Lonely Planet's Top 5 WE DARE YOU!

I did it! Lonely Planet's Cambodia guidebook has a list of five foods they dare visitors to try. They are deep-fried cricket,

deep-fried spider,

the fruit durian,

duck embryo,

and finally, the fermented fish sauce prahok.

Deep-fried cricket, durian, and duck embryo have been available throughout Southeast Asia. Crickets are rare but because Laura and I enjoy visiting the markets of each location, we've seen them in each country. They typically accompany many other deep-fried creepy crawlies.

Locals eat them as a snack, sort of like picking up a pack of sunflower seeds for us. Imagine baseball players up to bat with a cricket leg hanging from their mouth!

Durian is the easiest to find at most fruit stands.

It is a larget fruit that, once opened, emanates a tremendously horrible smell. It's like opening a package of strong limberger cheese. Many hotels and restaurants don't allow durian inside due to the strong scent and possibility that the scent will be difficult to remove. Interestingly, there isn't a single local person I have asked that does not like durian. They all say that the first trial is horrible, but afterwards, you will fall in love with it. The other very common "we dare you" food is duck embryo. This is the one I've seen locals eat the most. We initially had a difficult time identifying the duck embryo egg. It is typically kept in a steaming kettle until the moment of purchase. Attempting to purchase the embryo, I ended up puchasing a few hard-boiled duck eggs. Eventually, a Lao local taught me how to say "kai lu", duck embryo. Locals always did a double-take when I asked for kai lu knowing that farang typically don't want it (and often mistake it for hard-boiled egg). Interestingly, kai lu comes in numerous development states and thus the egg oftentimes comes labeled with one, two, or three. The higher the number, the more developed the embryo is. In many locations, there were stands that specialized in only kai lu and drinks. So, it seemed that locals treat it as a snack to go out for, like ice cream for us.

As a replacement to Thailand and Laos's fish sauce, the Cambodians make a fermented fish sauce called prahok. It is used for cooking. We've had the unfortunate opportunity to encounter prahok in the markets, where minnow-sized fish soak in a sauce filling a five gallon bucket. This is one of the worst stenches known to man. Prahok is used in many meals, but to get its strongest flavor, fish paste is the best option. Fish paste was a fried rice patty with ground vegetables, herbs, and prahok.

Finally, there is only one place for the deep-fried spider. We made a special trip to Skuon where we found them being served up in mounds.

Nobody knows how this tradition got started; it's suspected that during the starving years of the Khmer Rouge, people began resorting to spiders. Now, it's possible to go on a tour where one can watch the process of spider-finding, spider-catching, spider-frying, and spider-tasting. The poisonous spiders live in the ground and once captured, their teeth are removed so their poisons cannot be given to a person. They are taken live to the fryer to make the local delicacy.

Upon looking at the list initially, I thought the order from most difficult to easiest would be: duck embryo, spider, prahok, cricket, durian. It turns out, for me, taste and smell matter most. I can close my eyes and eat anything, but if it tastes or smalls bad, that's no fun. The first and easiest of the list was the cricket. At Chiang Mai's Sunday night market, I purchased a small bag of five or six. After eating the first, I finished the rest!

They tasted like the oil they had been fried in, something like a potato skin.

Second easiest was the deep-fried spider. Its hairy legs and beady eyes were difficult to look at but it tasted the same as the deep-fried cricket. I gobbled it whole giving me a mouthful where as next time, I think I'll break the legs off first.

In the middle is the duck embryo. I actually purchased this twice to try two different development levels. I tried the first in Pakse, Laos at the day market. It was an egg yoke surrounded by blood vessels and tasted quite good. The second was at the Mekong riverside in Kratie, Cambodia. When I asked for it, the vendor continually flapped her hands and said "Tweet, tweet, tweet!" to warn me. Her 10-year old daughter helped show me how they eat it and enjoyed my reactions. The Kratie embryo was more developed with the semblance of feathers and a beak.

