Cambodia 1.15 & 16 - Part 2: Sun eclips, Khmer Taste Restaurant, Siem Reap & Photo Album

After the afternoon siesta, Bunlong picked us up from the hotel and headed back to Siem Reap.
The sky looked cloudy and it was not as hot as the past few days.
I had to wear a light long sleeve sweater because it felt a little chilly to me.
On the tuk tuk, Hans noticed that people were looking up, but we did not know what they were looking at. 

We told Bunlong to drop us off by the river since we wanted to take a walk along the river.
Two local girls with long black hair sat on a bench.  One was checking the other girls' hair for lice.
It reminded me of the Khmer life we saw on the bas-reliefs.  Thousand of years ago, Khmer women were doing exactly the same thing. 

After a nice stroll, we went to the meeting point to meet up with Bunlong.  We saw Bunlong wearing a pair of sunglasses.
I thought it was odd, since there was no sun, and I had not seen Bunlong wearing sunglasses the past few days.
Later, Bunlong showed us the Sun eclipse which explained why the weather was much cooler and dimmer than the previous days,
and so many people were looking up to the sky.  It was my first time to see a sun eclipse!
Through the clouds, we could clearly see that the sun was shaped like a crescent moon.
 Unfortunately we were not able to captured it on our camera. 

We had Bunlong drop us off at the Old Market where we sent him home.
It was only 4 PM, we did some souvenir shopping in the old market, and later sat at a cafe to write postcards and looked through our pictures.

Between Hans and I,  I was always ready to try the next new thing.
Hans, on the other hand, enjoyed the old and familiars.
He was always more opinionated about countries that were not part of the western world, sensitive to the new environments, and got sick from foreign food much easier.
So coming to Cambodia, I definitely had my reservations about how he was able to handle it.
 Turned out, he was a lot more open-minded and receptive than what we both thought.
Perhaps being dragged to all the new situations by me over the years finally rubbed off on him.
Over coffee, Hans said, "I want to visit more countries in Asia in the future, especially when we come all the way to Taiwan already."
I rolled my eyes and shook my head.  Can you believe this guy?? That is what I have been telling him all along! 

I was happy that he reacted so positively to Cambodia; then again, it was so easy to fall in love with this magical land. 

People started setting up the night market on the streets.
It was still too early for dinner, so we headed to Devatara Spa for a body scrub and some more massages!

We were tempted to have western food for dinner. But at the last minute, we changed our minds and stuck with Cambodian cuisine.
(I mean, when will be the next time we have Cambodian food in New York? I don't even know if there is a Cambodian restaurant in NYC.)

We picked Khmer Taste restaurant for our last dinner in Siem Reap.
We ordered Banana Flower Salad (Khmer Family's was better), fried rice with basil leaves (child's play), LAB (Some marinated salty ground meat with spices. It reminded me of the meat we saw at the new market.), and Sabak Fish (Local fish that was smoked or grilled.  It was very flavorful and tasty.  Hans loved it, but I could not eat much, again, the fish in the New Market...)

Khmer Taste was a little off from the main tourist hub.  It was much more subdue.  We noticed that the restaurant offered free bicycle rental to customers who dine in the restaurant. 

We did a little more shopping after dinner.  In front of the old market, we saw a food vendor selling Cambodian style pancakes.
The pancakes were similar to french crepe. They were sooooo good that after we finished our pancakes, we went back for more.

   

It was our last night in Siem Reap, and we did not want to go back to the hotel yet.  We went up to the balcony of the Red Piano for drinks and picked a spot that was perfect for people watching.
We noticed more "working girls and boy toys" on the streets as the night went on.  Finally the street vendors were closing up.  It was time to go. 

The next morning, we stayed in the hotel for some R & R and a nice breakfast buffet.
At 10 AM Bunlong came to pick us up one last time to drive us to the airport. 

Bunlong took a different route so we could see Angkor Wat on the way to the airport.
We exchanged our email addresses with Bunlong and said our good-byes for good this time.

Cambodia 1.15 & 16 - Part 1: Silk Farm, Phsar Leu Thom Thmey

Bunlong picked us up at 8:00 AM.  We were happy to see Bunlong. We missed him yesterday.

Because of the planning mishap, we used up all three days of our temple pass yesterday.
(I did not realize that Banteay Srey and Kbal Spean were part of the Angkor Park pass.)
So we did not have much planned for today.

We decided to check out the Silk Farm which was about 20 minutes outside of Siem Reap.
A staff member gave us the free tour.  The tour was really educational; highly recommended for families.

After the Silk Farm, we headed back to Siem Reap.  We invited Bunlong to breakfast at Moloppor Cafe. (I read that it had the best cashew milkshakes.)
Moloppor was a Japanese style cafe by the river.  The cashew milkshake was a lot richer and creamier than the one that I had at Khmer Kitchen the first day.

We told Bunlong about the amazing trip we had yesterday.  I asked him if Cambodians followed lunar calendar like Chinese people since we saw so many weddings yesterday which I thought was unusual.
Bunlong told us that one or two days before the new moon were usually very popular for weddings.
We chatted with Bunlong like we were old friends.  He spoke the best English among the guides & drivers we encountered. 

After breakfast, we spotted the roadside vendors selling grilled bananas & bananas with sticky rice wrapped in banana leafs along the river.
It would be my last chance to sample the street food and I must try it.
I loved the grilled bananas and Hans enjoyed the bananas with sticky rice.

Local food markets have been on my "must see" list wherever I travel.
They were always fascinating to see and were always one of the highlights of our trips.  So, it was to Phsar Leu Thom Thmey (New Market) next!

The new market was the main traditional market for the locals.  We wanted to come in the morning to see the hustle and bustle, but Bunlong told us it was too crazy in the morning.  He was right.  When we got there around 11:30 AM, it was still a lot to take in.

