red dirt. This is what I would expect from a place that is still recovering from the Khmer Rouge and ongoing government corruption. I am still finding what I have seen of the country absolutely fascinating, and I really wish I had more time here.

Kara and I started out in Phnom Penh brushing up on all the genocide history you never learn in school. We went to the killing fields and Tuong Sleng prison... then as though that wasn't depressing enough we also watched The Killing Fields movie at our hotel. With the bleakest part of the countries past over, and my severe depression beginning to lift slightly we headed of to wander around the city. We visited the central market, your usual Asian market crammed with stalls selling everything from rubber band to dried fish to fine gold jewelry, but unlike other places Cambodia's markets boast a wide variety of apparel from American clothing chains. Gap, Izod, Abercrombie, Holister all seem to take advantage of cheap labor costs here in Cambodia and quite a few of last seasons fashions don't seem to have made their way to the stores they were intended for. Perhaps even more interesting, although somewhat disturbing, was wandering into the meat market that is located just a few rows past the clothing stalls. This was my first glimpse into the wide variety of meats Khmer cuisine covers. The market had dried fish cut open and strung up for display, as well as squid, and a variety of other unidentified hunks of flesh creating a rainbow of red, pink, and brown flesh at every stall. Yummy. Since then I have also seen fried grasshoppers, spider, whole doves (heads and all), frogs, and have also heard about the "special meat"you can order-dog. Yup, I will never hear dogs barking at night and think it is just a group of strays howling at each other, now I picture Cambodian men with nets chasing the poor mutts down the street for the next days Khmer Curry.
Surprisingly none of this tasty meat has convinced me to relinquish my vegetarianism so I instead sought out tastier tofu and vegetable options. Cambodian food is actually quite good. Less spicy than Thai but the same general dedication to curry and rice in a variety of delicious forms. My favorites are grilled eggplant and amok, a dish made in a grilled banana leaf. I did not have to search out vegetarian in Phnom Penh for long though because Kara and I hopped a bus to Komphong Cham after a few days to stay at Rana home stay for two days.
This home stay is run by an American ex-pat, Don, his wife, Kheang, who is Cambodian. They have two amazing, rambunctious kids who are 5 and 6. They provided ongoing entertainment throughout the entire visit with their quest for kite materials, attempted swims in any body of water we passed, adventures wading through muddy rice fields, and an uncanny ability to lose flip flops (this was Dara specifically). The family lives outside Komphong Cham in a small rural village where they have a fairly comfortable guest bungalow located beside their house. Kheong cooks all the food, and provides an amazing sample of a variety of the best Khmer dishes. She also uses her ability to speak both Cambodian and English to provide you with an opportunity to speak to local people in the village. We went for both a walk and bike ride in our two days and had multiple conversations with rice, cucumber, fish farmers, and other locals we met along the way. Kheong was also able to give us descriptions of the problems the people in the area are facing due to government corruption and a variety of other problems. At the time of our visit for example, there was no electricity because the service had been unexpectedly cut (insert government conspiracy theory here). This was one of many issues we learned about that keep the average Cambodian from living at a level of economic stability.
We also had evening, "guest speakers," whop were members of Kheong's family paid a small amount to come and let us grill them with questions for about an hour. We heard about the schools from Kheong's sister, and life under Pol Pot and in the village before and after from Kheong's mother. Overall it was an amazing experience that has given me so much more insight into the lives of the people I would otherwise simply whizz by in a bus or boat. It is amazing to feel like I was able to appreciate the beauty of Cambodia's rural landscape but also gain an appreciation of the hardships people face when they have to live there.

Leaving Thailand

Kara and I sat contentedly snacking on our respective bags of snacks listening to the disgruntled passengers in the back of our mini-bus. They were raising hell because they seemed to find it absurd that our driver wanted to shove a fourth person into the three seats that took up the back of the van. We laughed at how inappropriate she was being, and also the requests shouted from the back of the bus for our driver to slow down and stop driving in the wrong lanes. Silly tourists. Traveling in SE Asia you should not yell (your losing face) and you should not find it absurd that your vehicle will have a disproportionate number of people to available seats. Just be thankful when no one has puked on you, and if you manage to snag a seat located near a window (however, if an elderly person, mother with small kids, or monk happens to board your required to offer them your seat). So rather than being appalled at the speed your driver chooses to go, or the fact that the person next to you is practically sitting in your lap, you'll have to suck it up and find ways to make your drive pleasant. In this case we were up next to the driver so we befriended him and got him to rock out with us to some local Thai-island reggae, "This one goes out to my brothers and sisters who we lost in Ko Phi Phiiiii!"
These are the things I have gotten used to since traveling, and it always strikes me as funny when I am surrounded by people who do not find these discomforts normal. In fact, Thailand has been incredibly comfortable, and I know that I will be giving up a few of the conveniences I have enjoyed here when we leave for Cambodia, our next destination.
We spent a few days in Krabi province Island hopping. We managed to make it to Ao Nang, Ton Sai, Ko Phi Phi, and then to the less touristy Hat Yao before our days of lounging on the beach and snorkelling were abruptly ended by stormy weather. Hoping this was just isolated to the regions further south we turned back north and arrived at Ko Lanta to discover that the crap weather was everywhere along the Andaman Coast. The Islands offer few things to do in torrential downpours so we gave up and hopped a bus back to Bangkok early.
We concluded out time in Thailand with a Thai massage, a couple trips to the movies, shopping, and alot of good food. We also celebrated Loi Krathong, a Thai festival where Krathongs, made of flowers and banana leaves with incense and a candle stuck in the top, are set afloat in whatever nearby body of water is available. It is an offering to the river goddess, and it is believed you can make a wish as you set the Krathong out onto the water. We went to Lumphini park (Bangkok's version of central park) and watched people send off their Krathongs. It was really beautiful to watch the small lake lit up by all the floating Krathongs.
The other major event in Bangkok was the Princess' funeral. Events and traditions focused on honoring the princess were taking place everywhere. During the official days of mourning the entire city was wearing only black and white. Thais are unbelievably loyal to the royal family. THere is a short anthem to the king before you see movies or start large events and everyone stands up and stops talking. THis even happened at the commencement of a huge outdoor night market we went to in Chiang Mai. It was impressive to see the sea of people streaming along past the stalls lining the road all freeze and fall silent as the anthem was played.
The devotion to the king is just as strong for all the royal family so everyone was in mouring over the death of the princess. The formal ceremonies had been going on for a week and a half by the time we left, with more still to come. Considering that we were expecting to have our time in Bangkok cut short by the political unrest it was a surprise that instead of red and yellow shirted protesters (the colors of the two rival political parties) we were instead witness to the people of Bangkok coming together over the one aspect of their government they all support, the royal family.