Cambodia -- The Food

I've been back a few days now, but it's taking some adjusting. Time wise, while we were there, it seemed like everyone woke up about 4 am. I thought when we got back, that would be fixed, but it hasn't. Same thing-- I've been waking up at 4 am and can't go back to sleep. Plus, I've been having a hard time staying asleep. . . oh well. I've been told that it will all work itself out over the next few days.

I absolutely loved it there. I wouldn't want to sell everything and live there, but I could see myself going back and staying for longer periods of time. What they are doing over there will blow your mind. More on that over the next few days.

I thought I would break up the trip into a few parts so that my blog isn't forever long and you don't need an hour to get through it. So, I thought I would talk about the food first. I'll put a few pictures at the end of just random things, but I'm not finished editing and turning all of my pictures, so I'll post some of what I have done so far.

In preparing for this trip, I was warned about all kinds of weird foods -- squid, fried fish eyes, etc. I actually was going to try the fried fish eyes if someone got some. I thought I should go all out on the whole experience. I wanted to experience Cambodia, so why not?

So, as we were standing in line to get on the plane in Minneapolis, Joel laughed and said, "Say goodbye to all normal foods, dear." I was a little nervous. ;)

Well, I didn't get a chance to eat any fried fish eyes, but here's a list of a few of my food experiences:
* Cashew Chicken (no surprises there, but it was good)
* The most amazing coffee shake on the planet (yes, better than Starbucks)
* Really refreshing watermelon shakes
* Really amazing coffee
* Fried eggs & toast (I think this became my favorite breakfast while we were there)
* Fried rice w/ chicken at a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. This was on our drive from Bangkok to Cambodia. It was all open, as in no walls. There were chickens walking around. I'm sure the chicken I was eating was walking around there once, too.
* Squid (yes, I ate it but I wasn't fond of the texture)
* Raw tuna (again, terrible texture, but I got it down)
* The thickest and yummiest and biggest pancakes ever
* Ate an ENTIRE meal with chopsticks (I had never used any before)
* Barbecued goat (again, texture got me on this one. . . good flavor, just a little too chewy for me)
* Fried potatoes (some kind of yellow potato, not white ones)
* Fried bananas (the girls from the UK loved these)

So, there is the beginning of my Cambodia posts. I know everyone is wanting to hear all of the other amazing things, and that will come, but I was shocked at myself for even trying some of these things and it is the easiest post to start out with.

Dr. J & Steve at the CHO restaurant where we ate almost every breakfast and lunch. This restaurant fixes 3 meals a day and delivers them to the AIDS & TB hospital for the patients there. See that watermelon shake on the bottom left? YUM!! I bet it was mine!

Trish & the UK girls (L to R: Nicole, Emily, Hannah (blue shirt), & Kathryn)
They had a train of massages going at one point. We loved hanging out with these girls. (By the way, their new year is like next week or something. That sign wasn't from January 1st)

Here's that coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. I'm not kidding. We were driving down the road and there is NOTHING. Then, all of a sudden, we pass this place. So, we turned around and went back for lunch.

These boys were at the school on the mat. They aren't in school, but they followed our van down to it. They just sat and watched what was going on in the school (outside, of course) and they watched us.

These girls were at our children's outreach. You can tell that they are probably sisters. People think that they have highlights in their hair, but it's actually a sign of malnutrition.
One afternoon, I was in my hotel room and I heard a pig squealing and squealing and squealing! At first, I didn't want to look because I thought they might be butchering it somewhere, but when I finally go the nerve to look, this is what I saw:
Yes, that's a live pig on the back of a motorcycle. Interesting, huh? Wayne said he saw a cow on the back of a moto later that afternoon.

As we were driving into Siem Reap for the touristy part of our trip, we saw this:
Another interesting thing. I think these chickens are alive. We would see them move their heads every once in a while. Funny how when you see a cattle truck going down I-20 full of cows, you don't think of it as tomorrow's lunch. But in Cambodia, that's all I could think!

And, my favorite picture of the whole trip. We were invited to a village by the assistant village leader (comparable to one step up from mayor, I think) and this baby was laying on a bed under their shelter (again, no walls). The grandma was so proud of her! Every time the camera would flash, she would laugh and smile really big. I absolutely love this picture!! Makes me feel like Angelina Jolie! ;) (Thanks, Trish!)