Abstraction
Fishery resources are under heavy pressure from an increasing population that uses natural resources for their livelihoods; as well as increased conflict spreading amongst the areas, the conflicts come from benefices and the person who use fisheries resources.
Unsuccessful in using a single method of law reform in caring for fisheries resources, with problems and conflicts in using fisheries resources. The results show that the poor fishers are incapable of making a living for their livelihoods, without recourse to using illegal fishing and thus the fishery resources become decreased.
In October 2000 the Royal Government of Cambodia started a reform to release around 56% of fishing lots in Cambodia to fishers who set up Community Fisheries to manage these fishing lots that are release and cut from lots. Fisheries reform has the objective to make realistic use of fishery resources in a sustainable manner and to increase the standard of living of fishers.
Up until now 360 Community Fisheries have been established and are undergoing a transitional period across the Country, with no policy regulating guidelines for implementation, or measures taken to set up and manage methods by Community Fisheries with a vision for Cambodia which has low human resources knowledge, experience and limited management capacity.
According to study, the vision and definition deferent for Community Fisheries as Co Fisheries Community management Fisheries Resources management depends on the community and Community Fisheries.
Community Fisheries amount to 6 types and undergo about 13 steps for management, but no one Community Fishery has implemented all of those steps.
Establishment and declaration guidelines have a slow course to establishment, and Community Fisheries management are not yet good enough because they do not know their duties, responsibilities or rights for using natural resources and managing them.
By promoting and supporting the fisheries authorities, relevant institutions, non-government organisations and international organisations, some Community Fisheries are well implemented, although some Community Fisheries have been implemented better than others.
Community Fisheries need a solid implementation and development to achieve their goal, which need time and enough of a budget to develop a full policy and to define their duties, responsibilities and rights. These can be achieved by promoting and supporting all areas as well as motivating in integrating the implementation smoothly from top to bottom.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Fish Exports from Cambodia
Summary
Fisheries play a vital role in supporting rural livelihoods throughout Cambodia, but especially around the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) area where more than one million people depend on the fisheries sector for employment, income, and food security. With large surpluses of fish caught during peak fishing periods, fish trade and export is critical to income growth in the sector. Presently, fresh and processed fish are traded widely within Cambodia, exported in significant quantities to neighbouring countries, and in some instances exported to more distant markets. However, beyond this general picture, much remains unclear about fish marketing and export.
With an inland fisheries catch of more than 400,000 tonnes per year, Cambodia’s fisheries sector has been targeted as an important sector for export promotion. This promotion is occurring within the context of broader regional and international trade agreements, namely the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organisation accession. While regional and international market integration is intended to spur “pro-poor” trade, to be effective, market integration and trade efficiencies will also need to be improved domestically, especially within and from rural areas.
Constraints on fish trade and export can negatively affect the livelihoods of the many small- and medium-scale fishers supplying exporters, as well as others working in the sector. When costs, fees, and risks associated with fish export make it difficult for exporters to earn a profit, they must reduce prices offered to fish suppliers in order to stay in business, which in turn can reduce incomes throughout the sector. Conversely, where policy changes can increase efficiencies and lower costs for trade and export, much of the benefit would be passed on to fishers (through higher prices for their fish) because exporters are intensely competing for fish supply.
To assess the current conditions under which fish are exported from Cambodia, the Natural Resources and Environment Programme of the Cambodia Development Resource Institute carried out a fish exports study from November 2002 to June 2003, with much of the fieldwork conducted during an intensive period in January 2003. The study focused on fish exports from the Great Lake to Thailand (via Poipet). Information and data were collected through more than 70 semi-structured interviews with exporters, wholesalers, traders, fishers, and government officials. In addition, researchers made three “follow the fish” trips with export shipments to directly observe trade conditions and crosscheck information gathered in interviews. Key objectives included identifying the typical market structure, describing credit and financing arrangements, assessing trade and export constraints, quantifying transaction costs (including fees), describing the official regulatory framework and actual practices, and identifying policy recommendations.
