Parental Guidance

It was great to meet mum at Phnom Penh airport and share her very first experiences of Cambodia in a white knuckle tuk tuk ride to our guesthouse. Just over a year ago I arrived at the very same airport at around the same time of day and experienced all the same ‘firsts’ as she. We chatted for the most of the hour long journey through the city’s rush hour traffic, coughing through the fumes and other various smells of the city, gasping and squeezing our eyes shut when it looked like a collision was likely or the gap the tuk tuk driver had chosen to drive through looked too small. We both reflected on how much I was now accustomed to things in the bustling city and we planned a rough itinerary over a traditional Khmer dinner and I managed to catch up with the family through photos and videoed messages.

I tour guided mum round the colourfully claustrophobic Russian Market (Psar Toul Tom Poung) which she loved and where we bought silk and goodies, the spacious art-deco Central Market (Psar Tmei) where she bought some inexpensive Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses! And we also managed to fit in some of my favourite little cafes where we dined on very un-Khmer muesli breakfasts and slabs of cake! Yum!

We had a Cooking lesson with Cooking Cambodian (www.cookingcambodian.com ) which was a superb experience. We were picked up from our guesthouse and taken to the Kandal market to buy the food. I’ve been round countless food markets in Cambodia but this experience was unique and wonderful. I saw so many different foods that I haven’t seen before and the amount of food and business going on was wonderful to see. It was also great for mum to witness such a big busy market and see so much fresh food for sale – she loved it! We saw live fish writhing around in a huge metal tray waiting to be bought, decapitated fish heads trying to breath while their large bodies lay motionless beside them, four pig heads adorning a man’s blood covered moto before being dropped off at a stall, pink eggs?, live chickens tied by the feet roosting next to their dead, plucked counterparts and bananas in their thousands! It really was a complete attack on the senses.
The lesson was fantastic and the two of us had a trained chef between us as our teacher. We made Cambodian spring rolls and a peanut sauce as our starter, followed by Fish Amok and then Banana Tapioca pudding. The pounding we had to give the sauce ingredients in the pestle and mortar was like an upper-body aerobics session and we also made cups from banana leaves with cocktail sticks holding the sides together for the fish and sauce to be steamed in. The food was really delicious, the teacher an expert and the recipes relatively simple!

The tour guiding continued to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, an obvious tourist site but one I hadn’t visited yet. We didn’t really see much of the palace but the pictures of the Boat Races were interesting. The Silver Pagoda houses priceless bejewelled statues of Buddha amongst other various treasure and is called the Silver Pagoda due to the 5329 silver tiles that cover the floor.

We were also fortunate enough to be in Phnom Penh at the same time as the Water Festival (Bonn Om Tuk), an annual festival marking the Tonle Sap’s change in direction at the end of the rainy season. VSO had their own boat crew again this year of which I was a member so mum joined some other VSO parents in watching the boat of barangs make complete fools of themselves! Again, it was great fun to participate in such a colourful and important festival in the Khmer culture and I’m sure we did better than last year. Hundreds of brightly painted dragon boats race in pairs down the river to the finishing line outside the Royal Palace. In last year’s race the VSO boat managed not only to lose the race it was in but was also overtaken by two races behind, in effect coming 7th in a race of 2! This year I’m sure we were overtaken by fewer boats; the final result is still to be announced!

Phnom Penh was a hive of activity with thousands of people celebrating the four day holiday which followed the celebrations of Independence Day on November 9th. It meant that mum had come at the busiest time but also when the city was at its most colourful and vibrant. Flags were on every street light, food sellers on every street corner, huge balloons strung up and the riverfront packed with revellers. It was an amazing atmosphere to be a part of for a few days. And after those few days we were ready to escape the city for a very different part of Cambodia – Phnom Srok District. Our 7am bus drove mum and I through rice fields, villages and towns giving a very different view of Khmer life. Next stop, Phnom Srok.