Temple Hopping (special edition with bigger pictures!)

I have found much to love about Cambodia, but I have to admit that Angkor was the main reason why I chose to visit this country in the first place. The idea of roaming through huge ancient temples was immensely appealing, and I had really been looking forward to this part of the tour.

Watching the sun rise over the Angkor Wat spires is supposed to be magical, and so our group trudged over to the temple grounds at 4:30 in the morning to catch the view. Unfortunately, the dramatic scene was spoiled by cloudy weather, but nevertheless, watching the darkness slowly give way to the beautiful and impressive silhouette was something I'm glad I didn't miss.

Once it got brighter outside, we were able to roam around the vast interior. There was something to see on every wall, every ceiling, every doorway... the huge amount of workmanship was amazing to see in person.

The Angkor region however, is much larger than just the enormous Angkor Wat. About 70 different temples are located within Angkor, and we had the opportunity to visit a few more. The first was called Angkor Ta Prohm Temple, or as the guide put it, "one of the locations from the Tomb Raider movie!". I loved this temple because nature decided to insinuate herself into the very structure of the building; large tree roots wound around the ruins until restorers couldn't remove the trees without damaging building structure as well. The effect was beautiful and impressive.

An admittedly awful picture of me (hey, I got up at
4am!), but shows how huge these tree roots are.

The other temple I visited was Angkor Bayon Temple, known for its large collection of smiling faces on the temple facade. This temple was maze-like and easy to get lost in. I climbed up fallen stones to reach different rooms and corridors. Frankly, this reminded me a lot of a video game, and I felt the wild urge to leap mad distances across platforms. I kind of wish I had the chance to explore this temple without a group/guide and time restrictions; there was so much to see and I really felt like I had entered another world and another time.

Some of the younger members of the group stayed to watch the sunset as well, but alas, I am an old fogey and returned to the hotel for a much needed rest and shower. It was an amazing visit to Angkor (how many superlatives could I fit into one post?? Everything has been amazing or wonderful or impressive!), and I can't help but feel incredibly lucky.

Food in Cambodia

Mmm. Cambodian food. It kind of makes sense, but since Cambodia is situated in between several other Asian countries, their cuisine reflects a multitude and mix of flavors borrowed from these neighbors. It has been a lot of fun to try a few local dishes, which ended up tasting like a friendly cousin to many dishes I've had before.

Like Vietnam, Cambodians often have noodles for breakfast. The default is an egg noodle as opposed to a rice noodle though, and the broth is slightly fishy and garlicky tasting. This version was from a hotel breakfast. The noodles were suitably springy, although I think I prefer rice noodles. It came with chicken, which was disappointingly catered to Westerners... boneless white meat. Blah.

The most famous of Cambodian dishes is probably Amok. This can be cooked with chicken, beef, fish, or any other type of protein. Traditionally, this is a coconut-based stew that is served in a banana leaf. Each establishment cooks it a little differently though, so I'm sure there are thousands of slight variations. At our hotel in Sihanoukville, it was flavored with some kaffir lime leaves as well, and was not spicy at all. I decided to try the fish version, which was perfectly cooked and tender, and soaked up all the delicious coconut-y flavors.

In Phnom Penh, we had lunch at a local shopping mall. One entire floor was dedicated as food court space, and I walked around like a kid in a candy store, trying to decide what to get. It seemed like most noodles were served with broth (as opposed to stir-fried noodles), and deep-fried items (fish balls, shrimp, beef balls) were popular.

I finally decided to try a rice dish (noodle soups are yummy but so hot!). Marinated pork and an egg is cut up and served on top of rice. I thought it tasted a lot like Taiwanese food, with the sweet/salty soy-based marinade. It also reminded me a tiny bit of char-siu (Chinese roast pork). Either way, it was delicious and I gobbled the whole thing in about 10 minutes.

Then last night, we had a dinner that was specially arranged by G Adventures. Here's the description from our itinerary:

During your stay, you will enjoy a local Khmer dinner with your group, at a nearby village. Supported by G Adventures, this particular meal is kindly prepared and served by our local partners – Philar and New Hope for Cambodian Children. Philar has set up school teaching English to Cambodian children while New Hope for Cambodian Children - NHCC is the local charity organization that provides a comprehensive healthcare and education for vulnerable children and their families. The meal here has been voted the best meal in Cambodia by most of our passengers...and even better, the money for your meal is going directly back to supporting these local grass roots projects.

At dinnertime, we took a 20 minute tuk-tuk ride out to a quiet residential neighborhood. The village had a very different feel compared to where we were staying; much poorer, with many houses that had tin roofs. However, we were greeted warmly by our hosts, and we soon settled down in a comfortable area.

Plates and endless plates of food began to come out of the tiny kitchen. The itinerary was not kidding; this was truly the best meal I've had in Cambodia so far. There were noodles with pork, little packets of chicken amok, big bowls of vegetable curry, stir-fried chicken with ginger, a spicy-sour soup, and fresh salad greens from the garden. Plates were replenished as soon as they were emptied, and we were all subject to food coma before this meal was over. Best of all, this tasted like a truly home-cooked meal. Here's a (badly lit) picture of one of the many plates I put together to eat.

I wasn't sure what to expect about Cambodian food before my visit. I am glad to say that I have been pleasantly surprised at the freshness and gentle use of spices in this cuisine. I will definitely be looking to see if there are any Cambodian restaurants in New York!

Angkor Wat in the early morning

I'll post in more detail later, but just wanted to share one picture right now. We woke up this morning at 4am to head over to the Angkor Wat temple to see the sunrise. It was a beautiful sight even though the day was cloudy, as the darkness slowly gave way to shadows... until you could see the magnificent spires reaching into the sky.

Super tired from the early morning wake-up, but no rest for the weary! We're headed in a half hour to roam around more temples and ruins!