On the difficult side was prahok. I don't enjoy strong fish taste and prahok has that. In Kompong Cham, Cambodia, I found a menu that contained prahok as an item. I saw it as my opportunity to check an item off. The waitress arrived and I ordered it. She said "No, no, no, can't eat, very smelly." I gave her a confused look and she responded "Order something else." I followed her orders, then approached the English-speaking restaurant manager. He explained that prahok was a cooking sauce and isn't ordered to eat. I'm still not sure why it's on the menu. On arrival to Siem Reap, we hadn't eaten all day due to a long busride. At the restaurant, I asked if they had anything with prahok. They did, and it was fish paste. Despite my hunger, this was extremely difficult to get down. Thank god for that year and a half living with Mediterranean food. The last bite felt like I had crossed the finish line of the Tour de France.

In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I tried durian. The fruit stand had more than fifty to choose from and once purchased, the vendor chops it open and removes the fruit.

The smell is immediate. The scent is like smelly feet with a hint of tanginess. It's impossible to describe. It thought it smelled bad enough that I needed to eat it immediately or throw it away. The initial taste was horrible but the soft meat of the fruit was tangy and tasty. This was the only of the five that Laura tried and we determined the skin of the fruit was what had the bad scent and taste. Once removed, the meaty inside was tasty. We each ate one piece of the fruit and that was enough.

Unfortunately, the fruit gave me gas and I burped up that nasty durian taste most of the evening. With the fruit options at the equator, I won't be spending any more time with durian!

Now, a break from the travel blog to discuss the good-hearted tuk-tuk driver. After my Beng Mealea post degrading tuk-tuk drivers, Laura reprimanded me for not talking about Thai. I told you these guys are masters of manipulating emotions; now, my wife is demanding blog space to write positively about a tuk-tuk driver. Upon finishing our Angkor temple tour, we visited the market in Siem Reap. As we left the market, a tuk-tuk driver approached us.

"Tuk-tuk... Tuk-tuk..."

"No."

"I'll take you anywhere for 99 cents."

Since drivers rarely speak English well, it was odd to hear a nearly perfect American accent from this tuk-tuk driver. I replied, "OK. How about Beng Mealea?"

"Let's talk."

Eventually, the deal was sealed and Thai the tuk-tuk driver would be our driver for the visit to Beng Mealea. Due to the length of the ride, we learned a lot about him. He learned English from an American missionary. He was 15 years old when the Khmer Rouge took over the country. During their four year reign, he worked in fields with just one rice porridge meal per day; he starved. He lost his mother and five siblings in those four years. Only his father and one sibling survived. When their reign ended, he stepped on a land mine. It took him six months to walk, but he was lucky that his foot was not amputated. The only scar that remains is a piece of his heel that is missing. To support his family (his father, wife, and two children), he payed off a hotel employer to get a $60 per month job in hospitality. That's how bad corruption is in Cambodia; few care about your skills, just the money you can offer for a job. Thai speaks fluent English, a very rare quality in Cambodia, yet he can't get a job in tourist-rich Siem Reap without paying people off. From his hotel job, he purchased a tuk-tuk and now drives tourists for six months out of the year. His day-to-day life depends on encountering tourists who want to travel locally; his English puts him ahead of the tuk-tuk crowd. After helping his family, he says he can save $300 per year and hopes to save up to $1700. This amount would allow him to purchase an Apsara training course to become a guide of the Angkor monuments. This is a good job in the region as it's year-round, includes tourist tips, and has regular hours. It is amazing to think of the differences between Thai's situation and the first world. His skills aren't important to employers, so his intelligence and fluent English can't land him a job. Bribes are taken by everyone, the police, government officials, employers, and they are the only way to get things done. How can a society grow with such corruption? How can it succeed without promoting its best and brightest? Those benefiting from this society certainly aren't looking to change it and they are the ones in position to do so. Sometimes, we don't realize how lucky we are.

