Beatific Moments

Looking for something to eat in Cambodia is truly an adventure.  A food stand is almost in every corner of the city but since they all drift around depending on the hour and/or thier profitability, you never know what to expect or find.  And nothing excites me more than discovering a new food stand.

Today was one of those auspicious days.  It was my coworker who spotted it first. We were all on our way home walking towards Old Market. We stopped to walked over to see what she was selling as she had a huge pot with different kinds of rice. 

It was the first time the three of us saw this stand and whether or not we knew what this was, we couldn't contain ourselves any longer. We were ready to embark on our new food stand experience.

The lady scooped up the different kinds of rice on to a thinner version of a pita bread/crepe and seasoned it with sugar, coconut, and crushed peanuts.

And the result was just heavenly. 

The the coconut and sugar harmonized the flavors and texture of the different rice. Thr aroma of the peanuts sprinkled over the freshly steamed rice added a perfect touch. 2,000 riel (50 cents) well spent.

Funny Inspirations

We are all hardworkers in the LHA office, but we do like to have some fun from time to time. Many of the admin staff (Cambodian non-monks) are quite young so we tend to resort to online videos for some entertaining procrastinations "coffee breaks" during the middle of the day. The video I saw with them today was quite telling and powerful so I thought I would share it here.

 

 

 

 

This may be (yet) another Psy parody video of Cambodian kids enacting his infamous "Gangnam Style" but the story behind them is truly riveting. There is a short documentary portion in the latter half of the video so I don't want to give away too much information; but I promise you will see this video in a completely different light when you watch it for the second time.

 

And the most siginificant part is that despite their situations, the children are extremely talented, happy, and funny. Yet at the same time the video has touched many, including many Cambodians. I am not sure if these kids realize how much of an impact they have made but if they don't, I do hope they do one day. And I surely hope that they will continue to impact and inspire others.

 

 

 

Restaurant Review: Old House Restaurant

To all of you looking forward for me to write about reviews on Siem Reap restaurants, let me warn you that there will not be many so this is quite rare!

 

Currently my food budget is under $5/day (I will have a future post on how I survive). While that is sufficient enough for me to survive here, I'm in a pretty destitute situation. So unfortunately I would not be able to give you much information on the nice places to eat around here (I live off of food stands, semi-home cooked meals, and very local eateries so I am happy to give you an abundance of posts on those!).

Nevertheless when Dring visited me, he kindly offered to take me out to dinner so we went to Old House Restaurant which is an expat and tourist favorite.

 

The food is very reasonably priced but has great service and a nice cozy ambiance. We both ordered the 3-course meal. The course comes with an appetizer, main course, and dessert it's only $6!

 

 

 

The restaurant has a Zen-like t 

Appetizer: Papaya Salad.. my favorite!

 

Main course: Amok and Curry (I think)

The food is fresh and local and the portions are just right. The papaya salad is especially nice with the right amount of spices and herbs.

I don't have any pictures of dessert since we both devoured it and didn't realize it until it was too late. But we had the mango with sticky rice and fried banana and needless to say, they were good as well!


The venue is located just behind Pub Street so it's quiet enough to enjoy the meal, but it's definitely accessible to go out for a few rounds of drinking post-meal ;)

Address: Hospital St, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Phone:+855 12 493 948

Running at Sunrise

After 3 weeks of staying indoors most of the time to avoid the rains that have been inundating the city, my body clearly had a paucity of exercise. I started going to yoga class twice a week but something was still missing in my life. 

Ah, running

Even since I ended my career as a high school varsity track & field and cross country runner, I have repeatedly told myself I was done away with running. But as all you runners know, it's kind of a bug that sticks around for you for the rest of your life. Whenever I don't run for a few weeks my body starts to yearn for it. 

