Our biggest mistake so far...

...is not eating at the street stalls every night. We've been so wimpy! And we've been missing out. Around 4:30 pm everyday a dozen stalls suddenly appear at the end of Pub Street. Girls with menus run out into the street and try to pull people in while one man stands behind each counter stir frying frantically.

The other night we nodded to one of the girls randomly and squeezed ourselves into her little bunch of plastic tables. We took one look at the menu and felt like the dumbest people in Siem Reap. The food is basically identical to the restaurants 10 feet away, but each dish is only $1. If you feel like going wild, you can push it up to $1.25. Lynsey ordered stir fried rice with vegetables and chicken, and Keith had yellow noodles with vegetables and shrimp. Both were $1 and both were delicious. Lynsey also put a big spoonful of mouth-killing homemade chili sauce on her rice. It was awesome.

Now we're entering our last week in Siem Reap and we plan on eating as many street stall dinners as possible. How are our stomachs you might ask? Excellent. Our Khmer-food-only theory holds.

Treading Lightly

I (Keith) recently had the chance to interview a soon-to-be college graduate with a unique career choice ahead of her. For best viewing watch in full screen mode.

Feathers!

Read the post below for more info about feather dusters.

What we didn't expect

Cambodia has surprised us a few times since we arrived. I thought I would share a few of things we didn't anticipate, and maybe pass on a little bit of advice for those who show up after us.

1. 70 degrees is freezing. It became winter last Wednesday. Overnight, the temperature dropped from 93 degrees to the high 60s in the morning. I know I'm from Maine and 70 degrees is supposed to be the balmy height of summer, but I'm seriously chilly. Out with the skirts, in with the jeans and cardigans. At this exact moment, I have the AC set to 79 degrees because anything lower is too cold (sorry to offend the environmentalists, but with the windows open I get eaten by mosquitoes so AC it is). I should add that the Cambodians are suffering much more than us. They walk around bundled up in fleece jackets looking miserable.

2. There is Western food here. DON'T EAT IT. After days and days of rice, stir fry, curry, rice, amok, rice, rice, curry, rice, you start to think, wouldn't a toasted ham and cheese sandwich with french fries taste delicious? And you eat one. And then your stomach hates you for two straight days and all you can fathom eating is plain rice. It makes sense once you've been here for a while. The Khmer ingredients are local and the chefs have been cooking these dishes since they were kids. The Western food is all imported (deli meat is not in the Cambodian diet) and the bread is uniformly bland, sugary baguette. That stuff is packed with chemicals your body isn't used to anymore because you've been eating mostly.... rice. I guess if you only come to Cambodia for three days to see the Angkor temples and survive solely on beer and sandwiches, you won't notice. But we notice. And we are now on a strict Khmer-only diet (except for dessert. Ice cream knows no hemisphere).

3. No plaque, no B.O. See above description of Khmer food. No chemicals, all local meat, vegetables and rice. Flossing and deodorant essentially become obsolete. Interesting side effect.

4. You'll get your food. Eventually. If you stay at a guesthouse in Cambodia, it will probably have a small restaurant. But it's not really a restaurant, it's a tiny kitchen out back where the owner's female relatives are cooking as fast as they can. Foreigners seem to think everything should appear instantly and they can get quite feisty. The other day I saw a girl day grab two coffees off the tray when a server passed and say "these must be mine, I've been waiting too long." Not hers. Coffee requires boiling water. And no one here is going to waste fuel by constantly boiling water just in case someone wants coffee. Her response to this explanation was "well, things should come faster." And you should go back to Germany. Servers here almost never forget things. You might think your pancake was lost in the mix, but it will appear, just 40 minutes after you ordered it.

5. Feather dusters are made of feathers. More specifically, chicken feathers. The first time I saw one, I was shocked. And then I felt really stupid. Of course feather dusters are made of actual feathers. No one made a duster straight out of electric blue synthetic fluff and just happened to name it a feather duster. But still, it makes you reconsider whether you really want your room cleaned.

6. Our lives are easy. Even easier than I could imagine before I arrived here. Last week, we spent the night in a tiny village two hours north of Siem Reap. Imagine camping. Not car camping, but actual camping where you don't have electricity and you have to build a fire to cook anything. You don't have a shower, you don't have a toilet. Add in the fact that you've been working in a rice field all day and you're not sure if someone has caught fish to eat for dinner, and that's Khmer village life. Our guide was Panavuth, a bubbly Khmer woman in her twenties. While we were on a walk, Panavuth asked me what I do in my free time at home. I said I like to read, cook, exercise and spend time with friends. She nodded and said, "easy." Pretty much. Cambodians don't have free time. For the most part, they're subsistence farmers. In Siem Reap, young restaurant servers work 14 hours a day, six or seven days a week. Cambodians are exhausted. American life is, in very basic ways, extraordinarily easy.