Market Structure
The market structure for fish exports from the Great Lake to Thailand involves thousands of fishers, traders, wholesalers, exporters, and Thai market distributors. Credit plays a critical role in this market structure with nearly all fishers and traders interviewed dependent on credit to support their businesses and activities. Vertical relationships based on credit ensure that fishers only sell to their trader/creditor, and traders only sell to their exporter/creditor, providing stability in the supply of fish for export.
In contrast to the stability created through credit and financing dependencies, a number of dynamic changes have been taking place within the market structure, as reflected in the collapse of KAMFIMEX’s monopoly, rise of CDCO, and consolidation of unlicensed exporters. These changes are occurring in the context of intensified competition for fish due to a declining supply and pervasive fee charges that reduce profit margins.
Profit margins are also under pressure due to the weak price negotiation position of Cambodian exporters within the current market structure. With no other export options except to sell at Long Koeur market in Thailand, and the combined threats of repaying border fees, additional labour costs, and high spoilage levels if they do not sell on the day they cross the border to Long Koeur market, exporters often find themselves accepting lower prices than expected for their fish. Exporters suggest that the presence of fish distribution facilities in Poipet would allow them to store fish for several days if necessary, making it possible to negotiate better prices with Thai distributors.
Export Costs and Fees
Data collected on fish exports from the five landing sites studied indicate, with little variation, that exporters face significant fee charges that absorb a large proportion of their potential earnings. At $83 per tonne, fees add more than 50 percent to the costs of exporting fish. Indeed, fees represent the highest component of export costs, followed by spoilage/weight loss ($51 per tonne) and transportation ($26 per tonne). Average profit margins are estimated to be about $38 per tonne. The fact that fees levels are more than twice as much as the profit margin earned on fish exports is a strong indication of the widespread “rent-seeking” activity of government institutions and officials. Fee extraction is maximised to the point where exporters report their foremost goal is business survival; investment and business growth are not viewed as possible.
Closer examination of fish export fees (through a case analysis of a shipment from Chhnok Tru in Kompong Chhnang province to Long Koeur market in Thailand) reveals several striking findings. First, exporting fish along this route involves 27 different fee payments to 15 institutions in 16 different places. The most significant fees are paid for issuing and “checking” transport permits, followed by payments to customs, a road investment company, and a range of institutions with no legal basis for collecting fees. Second, of the institutions collecting fees, fisheries institutions collect the greatest amount but this represents only 20 percent of total fees. Institutions with no direct role in fisheries management collect 80 percent of fees. Third, more than half of all fees are collected at the border. In contrast, the provincial fisheries office of Kompong Chhnang, which is responsible for fisheries management in the area, collects only about three percent of all fees (one percent is recorded as an official fee and two percent is collected informally). Finally, when comparing actual payments to official fees (if enforced), it is starkly clear that prior to any efforts to improve official compliance, the fee system itself needs to be overhauled. Enforcement of current regulations and fees would triple the current payments made by exporters, which would surely cause a collapse in fish exports.
Regulatory Framework and Actual Practice
Actual practices undertaken to export fish bear little resemblance to what is required under the official regulatory system. Most fish shipped through Poipet are exported without a license, and exported throughout the year regardless of closed season regulations. This informal process involves numerous fee payments to a variety of institutions at the landing site, along the road, and at the border. Fees are either charged with no legal basis, or, where a legal basis exists, negotiated to support informal payments. Surprisingly, licensed exporters report that they make the same series of informal payments as unlicensed exporters, despite holding a license from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Customs Department in Phnom Penh.
Based on interviews with exporters and observations of fish shipments, there are no instances in which official fees are paid in accordance with the official rate. All fees are negotiated. Since most official fees are based on fish quantity and/or value of the fish shipment, the most common method used by officials to collect informal payments is to vastly underreport fish quantities in licenses and permits. For example, fisheries officials record only one-fourth to one-tenth of the actual shipment amount in transport permits. Such underreporting allows officials to negotiate an informal payment on top of the much-reduced official fee.
Since many payments have no clear legal basis and may differ from trip to trip, exporters complain that the arbitrariness of payments makes operating a business very difficult because of uncertainty about costs. In an interesting market response to this problem, brokers have begun providing the service of taking responsibility for checkpoint and border fee payments in return for a set price. Through their positions as current/past government officials, military, or military police, brokers have established relations with fee collecting institutions, making it possible for them to pay lower fees and have greater certainty about fee charges than exporters who pay directly.