The shock value of this market was beyond words.  First of all, the market was very big.
You could find anything and everything in the market:  fresh produce, meats & seafood under the hot sun, herbs & spices, jeweleries, clothing, hair salons, food courts....

Butchers were cutting meats and hanging them on the hooks; fish were being de-boned on the dirty floor.  To preserve without the refrigeration, meat was being marinated or made to sausages and seafood was smoked, salted, or made to some kind of pate.

There were all sorts of unfamiliar strong smells in the air.  The roads were filthy.
Trucks or push carts were honking and fighting their ways through.
A little boy was peeing next to the food stand.

 It was sensory overload after awhile for me.  If you visited Chinatown in Manhattan at a hot summer day and thought it was bad, this was a thousand times worse.
I had to wonder if all the yummy food we had in the restaurants the past few days came from this market.
If they were, then we were very lucky not to get sick. 

After we got out of the New Market, we were ready to go back to the hotel for the afternoon break. 

For the past few days, we always passed by a building where there was constantly a very long line of local families by the roadside.
On the way back, I asked Bunlong what yhr line was for.
He told us it was local families waiting to see doctors at the Angkor Children's Hospital that provided free medical care to local children.   

Cambodia 1.14 - Part 2: Kampong Khleang & Photo Album

I gave it a lot of thought prior to arranging the trip to Kampong Khleang.
It was off the beaten path, and I was somewhat nervous about not knowing what to expect.

If we thought we saw enough of the Cambodian Countryside earlier today, we soon realized that we had not seen anything yet.  It took another hour and half from Beng Mealea to reach Kampong Khleang on a bumpy narrow dirt road.
As we got closer to the village, there were rolls of elevated wooden shacks that were beyond disrepair.  Bicycles, motorcycles, push carts, occasionally 4 wheel vehicles, dogs, cows, roosters, piglets, and children with bare feet or completely naked were roaming in the middle of the road creating a dusty cloud.

We were both a bit shocked by the severity of the poverty.  We had visited poor countries before, but not like this.
There were no posh 5 star hotels or preppy resort towns to shield us away from the brutal reality.
We sat in the back of the car in silence.
I was not sure how I felt, but I was trying to act normal and unaffected as I knew Hans was definitely feeling uncomfortable.

After it seemed like a long time, we reached Kampong Khleang.  We were the only tourists there.  Our driver led us to a dock.
A pre-arranged boat was waiting for us.  Two young boys were our captains.
Along the muddy Siem Reap River to the endless Tonle Sap Lake, we saw the fishing village and river life.
We were astounded by what we saw.
It was breathtakingly beautiful, moving, powerful, and everything else that I was not capable of describing.
I did not feel that we should set foot in there.  I feared that our "civilized presence" would pollute their world.
Many fishing and farming boats passed us by.  Locals looked at us with curiosity.  Children smiled and waived at us.
How could a world so dilapidated be so beautiful?
How could everything so melancholic be so peaceful?

I live in a modern society that sophisticates and masks human conditions and emotions.
Here in Kampong Khleang, everything was stripped down to the bare basics with no pretense. 

I was being confronted by the rawness of it.

I could barely look at it, but I could not turn my eyes away.

As we cruised on the water, another worker's boat packed with mostly young men passed by.  The gave us blank stares.
A scary thought entered my brain: "Nobody knows we were here.  If we were robbed, killed and dumped in the river, no one would ever find out."  I felt uneasy.
Trying to calm my overstimulated imagination, I went to the front of the boat and tried to strike a conversation with our captains.  Unfortunately, the only English they said was "YES", and I could not even find out their names.  I would guess the older one driving the boat was maybe 15 or 16 years old, and the little one was probably just over 10 years old.  They looked out to the water with no facial expressions.  I could not tell if they were shy or indifferent. After about 30 minutes on the boat, we turned around and headed back to the village.  I started to feel more relaxed.

After the boat ride, we told the driver that we would like to walk around the village before we hit the road again.  We saw some young monks meditating in a temple.

While we were taking pictures of the village, a little girl walked towards me holding hands with her younger brother.
The little girl had a pink eye, messy hair, and a dirty dress on.  Her younger brother was completely naked.  They had the most precious smiles that just melted my heart.  The little girl was curious about my camera.  I showed them the pictures I took.  They looked at them with wonder.

I felt unprepared.  I felt the urge to help these people, but I would not know what they needed.  I was also nervous about my footprint in the village.  Somehow, I thought that Kampong Khleang was so enchanting and fragile that it should be left undisturbed. 

Finally, we were ready to leave.  From Kampong Khleang, it was a little less than one hour before we reached Siem Reap.
Our driver stepped on the gas, drove through the roads as he honked the horn.  We were nervous that he would hit a kid or some animals.
When we got back to Siem Reap, we hit the rush hour.  All the vehicles were fighting for their space on the roads.  There were no traffic rules in Siem Reap.  Honking the horn meant: "Get out of my way."  Whoever drove the bigger vehicle won.

Our driver dropped us off near the old market.

Tonight, we went to Khmer Family restaurant on Pub Street.  We had fried shrimp with pepper sauce (loved it!), Coconut chicken with watercress (just okay), Amok fish (safe bet), roast honey duck (the meat was chewy and way too sweet), and coconut milk with some unknown fruit jelly for dessert (yummy).

The massage became the nightly ritual after dinner.  At Madam 1, Hans had another foot massage and I had a Khmer massage.

It was strange how easy it was for us to slip back to the world that we were comfortable and familiar with.
Yet, the haunting images of Kampong Khleang will stay with us forever.
This was one of the most incredible experience I have ever had.