He wasn't too sure about me!
Another 'sister'
And another.
The party in full swing!
Atu and my host engage in some sort of symbolic 'dance' which represents the welcoming of a guest; me; and thanks their Buddha for the ability to have food to share. It was not as serious as it sounds; in fact quite comical and I only wish that I could have understood more as most of the humour seemed to be directed at me but in a good way!
Bongsrai and niece.
Her sister and husband.
Not sure who he was but he did not stop laughing for hours!
Our 'taxi' is parked under the trees in the background.
My hosts for the day; the table they are sat on is the one that all the food was served on and we all sat cross legged on it to eat. Not too comfortable for me but I managed an hour or so!
The humble abode of my 'family' for the day.
Fried snails, seared fish and a fish entrail dip(!) for starters. The jury is still out on the dip!
Each house has a smallholding where they produce crops for sale in the city; this is their only source of income. I walked along the path beside the water until I came to a warning sign that there was unexploded ordinance in the area and very carefully did an about turn! These people have a tough life but they still keep smiling!
Get her a job at Perillas! Frying the fish and God was it good.
An Aga, Cambodian stlye; bloody hot in the kitchen!
Bongsrai preparing mango which was served as an appetiser; very sour but delicious dipped in a mixture of Kampot pepper, salt and chilli oil!
Chickens, chillies and coriander.
No stainless steel work surfaces here; the Cambodians like so many Asians have the ability to sit cross legged on the floor for hours.
The next door neighbours house.
I was invited to visit the family and friends of Bongsrai, that is the sister of Atu; well sort of sister; I am not sure really who is related to who here and often I think they use the word sister or brother to mean a close friend rather than an actual blood relation. I thought that there would be three of us going but in fact it ended up as six of us in a tuk tuk travelling about an hour or so out into the country. The journey there was mainly on little more than dirt tracks going through lush vegetation, paddy fields and mangrove swamps; I wish I had brought a cushion to sit on but the splendour of the scenery soon took my mind off of the discomfort in the tuk tuk.
It seems that Sunday is the day when families get together and it reminded me of the Italian chef Antonio Carluccio. He, in one of his television series, showed how the Italians often have an all day party on a Sunday with their extended family. What I was privileged to experience yesterday was reminiscent of that.
We stopped at what looked like a wild west frontier town(village), to buy all sorts of food and of course a supply of 'My country's beer', that is Angkor lager. I was asked to go and buy some ice while the girls did the food shopping. I found a place a few hundered yards from the tuk tuk and a young boy, no older than ten, who spoke the most perfect English asked me to follow him to the back of the shop. Here there was a block of ice about the size of a large television and he started to saw it up into squares about the size of a breeze block. I bought three blocks and hurried back to the tuk tuk before they melted too much; it was a bit cooler here than the city but still in the 90's. We were loaded up beyond belief with chickens, fish, snails the size of tennis balls, snake, frogs and lots of vegetables; not forgetting three cases of the amber nectar. We arrived at the home of Bongsrai's family at ten thirty to a rapturous welcome and of course those wonderful smiles!
So, with the introductions done I am given a seat in the shade and told to relax with a beer and some of that sour mango with dip, while the women and girls start to prepare the feast. As you see in the pictures the preparation is done on the floor with little more than a meat cleaver which they are very adept at using. I wanted to watch them prepare the food which they all found very amusing as this is definately viewed as womens work here and they could not understand my interest in cooking. However I soon had them in fits of laughter when I tried to help and use the cleaver very unsuccessfully only managing to destroy a mango! A retreat to shaded 'porch' seemed in order and now some of the men had arrived and wanted to talk to me.
It was now only 11.30.a.m. and I had a feeling this was going to be another memorable day. The food was coming out from the kitchen at a rate of knots and I wondered how we were possibly going to eat it all. I have eaten some weird and wonderful things since being in Cambodia but this was eating at grass root level. We had fried snake, steamed snails, fried fish, frogs, chicken, fish entrails in a searingly hot chilli sauce, flowers from the garden, water lily stems, chickens blood, rare sea snails cooked in garlic, banana chips with sugar and the most delicious small fried anchovy like fish, cooked in a hot coconut sauce. At about 1.30.p.m. my host thought that I should have a rest and decided to erect a hammock between two trees for me to have a short sleep. I tried to say that I was fine and did not really want to rest but he was going to so much trouble that I thought I had better take up his offer. Now then, the average Cambodian does not have the same stature as me and I knew what was going to happen when I attempted to get into the hammock and yes it did; it collapsed with me in a heap on the floor and the rest of the family rolling about laughing; not to be outdone by my weight, he then produced another ' stronger' one and secured it higher up the tree. By now the neighbours are around as well and I just know that this was going to end up the same. Well, much to my surprise it holds me, albeit rather precariously about three foot above the ground, and rather than sleep I am then fed food and drink whilst being serenaded by........oh yes, the one and only Cambodian karaoke; even in the country it still has a vice like grip on these people. I am now feeling like a Roman Emperor, swinging in my hammock being attended to, like royalty. Things continue in this vain for about half an hour while the girls reorganise the table and bring more food out for the second half of the party.
Beer was running low so my host's son was sent off on a moto to get some more; he is only about ten years old and I am wondering how he is going to buy alcohol and maybe more importantly how he is going to drive the bike and carry it back. No need to worry though because the Cambodians are past masters at carrying huge loads on small bikes and as we are in the country, traffic is not a problem. I have seen five people on a moto with a television set in the centre of Phnom Penh so I am sure our boy will manage this one.
He returns ten minutes later, sat on two cases of Angkor, and almost lying flat on the bike to enable him to steer properly and of course smiling all the time. The party now starts to get a bit rowdy with some sort of singing competition between the women and men; I consider teaching them the 'Oggie' song, but events are taken out of my hands when I am asked to sit in the middle of the table and receive gifts of food from everyone present. Now I have no choice in what I am to eat so I do end up eating a little of everything I have already mentioned and try to look as if I am enjoying it, so as not to cause offence. Actually apart from the fish entrail dip, I did enjoy most of it and much more importantly my hosts, I am sure loved the fact that I joined in with no regrets.
Things continued like this until about six in the evening; we watched an amazing sunset and then it was time for the journey home. I know I am risk of waxing lyrical yet again but today I felt so humbled and honoured that such poor people could make such a fuss of me. I genuinely believe they enjoyed my company and I have been invited to the other relations house in about two weeks time. A very simple day of eating and drinking, singing, talking and certainly the highlight of my trip so far. We arrived back in the city at seven thirty; I had a shower and went to bed feeling wonderful.
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