Fullboy - Cambodia - Laughing Cows!

Kratie was more of a stopping off town en-route to Siem Reap. We opted out of the much touted river dolphin spotting as the creatures were so rare and threatened that we just wanted to leave them in peace. That left us with very little to do other than to explore the small town centre and market. There were some good fresh fruit stalls and we tried some of the local tropical delights, our favourite being the delicious rambutan, very similar to a lychee in flavour and colour with a dramatic soft, spiny shell that peels away to reveal the luscious, juicy fruit. We sat down by the river, bought a green coconut and drank the refreshing water contained within. When finished we asked the lady if she'd chop the coconut open so we could pick at the beautiful, white flesh inside. Tropical was the definitely the word of the day until we toned things down a bit by ordering a Laughing Cow cheese spread baguette and what looked like a pate baguette. I'm still not entirely sure what the 'pate' was but it was sweet, a bit gooey and not all that nice. The spam like meat that accompanied the baguette was not pleasant either. The cheese baguette wasn't all that much better, I think I'd be being generous if I said the lady used a half a triangle of cheese on it!! Very disappointed with the sandwiches I decided to have a look around the market to see if I could find some plain baguettes so I could make my own. Finding the fresh bread was not a problem and I bought some lovely French sticks for pennies. I found a shop and couldn't resist buying a pack of Laughing Cow cheese spread, definitely a childhood fave. We went back to our room and made our own baguettes which were infinitely better. Time to move on!!


























My tummy hadn't been right since I had my first gastro attack back in Laos and I was feeling a little worse for wear as we arrived in Siem Reap. I began to think that maybe certain brands of the bottled water were to blame but to be honest, I had no clue as to what was causing it. After a few mornings of exploring the outstanding Angkor Wat temples, and sunny afternoons relaxing on a rooftop pool with cocktails, there weren't many exciting meals to write about. Siem Reap was extremely foreigner orientated, obviously the temples are a worldwide attraction so every international cuisine was catered for. I was sticking to the bland food to try and sort out my belly again but we did have some nice bbq frog, the legs in particular were meaty and juicy. I can see why the French like them so much now!



















Still not feeling right!! It was really starting to annoy me now as my appetite had been affected too. We did have one lovely meal in Pnomh Penh at a very nice restaurant called Khmer Borane. It could almost be described as Cambodian fine dining. We ordered the sticky caramel pork, fillets of river fish and a pomelo salad. The food was exquisitely cooked and worth the extra few pennies!! The large chunks of moist pork had a delicate sweet flavour and the hard boiled eggs were an added bonus. The pomelo (a type of grapefruit) salad, was light, zesty and flavoursome and the fish fillets were perfect.






































We had a few other decent meals in Pnomh Penh, one at 4am as we left the infamous Heart of Darkness nightclub, can't quite remember what it was but it hit the spot!! Another highlight was buying a ready-cooked bbq chicken, a few baguettes and some mayonnaise and making some fat chicken mayo sandwiches... mmmmmmm!! Finally, we had a wonderful Vietnamese beef noodle soup, more commonly known in Vietnam as pho (pronounced fer!!) Which leads us on to Vietnam... Goodbye Cambodia!!

Fullboy - Cambodia - Ban Lung - Chewing Dust

It was a dry, dusty day as we crossed the border into Cambodia. We found a minibus to take us to the small town of Stung Treng where we would get onwards transport into a remote north eastern town called Ban Lung. We arrived at Stung Treng and waited in a small cafe for a number of hours for our next bus. I had a little walk around looking for anything of interest but to be honest, it was a fairly dull town and the most exciting thing I stumbled upon was an old lady frying up banana fritters. There were two types, one was the sweet variety and the other more savoury, similar to a plantain. They were a good, cheap snack to prepare us for the horror of a bus journey ahead.



















