Favorite non-temple activity: The Pchum Benh carnival we stumbled across near the floating village of Chong Kneas. We strolled through the crowds, marveling at the similarities to our childhood hometown summer festivals: a clanky rusty ferris wheel that no American would go near, win-a-stuffed-animal booths manned by unkempt carnies, guys wearing Buffs t-shirts and Berkeley ballcaps, endless food stalls selling... ummm... Okay, so the similarities only went so far.
Favorite food: Someone already stole the hands-down favorite, amok, for this category, so I'll opt for a distant but delicious second, the Khmer Kitchen's "pumpkin piece in oven". I'm not a person who usually appreciates gourd-based dishes, but as this restaurant was touted as the most authentic Khmer food in town and pumpkin is common in their cuisine, we decided to give it a try and were astonished to like it! No, really! Pretty much a good, old-fashioned, midwestern (US, that is) hot dish, it was baked in a metal bowl, with onions and cheese and eggs and God-knows-what-else. We finished every last bite but passed on the pumpkin and potato pudding dessert.
Favorite street food: Snake. Stuffed, coiled, skewered, and roasted over an open flame. As Venitha pointed out, it's probably not that bad - just roasted meat, right? - but you do have to wonder where they're getting all the snakes. And then we crossed the road to walk on the side away from the river.Favorite purchase: My new coffee mug! I don't think Cambodia is particularly known for its pottery, but this mug is a great remembrance of the beautiful and colorful dragonflies we saw everywhere.
Favorite quote: "The sugar cane was all cut off below my waist." Kim Rieng, our excellent guide, was born in early April 1975, just a week before the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh. It's amazing that he's alive, let alone that he's a responsible, friendly, well-educated adult. His tales of his childhood first under the Khmer Rouge and then during the Vietnamese occupation/civil war, were moving, disturbing, and awe-inspiring. The quote above was how he ended his description of the morning after he spent a harrowing night in a sugarcane field while troops battled with machine guns over his prone body.
Favorite "I did not know that" fact: The Khmer empire at its peak was vast, ruling much of present-day Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. Of course, this golden age was about 1000 years ago, but that only makes the grandiose and exquisitely-adorned temples all the more impressive.
jima