Another day, another tour. This time out into the country side to spend time in a village with one of the poorer families. To help them with some of their daily tasks and to see how they live from very little income. We were introduced to a mother and 3 children, her sister and children and her niece. The niece was one of the few children from the poorer families which are chosen for free education at a American sponsored school. The remaining children just get basic education at the local school. All the men were out in the fields working. We began with an ox cart ride pulled by 2 buffalo around the village. Back at their house which is constructed with palm leaves woven onto a pole which is then layered with others and encased in a bamboo frame to make the walls and roof. We were shown how to weave the bamboo leaves onto the pole using thin strips of bamboo cane with a metal point pushed onto the end as the needle and thread. For lunch we helped prepare the food and cook it over a log fire. The starter was soup, the main ingredient was fish mixed with celery, tamarind and other herbs. The second course was a typical Cambodian dish which included lemon grass, peanuts, garlic, chili, root from ginger family, salt, sugar and fermented fish paste which was at least 12 months old, To add extra protein they collected a red ants nest which hung in the mango trees, shook the ants into a bucket of water to kill them, scooped out and mixed with the other ingredients. This was then finely chopped into a coarse paste, pummelled and shaped into a flat cake about the size of a thick slice of bread, and wrapped in a banana leave to be cooked by heating on a grill over the fire. This was eaten by scooping onto a piece of cucumber. I thought it was very good, but Janina could not put it into her mouth. For desert we had mixed fruit., Our guide also brought sandwiches if we could not eat their food
Another day, another tour. This time out into the country side to spend time in a village with one of the poorer families. To help them with some of their daily tasks and to see how they live from very little income. We were introduced to a mother and 3 children, her sister and children and her niece. The niece was one of the few children from the poorer families which are chosen for free education at a American sponsored school. The remaining children just get basic education at the local school. All the men were out in the fields working. We began with an ox cart ride pulled by 2 buffalo around the village. Back at their house which is constructed with palm leaves woven onto a pole which is then layered with others and encased in a bamboo frame to make the walls and roof. We were shown how to weave the bamboo leaves onto the pole using thin strips of bamboo cane with a metal point pushed onto the end as the needle and thread. For lunch we helped prepare the food and cook it over a log fire. The starter was soup, the main ingredient was fish mixed with celery, tamarind and other herbs. The second course was a typical Cambodian dish which included lemon grass, peanuts, garlic, chili, root from ginger family, salt, sugar and fermented fish paste which was at least 12 months old, To add extra protein they collected a red ants nest which hung in the mango trees, shook the ants into a bucket of water to kill them, scooped out and mixed with the other ingredients. This was then finely chopped into a coarse paste, pummelled and shaped into a flat cake about the size of a thick slice of bread, and wrapped in a banana leave to be cooked by heating on a grill over the fire. This was eaten by scooping onto a piece of cucumber. I thought it was very good, but Janina could not put it into her mouth. For desert we had mixed fruit., Our guide also brought sandwiches if we could not eat their food
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