Somlor Jaray-ung K'nao

Battambang province, Cambodia - July 5, 2015 - There are many foods and ingredients never used in Western societies in this part of the world that are... for want of a less cliched term... nutritious and delicious. I'll just pretend I never said that. But the facts are that stuff you might think is gross, or discard in the bin as "inedible" is in fact - THE BOMB. This is a less common, homemade Cambodian dish called somlor jaray-ung k'nao, translating to jackfruit rag soup. Bittergourd, morning glory, fresh chili, garlic, and dried fish is simmered with the "rag" of the jackfruit - the part that surrounds the fleshy, readily edible pods within the jackfruit's rugged shell. The two main bowls are same soup, and you can see on the right-hand side that it is served with the incredible ombul bok (see my post on what ombul bok is and how to make it here).

Apsara Christmas @ Au Cabaret Vert

Battambang province, Cambodia - December 24, 2013 - Celebrating Christmas Eve traditionally with apsara dancing and a candlelit dinner of French cuisine, at the lovely eco-resort, Au Cabaret Vert. It is a great place to stay, eat, or drink whenever in Battambang.

The children are not professionally trained, but study part-time with an NGO.

Dinner included fish steak with spinach and mash...

...duck breast in Kampot pepper...

...and triple round dessert with vanilla, coconut, and chocolate.

To the Village

Takeo Province, Cambodia - October 3-4, 2013 - So it's a hellish journey down to Takeo - first of all in a nightbus for six hours in which the driver who we were sat right behind was having lurid phone conversations and honking his horn, then he stopped and slept for one hour, locking everyone in the bus with the A/C turned off, while he proceeded to snore. I started losing it and making loud noises. He woke up and drank two Red Bulls then started driving insanely fast because he kept falling asleep at the wheel. Yup, transportation, eh? Next it's a two hour tuktuk ride from Phnom Penh to Takeo, through a massive traffic jam caused by the exodus of people leaving the city to go to their villages of origin. Although we only spent one day and one night, and spent over 16 hours in transit, it was worth every moment.

This visit was for Pchum Ben, but I didn't manage to get photos of any ceremonial stuff, as it's a bit hard to take photos when you're offering things in supplication to village elders. But here's some other stuff from the journey.

This traffic jam occurred on Thursday and Friday consecutively, and extended from the city many kilometers out into the countryside.

We were forced to take backroads, as the condition of the main road was deteriorating drastically.

Then finally we're on the village path.

Pig guts.

Eaten with prohok (fermented fish paste), very strong, heavy kind of rotten flavor.

Rice sproutlings.

This is what it's like to be a frog. Kind of.

Crabhunt.

Interesting ants floating on top of the water.

Harvest.

Vicious.

In this tree is an obscure fruit used to make soup taste sour. The Cambodian word for it is plai gror-sang, but because it is rarely used I have not been able to find out the English name for it, despite much searching.

A massive plai dror-lait (winter gourd).

A massive plai nor-noang (snake gourd).

Pchum Ben - Wat Samraong Knong and Wat Gaio

Battambang province, Cambodia - September 24, 2013 - Pchum Ben is a Cambodian Buddhist festival that lasts for 15 days, and is intended to pay respects to the ghosts of the last seven generations. The monks are given a lot of food during the day, as they must stay up all night chanting, in order to open the gates of hell, at which time some of those in purgatory will be released from their trials, and other ghosts will be given time to wander before returning to further punishment. Pchum Ben generally honors all dead relatives, but the focus on the opening of hell is prominent. It's an eerie and interesting time, when everybody goes to the wat (pagoda).  So that's what we did.

This is one of the buildings in the Wat Samraong Knorng complex.

This is another. Inside monks, most of them children, are eating down plates of meat, fish, chicken and pork.

The oldest building in the complex is in ruins and it's over a hundred years old.

Behind the complex is a macabre shrine dedicated to the 10, 000 lives taken at a nearby killing field in 1979.

The reliefs depict gruesome murders and tortures.

Imprisoned children.

Small girls murdering with bayonets.

And other visions of Hell. 

My landlord's village was near this pagoda, and he told me in 1978, they'd put a bunch of people in a pit still alive and then thrown hand grenades into the pit. Everyone was killed, and my landlord, along with other children and people ran to look at the aftermath.

The children "shave rocks" in water to make them into a dull red paint.

Mysterious fruit.

More of those grapefruits..

These are long beans. They taste exactly like green beans, but they're longer.

Fish drying in the rain.

Betel nuts are so gross.

Never do the next thing I did, which was eat it.

Behind the doors of Wat Gaio the monks sleep during the daytime, to prepare for a night of rigorous chanting and meditation.

Pchum Ben is a really interesting festival that, unlike other festivals of the region, only happens in Cambodia! This year it runs from September 19 to October 4, so it's not over yet...