From farm to table...

For our stay in Cambodia, we chose to stay at the Park Hyatt downtown Siem Reap within walking distance to all the shops. Chef  Pisith was wonderful. He prepared all my celiac sons meals personally. And then he guided us on a farm to table foodie tour. Chef Pisith began the tour at the local markets. Below are the local farmers selling their produce and seafood. Their selling needs to be wrapped up by noon. These poor ladies sit crouched for hours selling their wares. Makes my back hurt just thinking about it. 

The hubs is obsessed with the different types of fish in each country. He's always quizzing the vendors about the names of fish and where they came from. In English! 

These are separate vendors who I assume probably lease the space in the market.

After touring the markets, we drove out to a remote village. This is one of the last area villages that still make homemade rice noodles without electricity. Stella took her turn milling the rice into rice milk. 

After the rice is milled into milk and mush, the mush is wrapped in cheesecloth and ferments for several days. The lady above then places the fermented mush on a metal plate. (How does the dowel strike the plate? There are three people on the other end operating like a see saw.) The large wooden dowel pounds it into a dough. And yes, she kept moving the dough around while the dowel was striking. I could barely watch - for fear she'd lose a finger (or two. or a hand.). The dough is then placed into a metal tube with a sieve on the bottom and the dough gets pushed through the tube into boiling water. And whoa la- rice noodles!

This is the restaurant that purchases the rice noodles and sells the noodle dish, nam banchock. 

And finally, nam ban chok  prahal - a khmer noodle fish curry with long beans, cucumber, green papaya, yellow pear flower and water lilly stems. We could not indulge in the village final dish, but instead Chef Pisith made the same curry with safer sourced ingredients for us. It was delicious. I have been trying to find the recipe, but having trouble sourcing Cambodian recipes. Anyone have any leads?


xox,
Christine

angkor thom

Our guide drove us to Angkor Thom right after Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom was one of the largest Khmer cities as well as the last capital of the Khmer empire. After the Khmer empire was defeated the capital was moved further south. The south entrance bridge is lined with gods on the left and men on the right. The theory behind constructing both men and gods was that having both would link men to the godly world inside. 

Can you see the faces? One facing in each direction.They are carved to resemble the first King to reside here, Jayavarman VII. 

Almost every temple at Angkor Thom has a buddha carved in the stone. There are several spots you can stand and photograph so it appears you are scratching a buddha's chin or kissing one. 

Depending on your level of interest you could spend several hours inside Angkor Thom. Our tour guide told us Angkor Thom was originally bigger than Angkor Wat. But they built it in a hurry and with probably inferior sandstone so much less remains. As you can see there's a lot of deterioration near this entrance.

After several hours at both temples the children had had enough. So we headed back to the hotel and relaxed in the pool. Tomorrow our Siem Reap foodie tour...

xox,
Christine

angkor wat

Our last summer hurrah was Siem Reap. It was our first time to Cambodia and she did not disappoint. The main attraction is Angkor Wat and we quickly arranged a driver and tour guide via the hotel and headed out on our first full day. We did not arrive early enough for the ubiquitous sunrise photo, but it was amazing just the same. 

Angkor Wat is an UNESCO World Heritage site and built in the early twelfth century. During that time it was the capital of the Kmer Kingdom. Angkor Wat was built to symbolize the Hindu world. The moat represents the oceans. The towers symbolize the mountain peaks and the surrounding galleries depict the mountain ranges surrounding Mount Meru.  

One of the Angkor Wat entrances-- when arriving on elephants. 

Most of the Buddhas are headless due to war and pillaging. Many bas-reliefs have been pried off. Luckily, these five apsaras have weathered the test of time.

The view from the temple to one of the surrounding libraries. 

Smiling among the sandstone balusters. 

One of several courtyard basins used for religious bathing. 

There are many stories carved on the inside walls of Angkor Wat. The east gallery carving is the most famous. It depicts the story of milk churning. The story goes that the gods and apsaras rotated Mount Mandara with a serpent to churn the sea into the water of immortality. 

Looking out at Angkor Wat from one of the surrounding libraries. 

There's a reason Angkor Wat is so highly rated as a 'must see.' It is just amazing to think this massive city was built so long ago using thousands of elephants to transport the stones. It's so hard to believe even while walking amongst the halls. Tomorrow Angkor Thom...

xox, 

Christine