The bus arrived, there were no seats and nowhere to store our backpacks. We had to climb over piles of pineapples at the front of the bus and push our way through the aisle. Our bags had to go on the floor and we sat on little mini stools in the aisle. We were feeling very sweaty but just relieved to be sitting down and finally, the bus set off. More discomfort was around the corner as the bus travelled along dusty roads, so dusty that the inside of the bus was enveloped in a hazy, grainy cloud. People had their handkerchiefs over their face as the choking dust swirled around and there was an awful lot of coughing!! As the bus arrived in Ban Lung we were absolutely caked in dust, our clothes a mucky brown colour. We were mobbed as we got off the bus by touts desperate for us to go to their hotel, they must not get many foreigners in this neck of the woods. We chose a hotel and got a lift there on the back of a bike. The hotel restaurant menu was dull, my meal of minced pork and aubergine probably the most exciting thing I could see and to be fair, it was pretty good, the aubergine had a nice smoky taste and paired well with the meat. After a very long, refreshing shower, we called it a night.


















The next morning we set off in search of some breakfast and were finding it difficult to find anywhere that looked clean enough to eat. We're not overly fussy but there appeared to be a distinct lack of care for the surroundings of the restaurants in this town, last nights chicken bones and dirty tissues littered all over the floors. We thought we'd try the market and I'll be honest, it was the most shockingly dirty place we'd seen on our travels. Flies were literally encrusted onto the meat and fish on display, not just hovering around but nesting in numbers so large you couldn't even see the food! Rubbish tips were piled high next to the stalls and it smelt like... piles of rubbish. Now I know I'm on a mission to sample the local foods of Asia and the markets are usually always the place you get the best stuff, but there have to be exceptions. We couldn't bring ourselves to be in the market for much longer and made a hasty exit, retreating to a guesthouse restaurant we spotted earlier and having a forgettable breakfast. We don't mind eating in simple, even scruffy surroundings, but you have to draw the line somewhere and although the food always comes first, we cannot enjoy it whilst surrounded by filth.

We hired some bicycles and went for a cycle to Yeak Laom, a volcanic crater lake to have a nice swim. After cycling in the near 40 degree heat, we were red faced and sweaty and definitely needed some refreshment!! The lake was blissful and we enjoyed the cool, fresh water in the heat of the day. Cold beers followed shortly afterwards and we ordered some food to go with them. The menus looked a bit more exciting and I ordered some dried squid (a Korean fave) and dried eel to accompany the beer. Both were delicious and partnered by a fantastic salt and pepper mix with fresh lime wedges. We squeezed the lime juice into the salt to create a wonderful salty, zesty dip for the dried fish. Yummy! The other two dishes were pretty good too, a spicy shredded mango salad topped with baby shrimp and a chilli chicken with peanuts. The problem was that we'd ordered enough food for around six people and after eating way too much, we had to cycle back to our hotel, uphill!! It wasn't a pleasant ride in the searing heat with bellies like lead and we were grateful to get back to our hotels without throwing up the contents of the gargantuan lunch.





























Trekking through the dilapidated forests of Ban Lung was not all that much fun and what we learnt most was that the region seemed to have a serious deforestation problem. We passed many uprooted trees and heard the violent sound of chainsaws, never too far away. We walked past many cashew nut trees, a major source of income in this area, and sampled the actual cashew fruit which in appearance slightly resembled a bell pepper. The fruit had a peculiar, nutty, creamy taste and left a really dry feeling in the mouth, it wasn't that nice. One fruit yields just one cashew nut and it explains the relatively high cost of the finished product. We tried a few of the nuts picked from the fruit and toasted over a naked flame, you can't really get them much fresher. The highlight of the walk however was sampling some of the local jackfruit firewater which tasted pleasant and blew your head off at the same time. There were two other jars of homebrew which I tried but I couldn't tell you what was in them, only that they too were lethally strong and not too bad tasting.



























