Is It Hot in Here or Is It Just the Stove?

  Phnom Penh, Cambodia
April 24, 2009

We had breakfast at Cyclo - croissants, eggs, bacon, fruit, toast, bread, jam, honey, tea and juice. We thought it was included in the price of the room, but ended up being $5 each (found out when we checked out). Had we known that, we probably would have gone elsewhere.

Our tuk tuk driver from yesterday took us to the restaurant, Frizz, where our cooking class was offered. We were joined by Joanne and Guy from England (on vacation), Dave and Jackie along with their daughter and boyfriend (these two will be traveling for a year) from England, Tony, a Scottish guy, and Rudy from New York. They both have lived here for a year and are medics (not their previous professions).

Jenny, our chef, took us to the market. We were shown all kinds of great stuff. It was a very noisy and crowded market and Jenny does not talk very loudly. I hope that you can hear here on the video...

During the day we made Chaio Yar - fried spring rolls with taro roots, peanuts and carrots. Those were pretty good. We also made Nyom Trayong Jek Neung Moan - banana blossom salad with chicken, Amok - a banana cup with fish and chili, and sticky rice with mango for dessert. The class was OK, it was our least favourite cooking class so far. They did not do a lot of prep work, so we stood around watching one or two people doing things like peeling and shredding the taro root and peeling, slicing and arranging mangoes on plates. It would have been OK to do the prep work ourselves if there had been enough space and utensils for everyone to do it at the same time. FYI - do not eat taro root raw, it will make your throat itchy, but is fine when cooked.

We were prepping and cooking everything on a covered rooftop. At first it was smoking hot up there, so we started ordering beer early, and then while we were having our Amok a thunder storm rolled in and unleashed on us. We had too keep moving in further and further to try and stay dry. I guess the rainy season has begun early this year and the storm started earlier today than normal.

The good thing about the class (other than the food) was that we had lots of time to get to know our fellow chefs. Normally you are too busy cooking to find out about the others in the class. So we ended up having a good time, exchanged some good stories and had a few beers!

After the class we stepped out onto a dry street, but the end of the street was flooded. We tried to stay on the sidewalk that was still dry to get to another main street. It took us a while because we were enjoying watching tuk tuks, motorbikes and cars taking a run at the flooded street.

We decided to share a tuk tuk with Joanne and Guy, but realized that there hotel was WAY further than ours. Our driver claimed to know where our hotel was, but obviously did not because he dropped them off first. It took forever to get to their hotel and then back to ours. Traffic in Phnom Penh is insane on a normal day, when 1/4 of the streets are flooded, it is WAY worse.

We decided to go to the Central Market instead of our place and gave the driver some additional money. It was too wet around the market, so we did not stay there long. We walked to Sako, a five story mall, and looked around. I bought a pair of sunglasses with a case for $3 and have donated my other pair to Bill (his were destroyed from carrying them in his pockets). The mall was pretty junky, so we just went to the Lucky Market and bought soy milk, natural peanut butter and shredded wheat for breakfast.

We went back to the room and I was pretty tired. I decided to stay in the room while Bill tried to find a tour office for booking the slow boat and then internet. I was napping when he left around 8 pm or 8:30. I dozed on and off and then woke up at midnight and he was not back. I was starting to freak out because everything closes down early here. The music is off and the beer garden is closed (across the street). Also, there are not many street lights here, so it is really dark and probably unsafe for wandering around. Plus, he has not been very good at navigating around in SE Asia.

By 1 am I am convinced that he has been beaten up and robbed or has stepped in front of a Cecile and is in the hospital or lying on the road dying. So, I got dressed and decided to go downstairs (maybe he is drinking there?). The owner, another guy and the ladies who work here are all drinking together. The place is locked up tight. Maybe he came back and could not get in?? I told them that I did not know where my husband was and was worried, they invited me to drink with them... I decided to go check the internet place that was near our Guest House. It was closed, I walked down another block, but it was really dark and the tuk tuk drivers were asking me where I wanted to go. I decided I really did not feel safe and went back to the room.

Bill strolled in at 1:30 and was surprised that I was awake and worried. He had gone to the internet and did not make it to the tour office on time (no slow boat tickets for when we get back, I hope that is not going to be a problem). After that, he went to a bar and had a few beers too many with some guy from the UK.

Bill is very remorseful and promises not to wander off alone again! All is forgiven!