19.02.2017 - After the countryside cycling, the group is now headed for lunch in a local home. We arrived at 12.20pm, after an hour drive from our cycling spot.
Our lunch spot is in a fishing village. During the rainy season, the water level can go up very high, hence, the reason the houses are on stilt.
Our lunch in a local home. We have to remove our cap and shoes before entering the house. An elderly lady has cooked for us stir-fried cabbage and rice. There were 2 others in the group who opt for noodles instead of rice. This is a local Khmer food, but for me, it is a Chinese dish too. Haha! My eldest sister cooked stir-fried cabbage for one of our Chinese New Year meals but she mixed it with fish paste which made it spicy. I digress.
After lunch, we were given some time to rest on the floor or the hammock.
Here is the view from our host's window.
We spent about an hour in our host place before we continued our walk to our boat ride. I just read the website of Triple A Cambodia and noticed they missed out one of the activities from the Full Day Tour - After lunch, we get back aboard to reach a pagoda located on an island. We always have a great time there, walking by the monk school and watching monks in their day-to-day routine. I did see a pagoda from across the host's house. One has to cross a bridge to get there. I wonder why was this activity omitted - maybe because no one remembers the itinerary. I only remembered cycling, boat ride and floating village from the website.
I think fishing net makes a good shade from the heat.
My sister noticed this as we walked past a grocery store - Babi on a cleanser bottle. It is meant to be Baby but babi in my national language means pig. That will cause a social media stress if anyone sees this and it won't be used.
Here we are, to the jetty to board our boat to visit Kompong Khleang, a floating village on Tonle Sap Lake, the biggest freshwater lake in South East Asia.
Check out what is the boatman pressing on - a rope which connects to the accelerator.
These plants act as fishing nets. As the lake is hot, the fishes will swim inside these plants as the plants are cooling. The fishermen will cast their net around these plants and the fishes get tangled inside. The plant can be moved around as there are no roots.
This is an equipment to spray pesticide across the black bean farm.
We saw a floating school.
Here, we have reached at the mouth of Tonle Sap Lake. The water is choppy here. Thankfully, I did not throw up. Rang takes out the map and shows where we are now. We stayed here for about 15 minutes as Rang gave us a brief history on Tonle Sap Lake. The boatman switched off the engine and our boat floated close to some of the plants and the boatman had to restart the engine to maneuver the boat away.
Our location is further verified in Google Map from my sister's phone.
One can climb up the wooden stairs to go to the roof of the boat.
The whole boat experience took us 1.5 hours. Soon, we were headed back to the van.
First, a visit to the toilet.
Back in the van, Rang was distributing wet tissues and water for us. This was so much in contrast to the safari guide from my Tanzanian trip who was unwilling to give us water.
Along the way back, Rang stopped at the roadside to introduce to us some sticky rice cooked in bamboo. We have sort of similar stuff in Malaysia too, by the name of Lemang. Rang informed that a small bamboo sells for KHR3000 / USD0.70 / RM3.30
Kralan consist of sticky rice cooked in coconut milk black eyed peas or bean stuffed in bamboo. The cooking is a lengthy and fuel consuming process (usually charcoal or wood).
The bamboo sections are about thirty centimetres long and of different diameters (skinny, medium, fat, as we say in Khmer). A medium sized bamboo section will feed easily two Khmer, but a westerner can probably eat one on his own.
Kralan is a rich food, add some beans, and it's almost a full meal. According to tradition, Khmer soldiers from Angkorian times, and even earlier, would take kralan on patrols. No need to cook, and it keeps for a few days (especially if you don't add too much coconut milk). This was ideal for expeditions and travels throughout the old Khmer Empire. Thing is, modern kralan with coconut milk does not keep well beyond two or three days, so it's better to eat it on the day of purchase. Source from Gnarf Gnarf.
To me, the taste is not as fragrant as the Malaysian Lemang. I think it is because ours have more coconut milk. It is a good experience, altogether.
I asked Rang if he can drop us at Angkor Wat Ticket Office so we can buy the tickets for the next day to catch the sunrise, and maybe see the sunset today. Initially, the driver did not agree as he said that the ticketing office will be closed between 4 and 5pm. I did remember reading that the ticket office is open after 5pm to sell for the next day ticket but the driver seemed adamant that he was right. Rang was not sure of the ticket office hours. Thankfully, my sister had her Google Map opened and she pointed out that we have time to reach the Office as it was only 4.30pm and it was just 7km distance from wherever we are. So, the driver had no choice but to agree to drop us at the Ticket Office.
Our drop-off - Angkor Wat Ticket Office.
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