Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The hundredth early morning of this trip; in reality it’s only the eighth early morning but out of 16 that is a very high percentage. We were in the lobby at 4:30am for the drive to Vientiane airport. When we arrived, the airport wasn’t open and we were the first to check-in a clear security. Sadly, we had a stop-over in southern Laos at Pakse, where we had to deplane and go through immigration, so the flight time was three hours.
Walking in to the beautiful Siem Reap airport was a huge change from Vientiane. Small, but modern in an old style building. There were about ten desks to handle visa-on-arrival, and I filled out my application so quickly that I was first in line. Our driver was ready to transfer us to the hotel and we arrived at 10:45am, almost seven hours after waking up. J.P. took us on a walk to downtown Siem Reap and lunch at Khmer Kitchen. Donna and Norm chose not to join, and the rest of us enjoyed our first Khmer meal. I ordered Khmer curry with chicken, a yellow curry with lots of potatoes and carrots.
From lunch, I ventured out into the city alone. Spent some time in the old market and part of the waterfront. Around 2pm I was really starting to drag from the early morning and decided to check out Bodia, the spa Becky recommended. I treated myself to a 90 minute Asian-style massage after finding the discount coupon in a Japanese tour book since the spa was nicer than most. The tiny woman climbed up on the table and the pressure was too much for me to handle. Eventually we found a good balance. Lovely!
By the time I finished my massage, I only had an hour to kill before my cooking class. Since the hotel is a good walk from downtown, I spent a little time in the old market doing a bit more shopping. Why I suddenly have the urge to buy things can only stem from the proximity of my return to the States.
Elli and I met at Le Tiger de Papier for our Khmer cooking class. Unlike the Vietnamese and Thai cooking classes I attended, we got to choose our own starter and main to cook. There were 14 of us total and I couldn’t figure out how we would all manage to cook different dishes. Like the other classes, we began with a trip to the market to see some of the ingredients in person. Even though there were only six of us, it was hard to hear our guide in the crowded, small space.
When we got back to the cooking school, there was a small kitchen for ten of us to cook in. While we could all chop ingredients at the same time, we had to take turns cooking the food. I prepared a spicy shrimp salad (which I made not spicy by leaving out the chili) and amok with fish. Prep involved lots of grating and chopping; my eyes were extremely sensitive to the onion. Elli and I took tons of pictures of each other as the class progressed. I enjoyed spending time with her as we hadn’t spent too much time just the two of us on the trip. I really wish she hadn’t paid for own room so that the three women could have rotated roommates and I wouldn’t have been stuck with Ros the entire time.
This afternoon when I walked around the city, J.P., Elli, Jacek and Ros went to the children’s hospital to donate blood. When I asked Elli how it went, she told me that Ros wasn’t able to give blood because she had her period. You think she would have known that given she’s a nurse. Made me laugh so hard, just another stupid thing. After over two weeks of dealing with her being patient is becoming increasingly challenging. I can’t understand how she gets through the day on her own.
Back to cooking. As a group, we got to prepare sticky rice with mango for dessert. Basically you add coconut cream, sugar and condensed milk to the rice. So bad for you, but so delicious. After cooking my shrimp and mixing up the salad dressing with my hands, I took a bite of my creation – it was excellent! Hopefully I can reproduce it at home. The amok was equally tasty and I served it in a banana leaf bowl (which I also got to make). J.P. booked a table for the rest of the group at 7:30pm so that we could all eat dinner together, but Elli and I didn’t end up coming down until 8. Luckily no one had their food yet and we passed our around for the group to sample. Ela ordered the amok with fish and thought my tasted better – go me! A very enjoyable afternoon and evening. Temple-ing tomorrow and another early morning.
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