Mayadevi

The national dish in this country is called "Amok", and it is a yummy fish curry made with coconut juice and vegetables, and is sometimes served in a banana leaf or in a coconut, as you see in the photo. Amok is easy to love and as a result of eating too much of it, I am also "running amok". Nothing unusual in that you might conclude insightfully. Another dish I unsuspectingly discovered is duck egg, whereby I thought I was going to eat a nice normal yellow egg, with a salad. The shell was too tough for starters, and I began to have doubts about what lay within. Some helpful locals sharing the same table assisted me and showed me what to do, emptying the grey and white slimy fetus onto a saucer, while my ... read more

A sultry Sunday here in Siem Reap, after a night of debauchery and jokes with some Australian friends, and jaded references to marketing " monk tours incorporated"" for bored middle aged Western woman, not to mention our requests for large banana salads. Our poor hapless young waiter kept cracking up; - his English was much better than I had initially assumed, unfortunately. Anyway back to temples, forget the monks, Deb, for a moment. A few days ago I discovered Preah Khan, which appears to have been more than a temple, and was once a Buddhist university, as well as a considerable city. References to a "lake of blood" indicate that Preah Khan was built on the site of a major battle in the recapture of Angkor from the Chams, and the Cham king died here. ... read more

Yesterday, not quite in the middle of a temple tour, at 11am, I aborted the mission and instructed my driver to return to the hotel, and I happily reentered the cool precincts of my hotel room at the family run Bou Savy. I am tired of touts, hustlers, con-men, con-woman and yes even little versions called con- children. I have had numerous faces, and their wares, appear in both sides of my tuk tuk, and they just don't desist;- they do not allow me to even move, bailed in - yes tuk tuk cornered. They rudely talk over my driver, even when he is explaining something about the temples and their history. I have been cornered coming out from the toilets, and had people leap out of bushes to start a sales pitch after stalking me ... read more

Last week the sky opened and it hosed down, then drizzeled, then hosed down again for days on end. The normally tame Leith, a genteel river that trickles through the northern town, gardens and university, turned into a raging white water torrent, much to my glee. The students also were delighted and got sporting enough to go kayaking and boogie board surfing down it, despite a police warning and then ban. I awoke early one morning and took these shots at dawn, trying to balance my umbrella at the same time, and finally arrived at my destination somewhat sodden. Only two weeks exactly until I fly away to another distant land... very different to this one. ... read more