If you are going to Siem Reap and need a good, English-speaking tuk-tuk driver, give Thai a call at (855)0121710052 or e-mail thaicoolrides@yahoo.com. Now, Laura can't say I'm completely degrading to tuk-tuk drivers!

Northeastern Cambodia

The day before leaving on our trip to Southeast Asia, I was asked what place I was looking forward to the most. My answer was the Ratanakiri province of northeastern Cambodia. The province is home to numerous natural beauties including the relatively unexplored Virachey National Park. Treks into the park are on the order of 5 to 6 days costing more than $300 per person, enough to keep us away. We decided to base ourselves in the dusty provincial capital of Ban Lung. The 100+ kilometer ride from Stung Treng to Ban Lung was almost entirely over loose, red dirt. Every plant, tree, and home along the roadway was dusted red. We arrived in Ban Lung expecting a reprieve from the red cloud only to find that the main thoroughfare through town was covered in red dust.

We checked into our guesthouse with a fake tan and soon realized that the room's red-tinted tile floor had seen others similar to us.

Just five kilometers from the city center is Boeng Yeak Laom, a crater lake.

Lonely Planet says the lake resides in the caldera of a volcano while some locals believe a meteor caused the hole. Regardless, the lake is deep and the dropoff from the edge is immediate; it is definitely a deep crater. We enjoyed an entire day at the lake, rubbing red dust off our bodies, watching families picnic, and diving off the lakeside decks with farang and locals. In one area of the lake, a tree had settled its fall such that the main trunk ran along the suface of the water. It made for an excellent diving board!

The lake water was amazingly transparent with visibility around five meters, so it was easy to chase the minnows around. Still didn't catch any of the slippery buggers though.

The following day, we visited two waterfalls, Chaa Ong and Ka Tieng. Chaa Ong has a dirt ledge where one can walk behind the falling water.

I also ventured into the falls for a power shower that removed all the red dust.

Unfortunately, it all re-collected on my body along the moto ride to Ka Tieng.

Ka Tieng was the most fun. The frigid pool was refreshing in the blistering heat and across the pool, vines dangled down from above. It was perfect for some tarzan action, sound effects included.

A return to Ban Lung meant Laura wanted to visit one of the many gem stone vendors around town. We finally found one who spoke decent english to describe the stones to us. The province is known for gem mining, specifically amethyst, zircon, and onyx. At the shop, a man was cutting and polishing one stone in the background as we admired the stones of the region. Needing no inspirational words from me, Laura brokered herself a deal for a Ratanakiri amethyst. The excuse for expenditure was "a birthday gift". I knew there was something funny about that gem stone vendor request while I was playing Tarzan. Now, I just hope it's an amethyst!

After our adventures around Ban Lung, we hopped onto a passenger bus to Kratie, Cambodia. Kratie is close to another deep water swimming hole where the Irrawaddy dolphins hang out during dry season. Rumors were that dolphin sightings were much closer than the 4,000 islands experience, so we decided to give it another try. Upon arrival to Kratie, we were ecstatic to see paved roads once again. Our elation was dulled when our packs were pulled from the bus's cargo caked in Ratanakiri province soil. Looks like we will be traveling with Ratanakiri souvenirs throughout Cambodia.

Kratie had a beautiful Mekong riverfront. The town center held the local market where fruits, vegetables, meats, and clothing were sold.

I rode a bike up to Kampi, where the Mekong Dolphin Conservation Project takes tourists to the dolphin pool. The rumors held true, and we got some great up-close views of the endangered species. The views were few and fleeting, so we gave up on the camera shots and enjoyed the experience.

From Kratie, we moved on to Kompong Cham. The city has another wonderful Mekong riverfront with a huge bridge crossing the river.

We were visiting the city for two reasons, a bamboo bridge and spiders. The bamboo bridge links the city with the rural island Koh Paen.

