This morning, we woke up on a beautiful, cool Battambang day. The early birds of our group got up and went to Kinyei Cafe for the famous street latte made with sugar cane that Mr. Gass has been raving about. They walked across the river in the early morning light to sit on the patio of the little cafe and sip their coffee before the day began. The rest of us took advantage of the extra hour of sleep and had a casual breakfast in the hotel restaurant.
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| The world famous street latte at Kinyei |
After a relaxing morning and slightly later start, we made our way over to our Cambodian cooking class at The Coconut LyLy. The restaurant was a hip place off a small street where we were separated into two groups for our class. However, before we began cooking, we headed over to the market down the street. We were immediately met by overwhelming smells and colors. Beautifully assorted fruits and veggies in every color and freshly butchered meats, filled the blankets where vendors sat. As we continued to stroll through the market learning about the various kinds of food the vendors were selling, our cooking instructor picked out ingredients for our meal later that day. We returned to the class, full bags of vegetables in hand, and stood by our stations. The first dish we learned to prepare was a delicious coconut jelly dessert, coconut lyly.
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| Cam stirs the coconut milk for our dessert, coconut lyly |
Step by step, we learned how to make an entire traditional Cambodian meal on our own. The dessert came first as it needed time to cool and set while we continued preparing the rest of our meal. This consisted of delicious fried spring rolls made of taro root, carrots, and a little bit of pork, a green mango salad topped with peanuts and a sweet chili dressing, and finally, amok, the national dish of Cambodia. This was similar to a soup or curry and was even steamed inside of bowls made of purely banana plant leaves held together by toothpicks. The entire cooking lesson was so fun because we got to see how all of the new food we've been trying really is made and were able to enjoy the meals we had spent so much time preparing.
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| Green mango salad with spring rolls |
After some down time, including a trip to Swenson's ice cream, we all changed into our hiking clothes and headed out to see the incredible bat cave. Our evening began with a hike to the golden stupas atop Phnom Sampov overlooking the endless rice patties. The hike was tiring and steep, but well worth the beautiful view. As we reached the top, we were greeted by countless monkeys swinging from the trees, snacking on some mangoes. On our way back down the mountain, we walked through the killing caves where we learned about the thousands of people who lost their lives there during the rule of the Khmer Rouge and how it still affects the people of Cambodia today. We concluded our time at the mountain by watching the bats fly out of their cave as sunset. It was an amazing sight to see as there were hundreds of thousands (a million?) of bats all flying out and in the same direction at once.
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| We made it to the temple at the top of Phnom Sampov |
We ended our evening by joining the girls from the Cambodian Village Fund for dinner and a dance party at a nearby hotel. It was so fun to laugh and dance with the girls and exchange gifts. They brought us gifts ranging from t-shirts to keychains while we brought them red bracelets from a San Diegan artisan. We had matching ones to symbolize the connection we now have with them and to give them a little piece of our home. We taught each other different dance moves and all became very proficient in dancing to the song "Rom Chek." We are still struggling with learning the dance to "Panama Song," and our attempts are slightly embarrassing. The day ended with a lot of laughter and bonding with the girls, and we all came home with a new understanding of Cambodian culture and history!
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| Rom Chek! Coming soon to San Diego |
- Adrienne and Kitzia
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