Amoking About in Cambodia

Mangostin Fruit, you eat the white in the middle!

After an intense day in Pehnom Penh and success with our Vietnamese visa's we met up to find a recommended restaurant to try Cambodia's national dish of Amok.  I had heard of amok many times but every opportunity I had to order it I always found something I was craving more.  With a name like fish amok it never sounded very appetizing.

Amok is a dish with different vegetables like green beans, carrots, pumpkin some sort of green leaf and usually fish or chicken in a yellow curry sauce.  Usually the dish is served over rice and it soupy. Berg and I found the restaurant we were looking for and ordered some amok and some mango spicy salad.

The chicken amok we received was different than I had imagined.  It was not soupy there was no rice and it was more like a pastry.  Apparently they make it two ways.  This one was a bit similar to a quiche with the crust and in the middle was the curry and chicken and vegetables.  To my surprise the dish was very tasty and I enjoyed it so much so that for the next two nights I ordered amok at 2 other restaurants in to other towns to compare.

First I headed back for Battambang where I was going to catch the river boat to Siem Reap.  I went out to a local restaurant and ordered the amok here.  This one was more traditional and soupy and delicious.  The next night in Siem Reap I ordered the same again at another local restaurant.  This time I ordered the fish amok.  I assumed it would be shredded or very small pieces of fish and possibly too fishy for my taste but the amok came out with nice chunky pieces of fillet filled with loads of vegetables including pumpkin.  This third time was by far my favorite of the three and it tasted incredible.

The food of Cambodia appears very similar to me to those found in Thailand.  Thai food is very fragrant with many different flavors of lemongrass, Thai basil and curry.  So far all the food I have had everywhere has been delicious like pad Thais, green curry, yellow curry, red curry, cashew chicken, basil chicken, pork, mango salad, tom yum soup etc etc.  I am loving the food but often find that it's always a stir fry with rice or noodles or a soup or curry.  I have also been disappointed in the spice of the Thais.  Everyone claims Thai food is spicy but even when you ask them to make is Thai spicy it usually falls short of my expectations and without fail I always add more chili. 

I have also fallen in love with the fruits here.  Every morning I have fresh fruit with muesli and usually a homemade yogurt.  I have tried many new fruits and am always amazed by the variety and flavors.  Everywhere here you can get giant fresh fruit smoothies with the freshest most delicious fruits.  The mango, watermelon and bananas here are so much more flavorful than back home and it is something I will miss a lot once I leave.  Next cuisine to try is the north Thai noodles and then the food in Laos!

My First Morning

As I awoke to the morning sun streaming through my bedroom window at 5:30am I noticed my sparsely furnished apartment and unfamiliar surroundings. Already I could hear feet beating away on the gravel playground outside my window and the sound of a man counting at a roar in Korean. As I laid awake I wondered if this was going to be a daily thing or if I would eventually get a peaceful night’s sleep. I tossed and turned a couple more times hoping that I would doze off again, but my frustration grew as my confused body fought against sleep and I finally made myself get up at six and give up all hope of rekindling my previous state of euphoric dreaming.

As reality set in I rose from my previous joyful slumber and started to unpack. Those five and a half hours of sleep after a never ending day just didn’t cut it but somehow I was wide awake. I began to slowly arrange and rearrange my living room and bedroom and despite my small bright orange couch in my large living room, my lack of TV on my TV stand and my small table and chairs set it somehow started to feel a bit more mine. The big windows and bright sunlight gave my apartment a sense of calm and cheerfulness and my girly pink, purple and blue comforter put a smile on my face. I was finally home for the next year and feeling content, in all ways but one. Where was my morning coffee?

As my craving set in I quickly dressed and ran out of the house to find the nearest coffee shop. I walked towards town and had a permagrin on my face. I was feeling happy to be finally here. I wondered towards the main street and took in all the surrounding area. I noticed the school playground my apartment overlooks on one side and how there were small plots of land dedicated farming all around. Here they let no space go unused. I could see corn, peppers, squash, tomatoes and all sorts of vegetables and on one of the plots was an old man tilling the ground.

As I neared the main street I saw the banners that advertised for the school I was to work at and was pleasantly surprised by the status it seemed to give off. Tomorrow would be my first day of training at the new school and I was already excited. As I neared the corner I stumbled upon Kenya coffee. Perfect, it was exactly what I was looking for, and a couple minutes later I was taking a sip of my first Korean Kenyan coffee. I was surprised and impressed that it was so delicious and I felt filled with a sense of accomplishment as I only half made a fool of myself trying to order. I relaxed and enjoyed my cup of coffee at the shop before I had to head back to shower and meet my bosses and two other new English teachers for lunch.

After nearly 48 hours without a shower I was desperate for a nice refreshing shower, I just didn’t realize how refreshing. During my tutorial the night before of how to turn on the hot water I was half asleep and couldn’t remember so I proceeded to take a cold shower. I peeked into my bathroom and remembered the explanation the night before of Korean bathrooms. They are fully tiled with a drain and a high lip for a threshold. There is no shower or tub or even shower curtain, only a shower head, which hangs awkwardly on the wall over the sink and is attached to the sink faucet with a hose. I was warned to be careful because it sprays everywhere and turned on the tap. The cold shower invigorated my body and helped me feel less jet lagged. I finished and dressed and was ready for my first proper Korean meal.

We arrived at a Korean BBQ, removed our shoes and followed the women into our own private BBQ room. We sat at a proper table which had a grill that sat flush with the table top and a bell on the wall which called the waitress. Korean dinning is very different and very intriguing. All restaurants give you scissors, metal chopsticks which are very challenging and a long metal spoon. They place little bowls of kimchi, and other pickled vegetables, sea urchins and different sauces around the table. All of the items on the table are communal except for your soup and you are expected to eat from any dish you like which is not rude and is expected. For the BBQ we had thinly sliced beef and a tinfoil of garlic that was placed directly on the grill. One person cooked the beef flipping it with tongs then cutting it with scissors into bite sizes. As the beef is finished you take a leaf wrap, place your beef inside, add sauce or veggies and eat in one bit. Everything was delicious and the chili paste went fast.

In Korea you never finish your meal unless you would like more, so they refilled our sides and sauces until we were all perfectly stuffed and then cleared the leftovers. We sat and talked as we all digested and agreed that we would all go into town to walk around to see my first time, downtown Gwangju….