Spicy

Saturday 6/20/2015

Kampot and Kep

Today I woke up in Kampot. Having not seen the city last night we weren't sure quite how far we were from the city center. We grabed a tuk-tuk outside the hostel and made our way to town. The cost was $2 split five ways. I ened up spending the equivalent of $0.50. We stopped for breakfast at a small restaurant by the water with obvious French influence, Veronica's Kitchen. I ate a breakfast of a French crepe with lime juice and honey and a bowl of locally grown fruit. It was a large breakfast and cost $5.25.

We debated back and fourth about renting a motor bike to travel the area. While still debating on the tuk-tuk ride from breakfast (another $0.50) our driver piped in and offered his services for the day. Five of us opted for the tuk-tuk tour while the other four rented bikes.

The first stop was the salt fields. For some reason I thought all salt came from the large rocks like the pink ones sold in specialty cooking shops. I was so wrong. The salt fields were large wet indented squares in the ground. Apparently, during the dry season the water dries up leaving the white crystalline salt. We were the only tourists there, eagerly snapping photos. We peered into a small building that housed mounds of salt. Salt is very cheep here.

The second stop our driver called a fishing village. It was only a small row of huts and boats along the river. I would have driven right past it had I not known it was there, or rather in this case not had a driver tp point it out. I was drawn to the bright colors of the simple wooden fishing boats. One fisherman sat on his dock fixing his net, he didn't seem to care about us tourists.

We drove through the country side dotted with farms growing rice and sugar cane. There were many white malnourished looking cows, fat oversized pigs and skinny balding chickens. At the entrance to the cave we were greeted by a shirtless man. He was happy to pick up a crab and show us it's many babies hiding underneath it's belly.

We paid a one dollar entrance fee and made our way up the two hundred and three steps leading to the cave's entrance. The cave was tall but not deep. It housed a small temple. We could hear the bats but I only saw one dart across from one cave surface to another.

The next stop is called secret lake, although it's really not a secret. The view was pretty, but I was distracted by a very tacky large bright white boat shaped like a swan that you can apparently rent in town. I asked our driver, they don't even have swans in Cambodia!

We stopped at the Starling Farm.  There they grow the pepper for which Kampot is famous. I again was surprised as to where a spice came from.  I did not expect the rows and rows of brick towers with pepper plants growing up them. I had seen peppercorn before, so I did know to look for the round peppercorns on the plant.  Our tuk-tuk driver picked a stream of peppercorn off the plant.  The round balls of pepper where green and red.  He told us it was free to taste and gave us each one of the green peppers. I bit into the peppercorn without hesitation.  It was spicier than I expected and my mouth was on fire. He laughed and said "see why it is free to taste, no one eats much!" He explained that the red colored corns made both the red and white pepper, depending on if the red shell is or is not left on. I tasted the red and it was sweeter and less spicy than the green whose spice was still lingering in my mouth. We went to the shop inside where I stocked up on gifts for my family and friends at home who love to cook.

We stopped in Kep around two thirty. We paid the driver six dollars per person for our morning together. It was raining a bit when we sat down to eat at The Crab Kitchen. We had a table on the edge of the restaurant right by the ocean. Jen and I decide to spilt the Kampot pepper crab. (We planned to meet the others at six for dinner) not long after we had started eating it began to pour! They quickly rolled down the rain cover to separate us from the outside. Soon water came in like a waterfall from the ceiling. We hunkered down and ordered another beer. The crab was amazing, definitely worth the work I was doing and the mess I was creating trying to eat it. Toward the end of our meal we were joined by an Italian man who had moved to Cambodia two years prior.  He bought a bottle of wine and told us about his time in Asia.

We decided to walk down to another place for more beer.  There was little chance of us seeing much if any of Kep today. We played the game heads-up.  I felt like I could be anywhere in the world, playing games and drinking beer.  This experience was not unique and it felt strange doing something so ordinary. It was still pouring down rain and we became worried about the others joining us.  Kep is about a twenty-five minute ride from the Mad Monkey in Kampot and they were on motorbikes.  We finally got ahold of them when on wi-fi via facebook messenger, most of us don't have call service here in Cambodia. They opted not to join us, and I for one was disappointed but thankful for their safety.  It was the right decision.  Having heard from the Italian earlier that the place we had lunch was one of the best in Kep, we went back for dinner. I ordered crab again, it had been so good, but this time I opted for crab curry.  It was just as delicious and an even bigger mess.  The owner of the restaurant also had some affiliation with a tour company.  She called us a cab and gave us a discount on the ride back for eating at her place. We decided to stay another night at the Mad Monkey to avoid spending time looking for another place, not because we were impressed with them.  They moved us to a three person room for the night. 

