Kampuchea Crossings

Bump to baby on the beaten expat track

Nathalie Abejero

Bye George!

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Join us in the countdown pandemonium nearly a decade in the making, and share in the merriment of 43’s imminent and much anticipated departure! What started with some hanging chads in the Fall of 2000 will finally come to an end! No weapons of mass destruction will be unfound; no Vice Presidential shotgun will be uncocked! Watch the West Wing purge of 8 years of carnage and idiocy and toast the End of an Error at two events!

If you can’t catch the Beltway action on the 20th, then join us at the Gym Bar for the LIVE inaugural soul cleansing! In honor of the Accidental President, we celebrate his departure with a nostalgic trip down memory lane with a Pub Quiz before commencing with the ceremonies. So get your game on, test those brain cells, have some fun and win great prizes! And in true Phnom Penh tradition sure to inspire a drinking problem worthy of Bush’s past, the evening will end in a special toast to the return of reason and a period that can only head in one direction– up!!

And no festivities worth the 8 exhausting years of getting beaten up, stolen from, knocked down, lied to and laughed at can end with one event! The going away revelries for our favorite cowboy continue at CHOW on Saturday 24 January with a rebroadcast of the most exciting POTUS torch pass in a generation! We wanted change and we made it happen! So once again, let’s GIDDY UP, GET GLAM and PARTY HARD-Y with friends who helped make history!!

Book review: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

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Wow. Despicable characters trapped in contrived lives freefalling to hell. No plot. Hackneyed social commentaries. And yet, I loved it!! Don’t read it for a good story. If you want technical brilliance and stylistic writing– cartwheeling between streams of consciousness, juggling fury with humor, in pretentious yet witty ramblings– you’ll enjoy this work.

a list for 2009

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Sitting Shiva… auhmmmm…

… and still time also sits, oblivious to the passage of my benchmark years, the march of progress, the arc of the cosmos.

So in great anticipation of bright months ahead, here is my short-list for the very cheery year of 2009:
1. Learn something new
2. Drink more good wine
3. Run faster
4. Put personal finance in order and invest more
5. Take my career to the next level
6. Get more active with the social life
7. Keep in better touch with people who are important to me
8. Read 26 books this year
9. Discover and own more good music
10. Be able to identify the plants, animals and birds that are in my area
11. Begin concrete plans towards the next country
12. Have toned arms

Disclaimer: as with any pursuit providing opportunity for snobbery, said goals are subject to amendment upon further (sober) reflection or fitful caprice.
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Where apsaras dance….

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Khmer weddings enact Cambodia’s greatest legend. The first Khmer prince, Preah Thong, fell in love with the Naga Princess, Neang Neak. As a marriage gift, the father of the Naga Princess swallowed part of the ocean and forms the land of Cambodia.

The wedding can last anywhere from 3-7 days and is a sensory experience– vibrant colors and sounds, the best foods, community involvement– rich with symbolism and traditions:

Hai Goan Gomloh – The groom’s processional, to the bride’s house, accompanied by family and friends, music and gifts
Sien Doan Taa – Call to Ancestors, to include those important to the lives of the couple in their joyous union
Soat Mun – Blessings from the Monks
Gaat Sah – Cleansing Ceremony, where representatives of the deities cleanse the couple spiritually and symbolically to prepare and bless them for their new future together
Bang Chhat Madaiy – Honoring of the Parents, in which the couple perform symbolic gestures indicating their commitment to their parents
Bongvul Pbopul – Passing of Blessings, in which married couples are asked to surround the bride and groom to impart their blessings
Sompeas Ptem – Knot Tying Ceremony, in which guests tie knots around the wrists of the bride and groom, symbolising their wishes for the bride and groom

A more complete description of Khmer weddings can be found at the Khmer Institute.
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Jiminy crickets and arachnid cuisine

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These crunchy crickets the Khmers are so wild about are about 2.5inches long, the females huge with eggs at the end of rainy season. Crickets owe their place in the culinary landscape to the art of survival during the starvation period of the Khmer Rouge era.

Today this delicacy has surged in popularity, creating a robust trade with neighboring countries, the heart of which is in Kampong Thom, a requisite stop between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap where they particularly thrive. At night fields light up with the bug-catching contraptions: a flourescent bulb to attract them is hung about 2m off the ground on a bamboo frame 2m wide, with sheets of plastic to catch them mid-flight, and a trough of water below for them to drop into and drown. A farmer investing in such a trap can net up to 10kg of the bugs.

A colleague particularly enjoys it stuffed with a peanut or cashew, fried in garlic and spices. Another wants me to bring fresh ones back from the province when I next go, so she can try stuffing it with cheese. These were 50/$3.50 but that’s quite steep since we were on the tourist track. Trying to describe it is a bit hard, since it isn’t like anything I’ve had before– crispy-crunchy texture (like a tarantula), nutty, earthy… It’s not an unpleasant taste, if you can get past the revulsion…

And remember this post? Today tarantulas are 1000riel each (25cents). Believed to contain medicinal properties for the heart and lungs, they’re farmed in a small town called Skun, which is also in Kampong Thom province. The crispy legs aren’t so objectionable, it’s almost like a potato chip. It’s the rump that brings on the cringe– this has a meatier texture than the cricket’s torso, and has a nutty taste seasoned with garlic and lemongrass.

A gastronomic adventure awaits the uncompromising palate!
mmmmm….Bon appetit y’all!! (Don’t worry, your chowhounds’ holiday fare wasn’t so aesthetically or gastronomically objectionable! ;)