Cambodian delicacies
Cambodia has been through 20 years of civil war, the Khmer Rouge brutally killed an estimated 2-3 million people, or 20% of the population. Vast areas are still covered with landmines and it officially ranks as the 157th most corrupt country on earth. And yet the Khmers, as Cambodians are known, are friendly, speak relatively good English and are optimistic about the future.
We have found on our travels that most towns can be spelled at least three different ways and road signs can be unreliable, so we do rely heavily on our GPS. There are well know examples of where this can go horribly wrong, and as we approached the kilometer-wide Mekong River for the first time, with no bridge in sight, we thought we would be in for a long detour. As it turns out, the GPS knew there was a tiny ferry (did it really?), which took us over the river and on to Kratie, in the heart of the Mekong province.
no fancy jetty here to get on to the ferry
Hot and sultry (thank god the air conditioning was fixed), there was a slower pace of life here. We swam in the surprisingly clean water and managed to see the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin – motorized transport on the river has been banned in some sections to help protect these dolphins, quite amazing.
aren’t they cute?!
After that, it was on to Phnom Penh, the capital. But not before we made a stop to try a local delicacy: deep fried tarantula. The legs were tasty, but the body was a bit much…
the legs were quite tasty
Phnom Penh is really just a big town, although the first high rise is going up. It also has no traffic lights. Despite this the trucks, Range Rovers, tuk-tuks, scooters and bikes blend seamlessly at junctions. There is no road rage, no horns – it just works.
traffic everywhere in Cambodia, we loved it
our camp site on the Mekong in the centre of the capital
We decided to join the chaos, and took our ‘new’ bikes for a spin around town, leaving Lara to take a couple of days off. Of course, we still camped and had a prime riverside spot for just $1 per night. Jude continued the big spending, joining the locals at the mass outdoor aerobics classes – $0.30 per session!
aerobics in the cool evening breeze (in thongs!)
NGO is the current buzzword in Cambodia. There are countless NGOs of all shapes and sizes to look after land mine victims, orphans, wildlife etc etc. We discovered NGO restaurants, where street kids are taken on and trained to be chefs and waiters. It’s a great idea, and possibly the inspiration for Jamie Oliver who did something similar in London?
an amazing dinner in one of the NGO’s that prepares street kids for a hospitality job
More sobering were Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields. Tuol Sleng was a school converted into a Khmer Rouge prison and interrogation centre where suspected enemies of the state (in this case 17,000 of them) where forced to ‘confess’, before being trucked out to the mass graves of the Killing Fields. And this within our lifetimes. Even sadder is that to date, only one Khmer Rouge leader has been sentenced under the joint Cambodian / UN war crimes tribunal.
the killing fields, this is one of the mass graves that was dug up. Many others are left in peace.
very disturbing, this used to be a school
We then hit the south coast beaches, which will be the last time we see the ocean until Turkey, planned for November / December. Our last ocean sunset at Sihanoukville was spent camped right on the beach with a cold beer – perfect.
our last beach (by the sea anyway) until Turkey in Nov / Dec
This area is also known for its pepper, used by the better French restaurants. Although the Khmer Rouge destroyed it all in favour of rice production, it is making a comeback – so look our for Kampot pepper in your local organic shop. We had a great afternoon in the swimming pool after doing the little tour of the pepper farm, a great way to spend a hot afternoon!
kampot pepper, the best there is apparently
swimming pool at the kampot pepper farm
We are now heading back towards Thailand, and our final leg of the journey in Cambodia will be through the Cardamon Mountains.
Have a look at our video about Lara in Cambodia (link to you tube as we can’t add it here directly).
Dear:
I’m Lin. I come from Taiwan.and I’m live in Cambodia now.when I saw ur website and I really want follow ur trip. feel so cool. very nice experience. I really want enjoys his kind trip.
May I know did u sold ur defender?i really want buy that’s nice car and go natural to travel.
Thanks a lot. Have a nice day. Sorry my English is no good.
From: Lin
Hi Lin,
Thanks for your message, your English is fine! We have already sold our car but there are definitely options if you would like to buy a car like that. Hope you find one and can do a trip too, one day… good luck! Jude
Spider with Kampot pepper and green lemon, so good!!
Oh, looks all so nice, but I don’t believe that you have tried a fried tarantula!
To make me believe you need to show me a movie where you biting into it and eating it.
Love the dolphins
🙂 I’ll show you the video when we’re next in Perth!
Yay – glad you’ve loved Cambodia… I never liked pepper until I tried it there – who knew it could taste so awesome?!
Loved it there! How are your travel plans going?!
Good luck with your trip, we traveled the from the UK to Australia a couple of years back, if you have any questions please let us know.
It would be great to feature your trip on OverlandSphere, if you have not been to Overland Sphere please check it out out we have over 100 overlanders contributing to the site!
Safe Travels
Martin & Nicole
Hi Martin & Nicole, I responded last time that you are more than welcome to add our blog to your website if you think it has any value to your readers. We’re not interested however to pay for this privilege. If you have any specific questions let me know or contact me via email otherwise I’ll have to assume you are just using our blog to get your website link out there and I will then delete your comments. Cheers, Jude
Thanks Jude, sorry we did not pick up the previous reply, the info from your site would most definitely be of interest for our readers. We have added you to the site if you have any questions, or would like to be removed at any point please let us know, Safe travels
No worries, hope it’s useful to people! Cheers, Jude
My wife and I just went through that ferry last month on our way from Siem Reap to Ratanakiri.
Though we were in a Toyota RAV-4, which needless to say is not worthy to be mentioned in the same sentence as your Defender.
Great write up, really enjoyed it.
Thanks Ethan, always great to hear somebody enjoyed the post. Cheers, Jude
Hoi, staat je goed Jon, die baard;-)! En wat zijn jullie stoer om een spin te eten!!! Hopelijk was Jon zijn verjaardag een leuke dag, maar volgens mij hebben jullie alleen maar leuke dagen, dus dat is vast goed gekomen! Veel plezier weer, globetrotters! xxx
De baard is weg!!!! Jon vond hem maar niks dus heeft ie hem er vorige week afgeschoren! 🙂 Dikke kus en ik probeer vanavond jullie te facetimen! Jx
Hoi Judith, Jon, leuk om een foto van jullie op het strand van Sihanoukville te zien, was daar in 1965, en nu jullie daar is prachtig, we genieten hiervan!
Hi lieverds, heb nog wat meer foto’s van Sihanoukville voor je, van de haven ook, kan je kijken of het het nog herkend! Speciall voor jou genomen. Je zult ze wel zien binnenkomen op de dropbox. Ik probeer vanavond te ‘bellen’! Jx