If ever in the area, I highly recommend hiring a tuk-tuk for the day to take you around the sights and eating at The Crab Kitchen.  I wish you better luck with the weather. 

$0.50 $2 tuk-tuk split to breakfast

$5.25 breakfast at Veronica's Kitchen

$0.50 $2  tuk-tuk split back to Mad Monkey

$1 entrance to cave

$29 gifts of pepper

$6 $30 tuk-tuk tour for the day split

$5.75 Kampot crab split and two beers

$8.50 curry crab and two beers

$5 $20 taxi spit back to Kampot

$8 night at the Mad Monkey

Today's Total:$69.50

A New Day, A Fresh Perspective

Orientation Day One

Monday 6/15/15

What a difference a day makes! After sleep and a nice cold morning shower, I felt refreshed and ready to learn more about the city. Even though I only slept four hours in a hot room, it really did turn my attitude around. Today we began orientation. There I learned that UBELONG is one of approximately fifty overseas organizations that partner with the local group "Volunteer Action of Cambodia." All of our training and communication from here out will be with VAC. Before lunch we covered transportation, the history of Cambodia, Cambodian politics today and the VAC's mission. I knew about much of the history of Cambodia from my preparation for this trip. However, it was more interesting to hear the history told directly by a confident, obviously educated Cambodian. I did learn more about the most practiced religion here, Buddhism. I read Siddhartha when I was in college, but I remember very little about the book. Buddhists here believe in karma. Life is cyclical and if you do good in the world good will come back to you and if you do bad, bad. I was aware that they believe in reincarnation. What I didn't realize is as Buddhists they still believe in heaven and hell. Instead of going there forever as most Christians believe, Buddhists believe that heaven or hell are rewards or punishments that may last for one year or for many. The ultimate reward for good karma is nirvana which is from my understanding an ultimate state of peace. Nirvana, once reached, is everlasting. I had a hard time reconciling what I learned about the faith with the corrupt Cambodian government. Over ninty percent of Cambodian people are Buddhist. If you are truly Buddhist and believe in karma both good and bad how can you behave so poorly toward fellow humans? Cambodia's government is ranked as one of the top corrupt governments in the world. Bribes are often accepted by government officials. If you are accused of doing something you are most often considered guilty. Land grabbing is common and accepted practice. If you speak out against these injustices you face the probability of being arrested. Corruption is not the only problem current Cambodia faces. Although prostitution is illegal in Cambodia it is a common practice. Nineteen percent of Cambodians live under the poverty line. Drug abuse is common amongst teens. I can not imagine living in a place where if I spoke out against something that was so obviously wrong I could be punished, but this is the life of many Cambodians. Given Cambodia's sordid past, I still have a great appreciation for how far they have come while accepting there is a lot more work to be done. 

After lunch we went over cultural dos and don'ts and attempted to learn the Khmer language.

Take aways 

Don't - shake hands when meeting, touch people on the head or shoulder, touch a monk if you are female

Do- bow head when passing old people,  hand over and receive items using two hands, finish everything on your plate, shower at least twice per day (I was very worried this would be on the don't list thinking water would be expensive)

Afterwards Sreng, one of the program coordinators, gave us a list of what Cambodian people think of westerners: they smoke, show affection in public, have tattoos and piercings and women drink with men. All of us laughed, as my new Italian friend Sara could be the poster child for the perception Cambodians have of westerners!

We had a long break between our lessons and dinner. During which we took the time to take our laundry to be washed. I have one clean outfit to wear tomorrow. Perhaps I didn't pack enough, I never get sweaty back home but here I am swimming in sweat by mid morning. We stopped on the way home for smoothies and fresh juice. I had a delicious watermelon juice for only $1.50.

In the evening, the fourteen volunteers and Sreng went out for a traditional Cambodian dinner. The food continued to come in large family sized portions plate by plate as we laughed, drank and talked about the cultures of our own home countries. In traditional Cambodian families, you do not talk during meals. However, according to Sreng, what we were doing was typical for young Cambodians (apart from the women drinking with men). There were so many new dishes to try. Two beef dishes, two vegetable dishes, one dish with vegetables and noodles, fish amok (tasted like a weak soup version of a coconut curry), fried whole frogs that were two to three inches long, ants, and something I would describe as corn squares. Most of the food was very good. The frog was difficult to eat because you could so clearly identify it. The ants had a nice flavor from the marinade, but the texture was difficult to get over. I don't think I'll be eating either of those dishes again while I'm here. We enjoyed our time together as we were serenaded by Cambodian karaoke. The meal was covered by VAC through our volunteer fee, but came to only $75.

At the end of the day I was tired but happy. Happy to be here meeting new people and learning about many different cultures. I not only am up for this, I am excited to be here. 

$1.50 watermelon juice
Today's Total:$1.50