Recommendations
In the promotion of fish exports, much of the focus has been on spurring investment in value-added processing, improving quality standards and control, and identifying high-value export markets. Given the lack of processing, problems with quality, and scant exports to countries other than Thailand and Vietnam, these efforts are clearly important. But investment and quality improvements are unlikely to come without first having significant changes in the climate for business and trade within the fisheries sector, including a substantial and credible reduction in current fees and transparency and certainty about the regulatory environment.
Based on the findings of this study, twelve recommendations are summarised below. They are grouped under three themes:
· Improve governance and transparency; this must include a significant overhaul of the current license, permit, and fee system.
1. Remove the transport permit requirement for fish trade.
2. Eliminate fees collected by checkpoints and institutions that have no clear legal basis for collecting fees.
3. Make a public statement that “Sending Goods” letters from KAMFIMEX are no longer required for fish export.
4. End the contract with Ban Sambath House.
5. Eliminate the 4 percent fish distribution centre fees in Battambang province.
6. Revise downward the 10 percent export tax charged by the Cambodian Customs Department.
· Increase linkages and accountability between fee payments and fisheries management.
7. Concentrate fee collection at fishing grounds to support fisheries management and enforcement; eliminate or sharply reduce fee collection elsewhere.
8. Establish ‘one-stop’ fee payment service with transparent procedures and clearly defined fee levels.
9. Consider re-imposing a fishing license fee on middle-scale fishers (if transparent fee collection is possible).
· Facilitate the development of a more efficient fish trade, distribution, and export system.
10. Encourage investment in the establishment of fish distribution centres at Poipet.
11. Remove barriers to export via Sihanoukville; support identification of new export markets.
12. Support further study of the credit system in the fisheries sector.
Fisheries play a vital role in supporting rural livelihoods throughout Cambodia, but especially around the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) area where more than one million people depend on the fisheries sector for employment, income, and food security. With large surpluses of fish caught during peak fishing periods, fish trade and export is critical to income growth in the sector. Presently, fresh and processed fish are traded widely within Cambodia, exported in significant quantities to neighbouring countries, and in some instances exported to more distant markets. However, beyond this general picture, much remains unclear about fish marketing and export.
With an inland fisheries catch of more than 400,000 tonnes per year, Cambodia’s fisheries sector has been targeted as an important sector for export promotion. This promotion is occurring within the context of broader regional and international trade agreements, namely the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organisation accession. While regional and international market integration is intended to spur “pro-poor” trade, to be effective, market integration and trade efficiencies will also need to be improved domestically, especially within and from rural areas.
Constraints on fish trade and export can negatively affect the livelihoods of the many small- and medium-scale fishers supplying exporters, as well as others working in the sector. When costs, fees, and risks associated with fish export make it difficult for exporters to earn a profit, they must reduce prices offered to fish suppliers in order to stay in business, which in turn can reduce incomes throughout the sector. Conversely, where policy changes can increase efficiencies and lower costs for trade and export, much of the benefit would be passed on to fishers (through higher prices for their fish) because exporters are intensely competing for fish supply.
To assess the current conditions under which fish are exported from Cambodia, the Natural Resources and Environment Programme of the Cambodia Development Resource Institute carried out a fish exports study from November 2002 to June 2003, with much of the fieldwork conducted during an intensive period in January 2003. The study focused on fish exports from the Great Lake to Thailand (via Poipet). Information and data were collected through more than 70 semi-structured interviews with exporters, wholesalers, traders, fishers, and government officials. In addition, researchers made three “follow the fish” trips with export shipments to directly observe trade conditions and crosscheck information gathered in interviews. Key objectives included identifying the typical market structure, describing credit and financing arrangements, assessing trade and export constraints, quantifying transaction costs (including fees), describing the official regulatory framework and actual practices, and identifying policy recommendations.
