food, glorious food…

One of the best parts about travelling is eating all the fabulous food you encounter in different places.  My trip to Cambodia was no different.  On our day trip in the countryside around Battambang we visited a number of homes and businesses that produced different staple foodstuffs. 

The lady here was making sticky rice in the bamboo.  The hollow bamboo was filled with sweet sticky rice and cooked in the bamboo over coals.  The rice turned out delicious and chewy.

This picture is from the fish sauce factory.  It does not truly convey the delicate aroma of slowly fermenting fish in the midday sun.  To make the fish sauce, the ladies would gather a few handfuls of the small local fish together, get a cleaver in each hand and chop the fish into a paste.  This paste would then be put in large buckets to fully ferment and get that lovely fish sauce flavour.

This is the house where they made rice noodles.  They kept the threads of dough soft in buckets of water while they were making them all and used the husks of rice to fuel the fire.  The fire heated water to boiling point so that the fully formed noodles could be set before being parcelled up and sold fresh to other local businesses.

And this is the house where they made rice paper for spring rolls.  The rice was ground down and mixed with water to form a paste.  The paste was used to make the rice paper on the container you can see the lady using.  It was applied to the very fine mesh on top of boiling water (sort of like a steamer) to set the paper.  When this was done the paper was laid out on the mats you can see in the front of the picture in order to dry out.

Ghost town – Mt Bokor

During my trip to Cambodia in 2007 I travelled high up one particular mountain to the former French hill station of Mt Bokor.  Located in the south, Mt Bokor was a summer resort for the French thanks to its cool weather and stunning views.  Not much is left now in what has been designated a national park (or similar) but there is accommodation, just not in the old hotel. 

 The buildings left behind when the French departed are ghosts of their former selves.  Impressive in size and design but with flaking paint and plaster, windowless facades hint at the dark, unlit, unfurnished interiors.  It was a fascinating place to visit.  The old hotel was possibly the eeriest structure.  It was huge.  The facade hinted at its former grandeur, but the inside was gutted, dark and empty.  The one hitch to visiting Mt Bokor?  The lengthy and somewhat uncomfortable trip up the mountain.  The road has not been maintained in many places leading to ute sized potholes and a very bumpy ride.  Our trip in the back of a pick up took many, many hours (pretty much all day) and at least one person ended up with fist sized bruises from the bumps.  The views however, were totally worth it.

Did I mention the ever present mist? - adds to the eerieness...

 It was certainly impressive up close and we got to have a really good look inside – provided you remembered your torch.

Close up of entrance - note the lovely orange fungus

 The orange fungus was on quite a lot of the buildings.  The near perpetual misty air probably helps it along.

old Catholic Church wreathed in mist

 It was nice and creepy inside the Church too.  All the fixtures were intact, it was just all left to rot.

view to the coast - yes it was a long way down off the edge

So, as mentioned, it’s a long uncomfortable journey (and some on my trip disliked it) but if you’re in the neighbourhood - I highly recommend it.

Faces and leaves carved in stone

Lacking any baked deliciousness to post about I though I’d put up some more pictures from my 07 trip to Cambodia.  A friend just got back from Thailand and looking at her pictures made me think of travels in neighbouring countries.  Most of these pictures are from the Ta Prohm and the Bayon. 

so serene

facing all directions

ancient tree

stone tree

Not sure where the tree was photographed but I do like the carving.  Trees have an important place in religion and mythology and I like seeing the representations of them that turn up about the place.

I’m a bit vague on placing the pictures because I have to rearrange the pictures on my hard drive. After loading them on this computer all the pics are out of sequence and I’m going to have to get the memory card out to put them in the right order.

And now for something completely different (or not)

I’m still needing to stock up on photos of my current environs.  I’ve got more of Mt Tamborine but I’ll save that for another week.  So, in order to invoke a total “I wish I was somewhere else!” response, here are some pics from my trip to Cambodia a bit under 18 months ago.

This was a lovely temple outside Battambang, not in any guidebooks I’d read.  We travelled there on motorbikes with local drivers down dusty country roads.  By the end of the day everyone was covered in the fine red dirt which swirled up from the unsealed road surface which our Cambodian drivers referred to as Cambodian “snow”.  I don’t think this picture does justice to the beautiful colours of the plants and stones, but at least I’ve got my memories (for now at least).

On the same day when we were travelling back into Battambang we came across a wedding party. The lurid pink tents they’re held in are visible from quite a distance, so we hopped off the bikes to take some pictures.  The bridesmaids were all standing in row, done up to the nines, waiting on the bride to arrive.  They were very happy to pose for photos while in their finery.

Yes, I walked up a very large set of stairs to reach the temple on the top of that mountain.  It hurt, but it was worth it.  It was also very hot and after I descended the mountain looking lovely, dripping in sweat it caused my driver to ask if I’d found a swimming pool – tres hilarious…