Slightly disappointed with the walk we returned to our guesthouse and tried out the restaurant next door as I'd promised the lady we'd eat there. The food was being cooked at the front of the restaurant and I chose at random, pointing to what was on display. We ended up with an interesting selection of coconut and jackfruit ricecakes, steamed fish in a banana leaf, bbq'd whole baby bird, grilled stuffed frog and a stinky soy bean paste again cooked in a banana leaf. We really enjoyed the variety of taste and unusual foods, the frog was particularly juicy and delicious, stuffed with chopped up noodles, nuts, lemongrass and minced frog meat. The fish was intensely flavoursome, again using lemongrass, lime leaf and chilli. There was definitely a hint of coconut in there too and the fish itself had a soft, subtle flavour. The rice cakes were tasty and filling and the bird was meaty if a little dry. The bean paste was definitely the strongest and most unusual tasting of the dishes, a little too tasty, in fact Melissa found it unpalatable and likened its aroma to that of stinky feet. I tried my best to finish it off because I don't like leaving food on the table but it was just far too rich. Overall, definitely our best meal in Cambodia so far. Our time was up and it was back on the long, dusty road to a small town called Kratie, famous for its freshwater river dolphins, for sightseeing, not eating!!

Fullboy - Laid back in Laos

Our first experience of a real sleeper bus complete with bed was a fun one as we headed towards southern Laos. We actually got quite a good nights sleep and we arrived in Pakse feeling positively refreshed. Everywhere was very quiet as it was only around 6am so we jumped on the nearest tuk-tuk and got a lift to the centre of town. We found a large, Chinese owned hotel that had a simple restaurant on the ground floor serving some yummy looking noodle soup. After dropping our bags off in the room, we decided to go and get a coffee and some breakfast. We both ordered the beef noodle soup, a delicate, light, fragrant broth with rice noodles and thin slivers of lean, tender beef. An old lady sitting next to us took it upon herself to show us how to season our soups and we had to politely stop her adding the sweet chilli sauce, not that we don't like a bit of spice but the soup was too nice to be overpowered by bottled sauce. We've watched the locals season their soups and in our opinion, they just put too much of everything in. We're not of course saying the locals are wrong, although I'm sure they'd think we were!! It's all a matter of personal taste and what the broth tastes like to begin with.
















We had a leisurely day strolling around the small town and happened to stumble across a temple that was home to lots and lots of kittens. Melissa of course was in cat heaven and spent lots of time making friends with all of the cats. One of the kittens was a bit skinny and had weepy eyes and a German tourist told us that he thought it should be put out of its misery, much to the disgust of Melissa who gave him a stern scowl. We finally said goodbye to the cats and went to find some dinner.


The choices were limited in Pakse, the menus were very similar in the few restaurants on the main road so we went for a little wonder up and down the side roads to see if we could find something a little bit more exciting. We found the food market which would usually excite us but in this case, it was not busy at all and the food looked like it had been sitting out for a while. Running out of options, we decided to eat at a decent looking restaurant we had passed earlier and ordered some fresh spring rolls, some fried chicken breasts and a mango salad. The four large spring rolls looked very appetising and came with the obligatory fish dipping sauce. The three chicken breasts on a bed of salad looked golden and delicious. The crispy, shredded mango salad, spicy, sweet and sour was a perfect accompaniment to the plain tasting chicken and spring rolls. Our giant plates of food had unfortunately attracted the attention of the local tramp. He looked a bit worse for wear and under the influence of alcohol but we did have way too much food so I decided to be the good samaritan and I gave him one of the fresh spring rolls. At first he refused and pointed to the chicken instead... cheeky git!! Melissa was losing her patience and obviously wanted rid of the drunk, dirty tramp that was hovering over our food. He finally took the spring roll but instead of going away, he brazenly dipped it in our dipping sauce and made a mess all over the table. He did this not once but twice, sauce dripping off his unshaven chin!! Even the tramps follow the strict local laws of how to eat your food!! I had to firmly tell him to go away before he ate all of our food and got a telling off from Melissa for attracting crazy people, something I seem to be good at. After our eventful evening, we went back to our hotel to get a good nights sleep because all the lights in this uneventful town seemed to switch off at 9pm.


