For those of you who have trotted all over the globe, this list probably seems obvious. But this trip is my first time in a developing country, and the smallest things seem extraordinary.

For tomorrow: I'm going to find a friendly woman who will let me photograph her feather duster. Stay tuned.

Temples and a birthday

What do you give the man who has everything? Sunrise at one of the greatest religious structures in the world and dinner at a French restaurant. That's all I could come up with. Yesterday morning, the alarm went off at 4 o'clock in the morning. We dragged ourselves out of bed, packed up the camera and some water, and stumbled down the stairs. Luckily, the tuk tuk driver we had hired the night before actually showed up and was waiting for us outside the guesthouse. Fifteen minutes later we were walking in the pitch black over a rough stone causeway toward Angkor Wat.

About halfway down the walkway, we heard a voice next to us. "I'm James Bond, you follow me." Which was funny, since our driver gave the name Johnny Rambo; we had an action hero-filled day. James Bond has been working sunrise at Angkor Wat for 20 years. 20 years ago there weren't many tourists, but today there are hundreds everyday and he's cleaning up. He led us about halfway to the temple and said "you follow my wife, I go find more tourists." Fair enough. His wife led us to the edge of a pond in front of the temple, the very best site for a sunrise photo. She brought us plastic chairs in return for the promise that we eat breakfast at their restaurant (James Bond has a monopoly).

We were literally the first people there, so we had a very rare experience - being the only visitors at Angkor Wat. It was silent and beautiful, and a tiny bit spooky. That lasted for about 5 minutes and then others arrived. But it really was an incredible experience to be alone in that place, one that not many people get to have.

For about 40 minutes we sat in the pitch black on the edge of the pond, straining to see anything (and being a little bit afraid of snakes. I was anyway, maybe not Keith). We could feel people filling in behind us. More chairs scrapped across the dirt and voices started to gather into a hum. The light seemed to change quickly in little bursts, one stage at a time. It was cloudy, so we didn't see any colors, but the silhouette of Angkor Wat was amazing.

Once there was enough light to really see, we realized how many people surrounded us (see photo above). It really was gross looking, but we were part of it, and we tried to mostly concentrate on the temples. Seeing the sunrise at Angkor Wat is incredible, but probably something to do just once. There are other more peaceful, if less dramatic, places in the area.

As soon as the sun was up, it started to.... pour. We ran for James Bond's restaurant, ate breakfast, and then ran for the temple. Everyone else ran for their tuk tuk and went home, so once again we had the place almost to ourselves. A pretty good birthday present, I think. We walked every inch of the temple for about two hours, often completely alone with the carvings and Buddhas. Then back to the guesthouse for a desperately needed nap.

Did the birthday end there? Nope. We woke up, ate some lunch and decided to go to the pool. We found a really nice hotel pool about three blocks from here that only charges $5 to use it as a guest. I really wish I had taken a picture, because it's quite beautiful. The building is two stories of white stucco with a red tiled roof. It surrounds the pool on all sides, creating a private courtyard filled with grass, flowers and palm trees. It's a very peaceful place, and a wonderful way to escape the heat and spend an afternoon. Especially on a birthday.

Then on to Abacus for dinner. If you're ever in Siem Reap, definitely eat here. The prices are astoundingly reasonable for such delicious food, and the service was very nice. We split a goat cheese salad to start. It was a classic French cafe salad - just greens and a few hot toasts with tangy goat cheese. Then Keith had sea scallops on crabmeat, spinach and a shrimp bisque. Everything was layered, with the bisque spread on the plate, then the amazing crab and then the scallops perched on top. Delicious. I had duck breast with pumpkin mashed potatoes, snow peas and sauteed mushrooms. The sauce on the duck was perfect - savory and sweet, with a little bit of star anise and cinnamon. And of course, baguette and wine. Cinnamon ice cream for dessert. Perfect.

So that was the birthday celebration. We're heading out today for more temple viewing, this time by bicycle!