Market Structure
The market structure for fish exports from the Great Lake to Thailand involves thousands of fishers, traders, wholesalers, exporters, and Thai market distributors. Credit plays a critical role in this market structure with nearly all fishers and traders interviewed dependent on credit to support their businesses and activities. Vertical relationships based on credit ensure that fishers only sell to their trader/creditor, and traders only sell to their exporter/creditor, providing stability in the supply of fish for export.
In contrast to the stability created through credit and financing dependencies, a number of dynamic changes have been taking place within the market structure, as reflected in the collapse of KAMFIMEX’s monopoly, rise of CDCO, and consolidation of unlicensed exporters. These changes are occurring in the context of intensified competition for fish due to a declining supply and pervasive fee charges that reduce profit margins.
Profit margins are also under pressure due to the weak price negotiation position of Cambodian exporters within the current market structure. With no other export options except to sell at Long Koeur market in Thailand, and the combined threats of repaying border fees, additional labour costs, and high spoilage levels if they do not sell on the day they cross the border to Long Koeur market, exporters often find themselves accepting lower prices than expected for their fish. Exporters suggest that the presence of fish distribution facilities in Poipet would allow them to store fish for several days if necessary, making it possible to negotiate better prices with Thai distributors.
Export Costs and Fees
Data collected on fish exports from the five landing sites studied indicate, with little variation, that exporters face significant fee charges that absorb a large proportion of their potential earnings. At $83 per tonne, fees add more than 50 percent to the costs of exporting fish. Indeed, fees represent the highest component of export costs, followed by spoilage/weight loss ($51 per tonne) and transportation ($26 per tonne). Average profit margins are estimated to be about $38 per tonne. The fact that fees levels are more than twice as much as the profit margin earned on fish exports is a strong indication of the widespread “rent-seeking” activity of government institutions and officials. Fee extraction is maximised to the point where exporters report their foremost goal is business survival; investment and business growth are not viewed as possible.
Closer examination of fish export fees (through a case analysis of a shipment from Chhnok Tru in Kompong Chhnang province to Long Koeur market in Thailand) reveals several striking findings. First, exporting fish along this route involves 27 different fee payments to 15 institutions in 16 different places. The most significant fees are paid for issuing and “checking” transport permits, followed by payments to customs, a road investment company, and a range of institutions with no legal basis for collecting fees. Second, of the institutions collecting fees, fisheries institutions collect the greatest amount but this represents only 20 percent of total fees. Institutions with no direct role in fisheries management collect 80 percent of fees. Third, more than half of all fees are collected at the border. In contrast, the provincial fisheries office of Kompong Chhnang, which is responsible for fisheries management in the area, collects only about three percent of all fees (one percent is recorded as an official fee and two percent is collected informally). Finally, when comparing actual payments to official fees (if enforced), it is starkly clear that prior to any efforts to improve official compliance, the fee system itself needs to be overhauled. Enforcement of current regulations and fees would triple the current payments made by exporters, which would surely cause a collapse in fish exports.
Regulatory Framework and Actual Practice
Actual practices undertaken to export fish bear little resemblance to what is required under the official regulatory system. Most fish shipped through Poipet are exported without a license, and exported throughout the year regardless of closed season regulations. This informal process involves numerous fee payments to a variety of institutions at the landing site, along the road, and at the border. Fees are either charged with no legal basis, or, where a legal basis exists, negotiated to support informal payments. Surprisingly, licensed exporters report that they make the same series of informal payments as unlicensed exporters, despite holding a license from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Customs Department in Phnom Penh.
Based on interviews with exporters and observations of fish shipments, there are no instances in which official fees are paid in accordance with the official rate. All fees are negotiated. Since most official fees are based on fish quantity and/or value of the fish shipment, the most common method used by officials to collect informal payments is to vastly underreport fish quantities in licenses and permits. For example, fisheries officials record only one-fourth to one-tenth of the actual shipment amount in transport permits. Such underreporting allows officials to negotiate an informal payment on top of the much-reduced official fee.
Since many payments have no clear legal basis and may differ from trip to trip, exporters complain that the arbitrariness of payments makes operating a business very difficult because of uncertainty about costs. In an interesting market response to this problem, brokers have begun providing the service of taking responsibility for checkpoint and border fee payments in return for a set price. Through their positions as current/past government officials, military, or military police, brokers have established relations with fee collecting institutions, making it possible for them to pay lower fees and have greater certainty about fee charges than exporters who pay directly.
