Cambodia Part II

Day 3

Today we decided to do a Cambodian cooking class.  I looked up many options online and read about a few in a couple different books.  In the end we chose Le Tigre Cooking School (Le Tigre is also a restaurant we went to the other night).  I read that 75% of the profits go to a charity, so we all decided it would be a good choice.  We definitely made the right one!  It started at the restaurant.  We were given a menu and each person got to choose a starter and a main course.  We would also be making a dessert for everyone.  The total, per person for this was only $12!!!  Travis, Greg, Alysha, and I went and there were also two other British girls in our group.  After making our selections, we went to the local market.  This was really interesting.  We had never seen such a big market.  They had tons of fruits and vegetables, most we had seen before, but some new to us.  They also had meat and seafood for sale.  The most interesting (and gross) thing I saw there was the pig’s head, the whole head.  See the picture!  It was really informational to hear the woman talk about the different veggies and spices.  We learned quite a bit from this part.

Some veggies at the market.

You won't see this at your local Kroger!!!

We then made our way back to the restaurant and up two flights of narrow stairs.  On the third floor they had a little kitchen set up for our use.  We each made our own individual meals under the supervision of the chef.  She told us what to cut up, how to cut it, and then helped us cook everything.  Travis made a delicious pumpkin soup and a seafood curry.  Greg made a papaya salad and a chicken curry.  Alysha made chicken spring rolls and chicken amok.  I made the same, but my spring rolls were shrimp. 

It was so much fun making it all and learning the secrets of Cambodian cooking.  I was so proud of the beautiful work we did!  Not to mention how delicious it all was!!!  It took about three hours to do everything.  They even taught us how to make some fancy decorations for our plates.  You can see them in the pictures.  Travis and Alysha cut a piece of a carrot to look like a flower.  Greg peeled the outside of a tomato with a knife to make a rose, and I made a lotus flower out of a tomato.  When we finished, we went downstairs to indulge!  It was so good!!!  We also got to eat the sticky rice (white rice with lots of sugar) with yellow mango for dessert.  That was also amazing!  I am so happy we did it!  I wish you could taste how amazing it all was, but you can at least see how pretty it was from our pictures!

Here I am frying my shrimp for the fresh spring rolls.

Travis is preparing his pumpkin soup.

All four of the chefs!

 Travis with his food!

Me and my food!

Day 4

Today began with a 5 am wake up call, and I wasn’t even grumpy!!!  This morning we headed back to Angkor Wat.  Our mission today was simply to watch the sunrise behind it and then check out just this one temple.  It was a bit cloudy, so we missed out on great sunrise pictures, but I was happy with what we got.  We also got some amazing pictures with a reflection in the water below the temple.  Check out our picture!  The inside of the temple was as amazing as the outside.  It is unbelievable to imagine them being built so long ago without the modern machinery we have today.  Most of the temples were built between 800 AD and 1200 AD.  Angkor used to be the capital and was home to many Cambodians.

After the sunrise, we came back to the hotel for breakfast, to relax a little, and swim in the pool.  The clouds went away quickly and the sun was very hot.  We needed the refreshing pool to cool us off a bit!  We then headed into town for lunch and some shopping at the markets.  We got some great stuff.

If you remember from Day 1, it rained a lot.  Well, apparently it has been raining a lot this year, more than usual and it is causing many floods.  One of the main streets in town has been flooded and it continues to rise.  Look at the picture below.  It is just crazy!  The river is behind this street and I guess the water from the river is flowing out onto the road.  It is supposed to rain again tomorrow, so I can only imagine what it will look like then.  The flooding is happening all over the country too.

While in town we also brought food to give to the locals.  I don’t think I have talked about how poor many people are in the country.  There are many beggars in town, looking for food, not money.  Every time we go into town we feel bad that we have nothing to give them.  Today we did.  We have had fresh fruit in our room from the hotel everyday.  So we brought it with us and decided to give it to anyone needing food.  At lunch it all went well.  I gave an apple and some bananas to a mother with two children.  They seemed grateful and continued on.  However, at night Alysha and I both had more food and when we began to give it to some of the locals, they got greedy and aggressive.  They were fighting with each other over the pieces and were impatiently waiting to see what was in our bags, almost reaching in Alysha’s bag.  We gave them all of it and quickly moved on.  This time, one little girl continued to follow and beg from us though.  It was very sad.  Just a little reminder of how lucky we all are to have everything we do.  Take a quick minute to be thankful!!!  I can easily see why Angelina Jolie wanted to adopt children from this poor country.

At night we also went to the Blue Pumpkin for dinner with another SCIS family.  It was really nice and yummy food!  The sandwiches and salads seemed to be everyone’s favorites.  We finished the night with another ice cream and pancake before heading home.  It was a long day today, but lots of fun!  

This is the man making the pancakes.  They are not like breakfast pancakes, they are delicious dessert pancakes filled with banana and chocolate!