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Published: February 3rd 2009
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One of the last remaining cultural identities in the world is food. Wherever people may go, they always find comfort in the tastes of home. It is a quintessential aspect of travel. To experience a culture is to eat its food. Eating local foods that are close to a culture should provide you with an insight into the tastes and smells of a place. Everything should be fresh and sharp in terms of flavor as most of the foods are commonly found in the surrounding environment. For instance Cambodia, I could have had beef Loc Lac or Fish Amok to gain an understanding into the subtleties of Khmer food. All the more surprising then when the following words came out of my mouth in Siem Reap.
"I'll have the chicken burrito please."
I am not exactly sure what happened. Did I black out and order subconsciously? Did dreams of Taco Bell make me crave the burrito? Was I scared of the food in Cambodia after seeing the fried tarantula's at the bus station lunch stop? It all happened so suddenly. I was sitting in the restaurant checking out the menu, when I saw a waitress pass by with a
plate of food. Always wanting to check out the dishes, I took a gander and was mystified by what I saw. I saw a burrito being delivered to an older German lady. Clearly this dumbfounded me as I couldn't believe they served burrito's here. In steadfast determination, I reviewed the menu once more and found the burrito as well as a quesadilla. Strange.
I was trying to let it go, but as usual I couldn't stop obsessing over the oddity of the burrito in a Cambodian restaurant. How on earth did it get here? Is the cook original from Mexico? Why are old German ladies eating burritos here? I had had enough. I needed to know and I ordered the burrito.
Let me say, from all appearances, it looked like a burrito. It was neatly wrapped in a tortilla. There was shredded chicken, some lettuce and onions. They even went as far as to serve a reddish-looking salsa substance in a little cup next to the burrito. Upon completion of the first bite, I can honestly say it is the worst burrito ever made. In fact, I do not think it is within the realm of possibility to
Hotel Amenities
Things are a bit different in Phnom Penh. create a burrito looking dish that tastes nothing like a burrito such as the one I was eating. From here on out I will try my best from ordering restaurant oddities and stick with restaurant specialties.
The burrito did sum up Cambodia for me. I have spent the past week wondering around Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (Angkor) trying to understand what it is about Cambodia that makes it unique. It is equal parts dirty, charming, over the top and obscure all at once. In the midst of the poverty on the streets of Phnom Penh lies the King's Royal Palace. Hotels offering you airport pickups and gun shooting options. ATM's dispence American dollars even though the Cambodian Riel is given when the change is not an even dollar amount. Walking down the streets, I am bombarded by putrid smells of garbage followed by fragrant flowers and restaurant goodies (burrito withstanding of course).
As the Cambodians strive to offer more amenity driven hotels and tourism, they are still struggling with great poverty. They have learned that atrocities equal good tourist money and have worked hard to create museums dedicated to Pol Pot's reign of terror and the killing
Ta Prohm
Trees are taking back the land. fields where he disposed of 1-3 million Cambodians in the late 70's. How strange it must be to live in a city where the top two attractions are the torture cells of Pol Pot and the field in which the mass graves were.
Cambodia is coming to rely solely on Tourism for its national economy. 60% of Siem Reaps total economy is already coming from tourism. Judging by the Vegas-esque style hotels that are sprouting up everywhere, Siem Reap will become even more dependent upon tourism. The owners at my place talked to me about how the world economy is really destroying them and the city of Siem Reap. Usually 2 million people visit the temples of Angkor a year but they suspect that they will be lucky if 1 million people visit in 2009. This makes any visitor a prized possession. Tommy, my Tuk Tuk driver for the three days in Angkor was quite protective and extremely helpful throughout our time together. He even got a bunch of Tuk Tuk drivers together so we could talk about their business. Giant blue banners touting the importance of tourism to the national economy sway over your head as you enter
Angkor.
As for the Angkor complex, I was greatly blown away. The complex is vast and impressive in terms of sheer size. I spent the better part of three days wondering around Angkor Thom, Angkor Wat and the various other Khmer structures from the 9-13th centuries. I was equally shocked by the fact that man was capable of building a complex stone city hundreds of years ago and that the Angkor complex had a population of as many as 1 million people while London had only 50,000 residents.
Everything about Angkor adds to the confusion one gets while in Cambodia. You have the ever popular ancient temples, which are now probably better known as the place where Angelina Jolie filmed Tomb Raider (Ta Prohm). Huge massive buildings that were lost for centuries in the forests of Cambodia only to be recovered and cleared for tourism. Whereas they were once mythological, now you can stroll freely on these ancient relics with relatively little concern for the damage it might be causing (which is a shame). It is also a phenomenal example of man vs. nature. In the beginning nature ruled, man comes along and builds libraries, temples, fountains, walled
Victory Gate
Cambodian Royal Palace cities. Over time, nature begins to take back the buildings. Numerous places had trees growing on top of around and through the ancient city. It was rather amazing to take in. Nothing is quite as it seems here.
As I leave Cambodia and head back to Vietnam I find it appropriate that I was honored by the people of Cambodia and the country itself and sick to my stomach from some bacteria that I am sure I consumed as I ate local food after my burrito escapade.
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Josh
non-member comment
Wow
I love the picture of the tree growing on the building. It looks like something out of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. It must have been surreal.