We woke early the next morning to catch transport to the Bolaven Plateau, a wonderful hilly area where all of the amazing coffee grows. We caught a bus to Tad-Lo, a beautiful, rustic, waterfront village with lots of bamboo huts. Cows and pigs were roaming around freely and children were playing in the river. An old lady found us and beckoned us to her basic huts right by the river. We paid the equivalent of £2 for the hut and found it to be one of the most romantic spots we had stayed in, sipping a beer Lao on the balcony of our bamboo hut overlooking the Mekong river on a gloriously sunny day without a care in the world. The food was good and the steamed fish in banana leaf that we had to order at lunch time to be ready for the evening was definitely an unusual dish. It arrived wrapped in the banana leaf but instead of being a whole fish it was minced and mashed with egg and noodles in a sort of block. Not what I expected but very tasty nevertheless. We also had a really good curried vegetable soup, loads of roughly chopped veggies in a light curry broth, it reminded me of old fashioned curry powder taste. We ended our wonderful day with another Beer Lao and called it a night.





























Our next stop was Paksong, a small town in the Bolaven Plateau and a good base to explore the coffee plantations and waterfalls in the area. It was a real mission to get there as the roads were still in the process of being built and we ended up flagging down anything going up the road in the hope of getting to where we wanted to go. After a number of rickshaws, tuk-tuks and a nice bus, we finally ended up in Paksong, a rather quiet looking one street town with not an awful lot going on. A short distance away however was the most amazing waterfall we have ever seen and we were lucky enough to have a really sunny day and be able to swim in the pool below. After our nice swim we explored the coffee plantations and bought some freshly ground Laos coffee to send back to our family in England, we also had a sample ourselves, strong stuff!! Unfortunately, my tranquillity was about to be rudely interrupted by an extremely violent stomach upset. Who knows the culprit (probably that strange block of fish!!) but I was off my food for a number of days after this so unfortunately nothing exciting to write about food-wise :-(

































We arrived back in Pakse after our lovely excursion into the hills and caught another bus further south to a small town called Champasak. We were waiting an age for the bus to leave as the driver wanted more passengers and we had to amuse ourselves in the 40 degree heat by drinking lots of 7-Up and watching rogue cows eat scraps from wicker basket bins. The buses were more like pick up trucks with benches in the back and were extremely hot when not moving. Eventually we got another few passengers and we set off. We had to board a makeshift car ferry as we reached the Mekong river and noticed a woman on a floating platform selling some really nice looking fresh spring rolls. My tummy felt right enough to try a little bit and they were fantastic, the rice paper was very fresh and soft and the filling crunchy and tasty. We watched a team of ladies surrounded by baskets of fresh ingredients making them from scratch and passing the finished rolls to a young girl who would hand them to the hungry customers. We munched them up, handed back the plate to the young girl and waved goodbye as our car ferry crossed the river.



































After a night in Champasak exploring a temple at night time and a close encounter with a snake, we caught a bus and long boat to our next destination, the 4000 islands. This was to be without the doubt the most relaxed, laid back place we had visited and we spent a week relaxing in a bamboo hut by the river, swaying in our hammocks and being very lazy!! We tried an interesting lentil dish, similar in texture to an Indian dal but flavoured with lemongrass and lime leaves, a great variation in flavour. Along with this we ordered a pumpkin sandwich that arrived as toasted pieces of bread with mashed up pumpkin patties, cucumber and tomato on top, again very tasty. We weren't sure if the pumpkin was a local delicacy or just something to appease the palate of the large number of backpackers in the area but it was a tasty change from noodle soup nevertheless. We found another tasty snack whilst wondering the small dusty paths of the main path running through the island (there are no roads!!) in the form of samosas. Again, not quite sure if they are Laos delicacies but the little girl selling them was so cute and they were so cheap and delicious that we made many return visits.

































Alas, it was time to say goodbye to Laos. We had purposefully stayed over the allotted 30 days on our tourist visa thinking that it was only a $2 a day fine but then realised it was $10 a day so thought we better get a move on to Cambodia. The immigration officer in typical laid back Laos fashion never noticed that we had overstayed our visa by two days, or maybe he just didn't care.