Simple Math

Pick a number, any number. Got it? Great. As for me I choose 90. But instead of a number it's the temperature in Fahrenheit in Siem Reap during the day. Walking around in this temperature equals to taking several showers a day, drinking lots of cold drinks (fruit smoothies to coca-cola), and avoiding the hottest part of the day.

For those actually from Cambodia the current weather can be summed up in a word - cold. Yes, cold. Walking down the street it's common to see locals wearing sweatshirts, gloves, and all sorts of clothing to suggest it is indeed cold here. Now, it's all relative as in just a few short months the temperature will soar well into the hundreds, the humidity will rise accordingly to almost 100%, and there will not be a rain cloud in sight.

As for me I'm grateful for a fan, a comfortable bed to sack out in, and I'm enjoying some of the heat as I know true cold and winter await.

Cooking Khmer Style

Today we took a cooking class at the Temple Club, a restaurant on Pub Street. When we first got here, we had only heard of the drinking scene at Temple, but we ate dinner there one night and now we're regulars. The Khmer dishes are packed with flavor, fresh and inexpensive. Their Western breakfasts are enormous and cost $2. If you ever come to Siem Reap, come here for more than beer.

So yesterday we walked in and asked about the cooking course. They had us sit down and we each chose a first course, a main course and a dessert to cook. Then they asked us what time and day we wanted to come in, and we chose today at 11 am. We had expected to share space with a bunch of foreigners, but it was just us and two chefs, which was awesome.

When we arrived, they gave us bright orange chef's hats and aprons to wear. We looked amazing. Then we started chopping vegetables. Lynsey made fresh spring rolls, fish amok and pumpkin dessert. Keith made fried spring rolls, Cambodian soup and banana dessert. We did a lot of peeling, slicing and mincing. We also made the spice paste for the amok, which is very similar to a curry paste. The spices and herbs were amazing - everything is fresh, no powders. We had never seen fresh turmeric, but it smelled (and eventually tasted) amazing. We also sniffed fresh cinnamon (looks like bark) and two types of ginger root we had never heard of, and can no longer pronounce or spell. All of these things got blended together with some chilies and oil and turned into a pungent, fantastic mess.

The chefs were very good about just giving direction and letting us do the cooking. The main refrain from them was "at little bit more...little bit more" whenever we added anything to the pan. Which is probably why everything tasted so good. After two hours of work, we sat down to an enormous lunch. Everything was delicious, and we can't wait to try again at home.

We're including a recipe below, but be warned that this might be a frustrating experience in an American kitchen. Once we get home, some cooking and testing will have to happen so we can adapt recipes to the ingredients available State-side.

Fish Amok for Two People (or one hungry person)
Put a good amount of oil in a hot pan (don't be skimpy)
Add a big scoop of amok paste (about 1/4 cup, or a big spoon)
Stir fry for awhile (everything will be bubbling/boiling the whole time)
Add one ladle coconut cream (small ladle, about 1/4- 1/3 cup)
Stir fry
Add 1 tsp chicken powder, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp palm sugar, 3 shakes fish sauce
Stir fry for a few minutes
Add fish (it was firm white fish, probably a cup and a half of bite sized chunks)
Stir fry for 5 minutes
Add one ladle water (bigger laddle, maybe 1/2 cup)
Stir fry
Add thinly sliced onion (one small or 1/2 large) and thinly sliced shallt (one)
Stir fry for a few minutes
Add another ladle water (I added three ladles during the whole thing. I'm not sure where the third went in, just add a ladle when it's getting thick from the heat)
Add two eggs and stir around. It will stiffen up quickly.
Stir in a cup of thinly sliced broccoli leaf at the very end.

It took about 20 minutes of stir fry from beginning to end. I thought the fish would be cooked to a second death, but it was perfect.

Serve with steamed white rice.

Amok Spice Paste (amount for 2-3 of the servings above)
4 sticks lemongrass, sliced into very thin rounds
4 dried chilies (big red ones, not sure what kind) soaked in cold water for a few minutes, seeds removed, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced
2 small pieces turmeric root, thinly sliced (about half an inch each) - you can use powdered instead, I'm not sure what the conversion is
2 small pieces murika (a type of ginger) thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped peanuts (roasted, unsalted)
1/2 tablespoon shrimp paste (PUNGENT, don't sniff too closely)
4 tablespoons chili oil
2 tablespoons corn oil
1 ladle of water (about 1/2 cup)

Put everything in a blender. Add more oil if needed. Should be a spreadable consistency.