The bridge is flooded by the Mekong during the rainy season so the toothpicks are replaced each year by locals. The roughly half kilometer bridge was easily handling pedestrians, bicycles, and motos, displaying the amazing versatility of bamboo. We rented a moto to get to Skuon, home of the deep-fried spider. Noone is quite sure how the tradition began, but Skuon locals hunt large, poisonous spiders in the forest. They remove the venomous teeth and then send them to the fryer. I plopped down 1,000 riel (25 cents) for the local delicacy and dug in!

It was hard to get down and tasted mostly like the oils it had been fried in.

Our return from spiderville brought us to the temples of Phnom Pros and Phnom Srei.

Here, I got to enjoy a Coca-cola with one of the many temple residents.

We travel to Siem Reap next, the gateway to the Angkor temples.

Now, a break from the travel blog to discuss my special evening in Kompong Cham. After spiderville, Laura was wrestling with a dose of diarhea (maybe she should have eaten a spider also). She returned to the guesthouse while I ventured off to a rebuilt French tower to photograph the bridge at sunset. At the top of the tower, I encountered a young Khmer couple and greeted them with "Sua s'dei" (hello). I received a silent response and began to think I was interrupting an intimate moment. I photographed the sunset for a few minutes and prevented any French kissing that may have been planned. The couple continued to glance at me as they spoke Khmer to each other. I thought to myself I should leave them to enjoy the sunset together but just then, the young lady approached me, and in impeccable English, she asked my name. Surprised, I replied and reciprocated the question. I enjoyed the sunset with Dani and her schoolmate as we discussed Cambodian tourist sites, the U.S., and school. Dani was in her last year of high school and her father wanted to send her to a U.S. university. She was excited about the prospect of visiting foreign soil and testing her intelligence at a U.S. university. We parted ways after crossing the bridge to Kompong Cham together and I couldn't have been more excited that they had approached me to practice English and discuss their home and mine.

Luckily, my fun didn't end there. As I was returning to the hotel along the riverfront, Khmers were strolling away the rest of their day. One young man made eye contact with me as he was munching away on something in a banana leaf. He jumped to attention, grabbed another completely packaged wrap, and waved me over exuberantly. What did he want me to buy, I thought. He asked me to eat his sticky rice with banana wrap and join him for a riverfront conversation. Having been unable to identify the Khmer sticky rice with banana wrap, I couldn't pass up the opportunity for the delicacy and Khmer company. He was a 21 year old sophomore studying agricultural economics at a Kompong Cham university. He originally was from a small village but had moved to the city to get educated and make a better life. We discussed his studies and the governmental corruption issues that plague Cambodia. He had an intense hatred for the corruption; hopefully, that feeling spreads to more Cambodian youths so non-violent change with be on the horizon.

I thanked the college student for his hospitality and attempted once again to check on Laura at the hotel. This time, a plump man waved me over as he munched on a strange nut. Being unable to resist invitation, I joined him for a nut snack. He wanted to know the English name for the nuts he was eating which I, unfortunately, could not tell him. We munched on the nuts, unable to communicate except for hand motions and smiles, while fishermen returned home on the river.

It is experiences like these that make traveling so enjoyable. The random invitations and hospitality of people around the world is amazing. Laura and I have recognized that traveling alone produces more of these encounters. A person is more approachable and less intimidating than a couple. People feel they aren't interrupting anything. I had many of these encounters during my solo jogs in Tengeru, Tanzania; everyone wanted to greet the mzungu runner. Food is also a major link between people. Regardless of race, religion, or language, people can come together to feast and enjoy the tastes of a foreign land. Think of how much enjoyment a Vermonter gets when they first introduce somebody to real maple syrup; this is probably how the sticky rice and banana experience was to the college student. In Skuon, as I ate the spider, a crown of locals gathered around me to watch my reactions. They've probably seen it a hundred times but they still enjoy it as much as the first time. I hope to encounter more Khmer curiousity as our travels continue, and I'll continue to approach them in hopes of having more Kompong Cham evenings.