PHNOM PENH TO SIEM REAP

Day 13 – 15.10.2016

Today is a pure travel day with a couple of stops along the way. While we were still leaving Phnom Penh, we could see the military processions that were starting all around the most important memorials, for the anniversary of the kings death.

On the bus we made a short stop at the side of the road so that Channa could pick up a bunch of lotus flower stems / plants. Cambodians eat the seeds of the lotus plant as snacks. It is actually quite a funny snack too. The seeds that are empty, make a „pop“ noise when you hit them against any object. So we all sat in the bus hitting ourselves with little tiny seeds to make this „pop“ noise, as if you are using bubble wrap. The seeds that weren’t empty you could peel out of the plant as you can see below, peel the actual seed and then you would just pop them into your mouth and eat them. Their texture is a bit like fresh peas. They taste similar to that, as they taste fresh but do not have that vibrant flavour as peas do. (The flavour is hard to explain – try them yourself! They get sold on their little stems)

Peeling off the shell of the seed.

We headed onwards and had another stop. Here Channa promised us we would try barbequed trantula – and we did! They are marinated and fried and only some of us tried these arachnids.

Here the proof I ate them! – They were actually quite nice. They taste a bit like shrimp and shellfish. As soon as you get over the fact that you are eating a spider and focus on the taste, they are actually tasty. Unlike the silk worms and crickets we tried. Their texture and flavour was rather bitter and so instead we stuck with the tarantula.

Onwards we headed by bus to make our lunch stop at a silk farm called Santuk Silk Farm set up by an American who wanted to help out Cambodia by buying some land, and starting the silk production, spinning and weaving business to provide Cambodians with jobs and education. They showed us the process of the silk production. First you start off with the eggs from the silk moth. These hatch to become little worms (the grey ones on the large tray on the right side.) They are fed with special leaves quite regularly until they become a yellowy colour (on the left side of the photo)

After the have turned yellow, they are place on the sticks on the middle part of this photo. Here they spin their cocoon. After a short time their cocoons are collected (top part of the shelf) ready to be used for spinning.

Some of the silk worms are kept in their cocoons in order for them to turn into moths and produce more eggs for the next generation.

Here a worker who is boiling the cocoons to then capture individual threads of the cocoons to spin them onto two spindles – one for the first thread that is rougher, and the second for the very fine thread that comes later on.

These are the plants required for the food for the worms.

Some of the spindles are dyed to give the thread unique colours. They are then spun onto smaller rolls to be used in the weaving process.

Here a picture of the loom used for the silk scarf production.

I even got to try weaving my own scarf! (Unfortunately I didn’t get the time to finish it :) )

The farm was also our lunch stop, and so we got a buffet with typical Cambodian food. The one dish that stood out to me the most was a sweet and sour pork dish with pineapple and tomatoes! There were also some vegetables, a fish dish, a beef stew and I guess some morning glory too. (Vegetable!)

After lunch we were back on the bus as we still had a while to go to get to Siem Reap. We stopped outside of Siem Reap once more to check out the floating villages. We took out a boat and headed onto the Tonlé Sap lake.

The houses are built on stilts, as when the water level rises, the houses need to be high enough to withstand the flooding.

Our captain manouvered our boat with on string that was spun around the steering wheel – that was it.

Some houseboats where they have their workshops and living areas all in one place.

We stopped at a place where it was very scenic and some of us decided they needed to cool down and jump in the water – fully clothed!

After that the sun had to do its job and dry the swimmers as much as they could!

I instead did a bit of tanning...

Our personal group captain checking out the way from the top of the boat...

We hopped back onto the bus and eventually made it to Siem Reap. It makes such a difference when you don’t just drive the whole day straight but make stops along the way to also get to know some of the countryside or places that tourists woudn’t necessarily go to.

While the others were getting ready for a quick dinner I waited a little since I had booked a table at a wonderful restaurant part oft he 50 best in Asia called Cuisine Wat Damnak. Here you can choose from 2 set menus, and I obviously had to choose out of both ones :) .

I had an amuse bouche made from what seemed boiled or steamed frog, some vegetables and crunchy peanuts. I also had a kaffir and ginger mojito and later on a nice Sauvignon Blanc.

Crispy beef tongue and Combodian green giant eggplant salad, cashew nut and prahok sauce. The taste of the beef tongue was quite prominent!

My favourite dish – Prawn and calamari pancake in „noum pao“ style, home made oyster sauce and Siem Reap sausage. Absolutely delicious, those flavours!

Quail saraman with coconut tree heart, peanuts and deep fried shallots.

Mekong langoustine with fresh rice flake cake, pumpkin fruit and shot, lemon basil and spicy tomalley emulsion. Another of my favourite dishes of the menu.