But I have been a bit ambivalent running in Siem Reap. I always get a bit squirmish running on roads I'm not very familiar with. Plus I was unsure whether or not the environment here would be runner friendly. But recently my scintillating coworker, who just started training for the Angkor Wat half marathon in December, has been saying that the roads were totally innocuous and she was really enjoying her runs.  So after getting proselytized for a few days, I was finally galvanized enough this morning to jump out my bed before sunrise and go on a quick run. 

And now I'm in love with it. 

I don't know why I was fretting so much before. Nothing can be so soothing and beautiful than running along the riverside while watching the sun slowly rise (especially since I avoided rush hour raft of motorcycles swarming around everywhere).  

I suppose Asian women runners are a bit of a novelty out here so most of the people I pass on the streets have either looked at me in aghast or smiled at me. It's quite entertaining. Well, soon it will no longer be a novelty because you are going to see me quite often from now on! 

My body feels a bit enervated since my body has not yet acclimatized to running in this heat but otherwise I feel fantastic.

I suppose signing up and training for that half marathon myself isn't such a bad idea after all? 

Friday Afternoon

We've been blessed with sunshine for the past few days and it's just gorgeous. I love it when I'm at the office and the drums stars to roll at 5 o'clock, the signal for evening prayer. Monks of all ages start to make their move towards the main pagoda to join in for the prayer session.  All this with a sunset as a backdrop simply makes it the most beautiful scene to watch.

Happy Friday everyone!

Work Updates

 

At LHA, we have two great programs for advancing underprivileged girls in the area: Program Advancing Girls Education (PAGE), and the Sewing School Girls. And both have been greatly successful. Many of the PAGE girls who have graduated this year have received scholarships for universities and got job offers from hotel and service industries. The Sewing School has gotten the sponsorship from the Hyatt Siem Reap.

 

But there are many aspects that are still wanting in their programs. For example since the girls come from the Provinces, they are not aware of many of the services that are offered in a city like Siem Reap; namely health services.  It is questionable if these girls even know the general concept of health and hygiene. I am also not sure if they know what to do if they fall to victims of sexual abuse or domestic violence.  Having a background working with women and youth development, this has been a great concern to me. 

 

And although many of the girls have gotten university acceptances and job offers, they have to sought out to apply on their own as no guidance or career counselors exist in Cambodian high schools. This could be a daunting and difficult procedure if there is no one to show them the ropes. Some of the girls can be quite retired and demure, especially talking to someone superior. So it must be hard for them to even voice their career aspirations. Also in a society in which corruption is rampant some careers are tougher to go into than others unless you have connections. For others, they don't even know what they want to do and are in need of guidance.

 

But nevertheless, there is no doubt that these programs have been stellar and I have no intention of criticizing or changing it. I just want these girls to have a few life skills and empowerment courses incorporated into the curriculum.  Hence I've put together a proposal to run "Empowerment Workshops" for the girls. Each workshop will have guest speakers, professionals and other NGOs come in to discuss about these matters. The goal is to make the sessions informative but casual enough so that the girls can be more expansive and potentially open up discussions. I'm also outlining a general curriculum so that a variety of sessions will be offered.

 

Both programs run under a rigorous schedule so finding a time to offer these workshops is going to be a headache. I'm slowly trying to get the support of the staff to cooperate with me to free up their schedules a bit. But that could be sticky subject to bring up. Coming from a Asian background in which rigorous academic studying is greatly encouraged, I do understand that getting a good education is important. And I don't want to do anything to check their education. However, these life skills are crucial for them to become successful in society as Cambodian women. It is surely going to take a while for my proposal to be accepted but I'm confident that they will understand the importance of this.

 

On a positive note, I went to the PAGE house again yesterday since I had a meeting with the house mother. She seems to agree with my view which is good but I still have to talk with the project manager who is a monk. I hope he is not too blinkered because I need to intimate to him (I can't dare say it directly!) the importance of teaching the girls about pregnancy prevention and menstruation!

 

 

 

 

 

Ohm Studying

Students in Cambodia study very hard - and monks are no exception!