Recommendations
In the promotion of fish exports, much of the focus has been on spurring investment in value-added processing, improving quality standards and control, and identifying high-value export markets. Given the lack of processing, problems with quality, and scant exports to countries other than Thailand and Vietnam, these efforts are clearly important. But investment and quality improvements are unlikely to come without first having significant changes in the climate for business and trade within the fisheries sector, including a substantial and credible reduction in current fees and transparency and certainty about the regulatory environment.
Based on the findings of this study, twelve recommendations are summarised below. They are grouped under three themes:
· Improve governance and transparency; this must include a significant overhaul of the current license, permit, and fee system.
1. Remove the transport permit requirement for fish trade.
2. Eliminate fees collected by checkpoints and institutions that have no clear legal basis for collecting fees.
3. Make a public statement that “Sending Goods” letters from KAMFIMEX are no longer required for fish export.
4. End the contract with Ban Sambath House.
5. Eliminate the 4 percent fish distribution centre fees in Battambang province.
6. Revise downward the 10 percent export tax charged by the Cambodian Customs Department.
· Increase linkages and accountability between fee payments and fisheries management.
7. Concentrate fee collection at fishing grounds to support fisheries management and enforcement; eliminate or sharply reduce fee collection elsewhere.
8. Establish ‘one-stop’ fee payment service with transparent procedures and clearly defined fee levels.
9. Consider re-imposing a fishing license fee on middle-scale fishers (if transparent fee collection is possible).
· Facilitate the development of a more efficient fish trade, distribution, and export system.
10. Encourage investment in the establishment of fish distribution centres at Poipet.
11. Remove barriers to export via Sihanoukville; support identification of new export markets.
12. Support further study of the credit system in the fisheries sector.
Fish Marketing in Cambodia
Summary
With an inland catch of more than 400,000 tonnes per year and high domestic rates of fish consumption, freshwater fish are one of Cambodia’s most important traded commodities. Fresh and processed fish are traded widely within Cambodia, with the majority of trade originating at the Tonle Sap (Great Lake). Fish marketing involves a number of steps and challenges including storage, handling, aggregating enough for a shipment, transportation, negotiating sales, and maintaining quality. Marketing inefficiencies raise costs, which can negatively affect the income of fish marketers as well as fishers and others working in the sector.
To assess current conditions under which freshwater fish are marketed, this study examines fish trade from two major landing sites at the Great Lake to retail markets in Phnom Penh – the largest domestic fish trade route. Findings are based on nearly 60 semi-structured interviews conducted with fishers, traders, distributors, a distribution centre owner, retailers, and government officials. In addition, two “follow the fish” trips were made with shipments from the landing site to the distribution centre in order to directly observe trade conditions and crosscheck information gathered in interviews.
Marketing fish from the Great Lake to Phnom Penh involves three main transactions – sales from fishers to traders, from traders to retailers via distributors, and from retailers to customers. Distributors play a dominant role in the market structure as the financiers of fish trade. They lend capital to traders to support fish purchases and trading activities, and traders re-lend some of this capital to fishers for gear purchases and other expenses. Under the terms of these loans, fishers must sell all fish to their trader (creditor), and traders must sell all fish through their distributor (creditor) and pay associated “commission fees” – usually about 6-8 percent of total sales revenue. These tied relations are common for trade from the Great Lake to Phnom Penh, with most fishers in debt to a trader, and most traders in debt to a distributor.
The current market structure supports a stable fish supply for trade, but the problem of credit dependency places fishers and (to a lesser extent) traders at a disadvantage. Fishers are clearly in a weak position for negotiating the sale of their catch. They must sell to the trader to whom they are in debt. Another problem is the lack of transparent financing costs. Because any interest charged on loans is either embedded in the (discounted) price offered to fishers for fish, or part of the “commission fee” that traders pay to distributors on all sales, the true cost of financing remains unclear. It is likely that lenders (distributors and traders) take advantage of this lack of transparency to increase returns on their loans.
