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.