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Published: November 10th 2009
Hello - guest blogger here, so don’t expect the the great writing skills of my lovely ‘wife’ Jess and wonderful daughter Jaz.
This trip has far exceeded my expectations. The only real downside has not being able to talk to my BIG kids (Marissa, Skyler and Dylan) as I often do at home.
It’s difficult to add to Jess’s entries so I’ll try to articulate why it has been a unique and great experience. Lori, who helps run the guesthouse and the foundation, is just great to hang out with. She is just fun to be around and a great source of info about what happens here in Cambodia. She’s very down to earth and possesses that honesty that is associated with Vermonters. I think and hope a good friendship is developing. I have also gotten to know the members of the Khmer family that have the guesthouse, from Ponheary (the foundation’s namesake) to the little kids that joyfully ‘invade’ our room every so often.
Most of the adults and all the kids have good English. Dara, the lone brother among several sisters, is tour guide extraodinaire. He has a good sense of humor and seems to have an amazing attitude towards life considering some of the stories he related to us about surviving the Pol Pot era. Such a wonderful calmness surrounds him, and like all the family, he has a humbleness that is striking.
Marina, his sister, is also a tour guide for French visitors as she speaks French (as well as English and possibly Thai, if I’m remembering correctly.) We’ve talked a lot so I learn more about the country and culture. She has two very cute and smart little ones, and has had a difficult past also like most Khmers. She’s been great answering my queries and took me to the market (incredible!) to buy fresh produce, meat, herbs and spices, patiently explaining to me the sometimes odd-looking foods. I wish she possessed more confidence, as she is quite intelligent and very pretty. The women have a beauty here that is not often seen, if ever, at home.
Yesterday I had the privilege of helping to prepare and cook a meal with the family here at the guest house. Now I know why the women here are strong - wow, using a mortar and pestle is tough. Or I’m just a wimp. Anyway it was great, and I am a bit disheartened because I think some key ingredients that make the dishes so tasty and aromatic are not available in Burlington. At least I don’t think I’ll be able to buy fresh tumeric and fresh kaffir lime leaves. And I’m sure the leaves they used “from the forest” are not to be found in Vermont. One of the best parts of this experience was ‘talking’ to another sister, Srei, who is involved in much of the cooking. She is deaf so she communicates through writing on a pad of paper. Her English writing skills are near perfect though she apologized more than once about her lack of proficiency. She stated her Thai language skills are better. Deaf, yet she knows how to write 3 languages; amazing.
She told me doesn’t watch TV much but reads a lot, mostly newspapers and magazines and she says she is curious to learn many things. When I suggested she can ask me about the USA, she said she would but she “can’t write well.” The humbleness is pervasive. We did ‘talk’, exchanging the notepad, mostly about food and what we both liked as we cooked the soup. We ‘told’ each other we enjoyed the conversation and I told her we would talk again as I have many questions about Cambodia. I can’t wait to pick her brain about politics and the way of life here.
The rest of the family is just as gracious and hospitable. The mother of Dara and his sisters always has a big smile when I say hello, though I don’t believe she has much English. Areni, Dara’s wife, is always friendly and helpful and I’ve been told her English is improving. I just found out there is another sister that is a Russian tour guide, fluent in that language, but she doesn’t live at the guest house. A bright and motivated family. The father was a teacher and unfortunately suffered the fate of almost all educated folks during the Khmer Rouge time.
I read a bit about Cambodia and the temples before we left the States and have been reading more here. Quite an amazing history; the Khmer empire included much of Southeast Asia. The temples and moats surrounding them, along with the man-made reservoirs, were incredible engineering feats, rivaling the pyramids of Egypt. And the carvings in the temples are impressive, to say the least. The main structure, Angkor Wat, is the largest religious structure in the world, and I believe dwarfs St. Peter’s Basilica. The empire spanned hundreds of years, with a complex social structure, supported by innovative food/rice production. The whole of it seems to be as majestic as any of the ancient societies. It’s curious that any mention of this is absent from our history lessons in the western world. Or maybe I was not in school that day. In any case I am learning daily and find it fascinating.
On to more about food experiences here: I will be cooking more with the family. Yea! Perhaps we’ll make a traditional Khmer dish, fish amok. I heard that Siem Reap is fast becoming a “foodie’s” destination. I never really cared for that term ’foodie.’ Is it someone who likes food? Who doesn’t? Or maybe it’s if you’re a bit obsessed with food, travel to eat for example. OK, that’s me I guess. And the food here is fabulous and ridiculously inexpensive, as is the beer. So I’ve been full a lot. There is traditional Khmer food from basic ‘home cooking’ to more of a gourmet bent. A place that served the latter offered some of the best dishes I have ever had. A pomelo (large grapefruity fruit) salad will be in my food dreams forever. Yum! And I had fish amok at least twice, both very different yet both delicious. Lori says it’s like
mole in Texas: a different recipe on every corner. Oh and curry! Wow - you can get it spicy, which I love, and also not spicy but still incredibly tasty. At home I can never seem to make it not spicy, yet still flavorful. Hmmm, I should talk to the family about that. The fruit is unbelievable, so very sweet, yet not sugar sweet. Hard to describe without tasting it. And what a variety - still discovering some. I need to try a rose apple, sometimes called water apple. There’s also Mex food, pizza and burgers and not bad at all. OK, I’ve bored you enough about food so one last statement. I need to eat more noodle dishes!
Lastly but not leastly, our time with Jaz has been heaven. So great to see her and to see her mature and grow before our eyes. I can’t put into words how happy I am about this and how better I understand why she wants to be here. Let me just say that she is such a wonderful young woman with such a great head on her shoulders. The influence she experienced growing up with a her considerably older siblings who were so caring and nurturing, along with her own inner self has produced the wonderful Jaz she is (you know, the nature/nurture thing), and ever growing, as I hope we all are. And did I mention her unbelievable mom who was and is always there for her? Well to watch her teach and seeing how much she enjoys it and how dedicated she is to the kids just takes my breath away.
We’ve got a while to go before we leave, but it will be nice to be home too. Friends, familiarity, tennis, work, televised sports, Vermont - but man, will I miss being here.
Take care, Steve
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Becky
non-member comment
Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences! I gobble these entries up and I am so glad you are all having such a wonderful time. Steve - most of the time you can get fresh tumeric here at City Market, and I believe we are able to get kaffir leaves but you might have to ask for them ahead of when you need them.