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...

Rat, Crocs n Bats

Battambang province, Cambodia - September 15, 2013 - A countryside outing.

So first we found a baby rat on the floor next to the front door...

Ominous sky on embarkment.

Rice pancake filled with sticky coconut rice.

Big grapefruits.

Bland flavor.

When it rains in Cambodia.

Feeding frenzy.

New croc-skin belt.

Went back to check on the rat.

Welcome foray into a friend's pig farm.

Inquisitive pork.

Papaya.

Exodus of bats from the mountain.

Brutal Gecko Electrocution

Battambang province, Cambodia - September 2-5, 2013 - So Mum sent me over this punishing insect capital punishment device called a STINGER SCBZ40 to keep the hordes at bay. It is a savage death machine that utilises state of the art sonic and visual attractors to lure in crimanimals and then mercilessly shocks them into the beyond with 4000 vicious volts, devastating every single insect within a one and a half acre radius. To be honest, it doesn't really kill any mosquitoes, which are the prime concern, but it does stop large moths from flying into my head while I'm reclining. Last week an unfortunate reptilian raider attracted by the piling corpses of strange tropical critters leaped between the protective grating and burned for three days, putting Albert Fish and Ted Bundy to shame.

On the first day his body contracted tightly around the grill.

Then on the second night he started burning again.

Stinky.

After the third night his dried up body kind of inflated and got perforated with lots of holes.

The executioner.

How to Make Ombul Bok - Battambang's Legendary Tamarind Paste

Battambang province, Cambodia - September 2, 2013 - Ombul bok, or tamarind paste, is one of the most legendary condiments of the Asian continent, and Battambang is renowned for the deliciousness of this delicacy (amongst other things). It has a sour and spicy flavour and can be eaten with almost anything: steaks, plain old rice, vegetable dishes, but it is most commonly eaten with fish. Neng is going to teach us how to make it. Let's start with the ingredients.

a) Ombul k'chey - Unripe tamarind

b) Gom-bpOOh - Small river shrimp

c) Jii krahorm - Sweet basil

 

e) Skor - Sugar (mine currently infested with ants). You will also be needing f) fresh chilli, and g) Knorr, or some kind of chicken stock seasoning

Okay moving on with the instructions. First put the tamarind into the mortar one by one because they are quite hard...

Then smash 'em.

Once they're all smashed take the paste out...

...and squeeze all the juice out of it.

So it should look like this.

Add the chicken powder and sugar. You can continue doing this liberally as you make it according to taste. Mix it up.

Next add the shrimps.

Smash 'em up.

Add the sweet basil.

Smash it up.

Add the chili whole.

Smash it up. Harder this time. Make sure it is broken up and spread around so it's not too spicy.

And that's it! You're finished.

If you plan on making it (or rather if you can find the ingredients), feel free to be liberal with the amounts of stuff you put in. It is also often made with crushed peanuts. There are many different styles, and creativity in Cambodian cooking is encouraged.