Fish trade is affected by a number of other constraints as well. Traders and distributors criticise distribution centre fees as too high given the lack of services. But with only one centre serving Phnom Penh for each major trade route, they have no (legal) alternative place at which to conduct transactions. Some traders also complain about the fees they must pay along the trade route. Spoilage and weight loss represent a substantial cost at 10-15 percent of shipment weight (or about $55 per tonne). These value losses are compounded by the retail marketing practice of displaying fish for sale without ice. Retailers remove ice because it is the common perception of customers that the presence of ice indicates a lack of fish freshness. In total, these constraints result in marketing costs that average about $308 per tonne from the Great Lake to retail markets in Phnom Penh. As a result, marketing margins account for roughly 65-75 percent of fish retail prices; fishers receive 25-35 percent.
To improve the livelihoods of fishers through increased returns on their catch, steps need to be taken to reduce marketing costs and inefficiencies. To this end, the following policy recommendations are offered for consideration.
1) Inject competition into fish distribution services by granting additional licenses for distribution centres.
2) Campaign to change consumer perceptions about ice use and the freshness of freshwater fish at retail markets.
3) Conduct further technical research on spoilage problems in the marketing of fish from fishing grounds to distribution centres.
4) Determine the legality of current fee charges along domestic fish trade routes and eliminate fees that have no clear legal basis.
5) Carry out additional research on the role of the informal financing/credit system in the fisheries sector
With an inland catch of more than 400,000 tonnes per year and high domestic rates of fish consumption, freshwater fish are one of Cambodia’s most important traded commodities. Fresh and processed fish are traded widely within Cambodia, with the majority of trade originating at the Tonle Sap (Great Lake). Fish marketing involves a number of steps and challenges including storage, handling, aggregating enough for a shipment, transportation, negotiating sales, and maintaining quality. Marketing inefficiencies raise costs, which can negatively affect the income of fish marketers as well as fishers and others working in the sector.
To assess current conditions under which freshwater fish are marketed, this study examines fish trade from two major landing sites at the Great Lake to retail markets in Phnom Penh – the largest domestic fish trade route. Findings are based on nearly 60 semi-structured interviews conducted with fishers, traders, distributors, a distribution centre owner, retailers, and government officials. In addition, two “follow the fish” trips were made with shipments from the landing site to the distribution centre in order to directly observe trade conditions and crosscheck information gathered in interviews.
Marketing fish from the Great Lake to Phnom Penh involves three main transactions – sales from fishers to traders, from traders to retailers via distributors, and from retailers to customers. Distributors play a dominant role in the market structure as the financiers of fish trade. They lend capital to traders to support fish purchases and trading activities, and traders re-lend some of this capital to fishers for gear purchases and other expenses. Under the terms of these loans, fishers must sell all fish to their trader (creditor), and traders must sell all fish through their distributor (creditor) and pay associated “commission fees” – usually about 6-8 percent of total sales revenue. These tied relations are common for trade from the Great Lake to Phnom Penh, with most fishers in debt to a trader, and most traders in debt to a distributor.
The current market structure supports a stable fish supply for trade, but the problem of credit dependency places fishers and (to a lesser extent) traders at a disadvantage. Fishers are clearly in a weak position for negotiating the sale of their catch. They must sell to the trader to whom they are in debt. Another problem is the lack of transparent financing costs. Because any interest charged on loans is either embedded in the (discounted) price offered to fishers for fish, or part of the “commission fee” that traders pay to distributors on all sales, the true cost of financing remains unclear. It is likely that lenders (distributors and traders) take advantage of this lack of transparency to increase returns on their loans.
Fish trade is affected by a number of other constraints as well. Traders and distributors criticise distribution centre fees as too high given the lack of services. But with only one centre serving Phnom Penh for each major trade route, they have no (legal) alternative place at which to conduct transactions. Some traders also complain about the fees they must pay along the trade route. Spoilage and weight loss represent a substantial cost at 10-15 percent of shipment weight (or about $55 per tonne). These value losses are compounded by the retail marketing practice of displaying fish for sale without ice. Retailers remove ice because it is the common perception of customers that the presence of ice indicates a lack of fish freshness. In total, these constraints result in marketing costs that average about $308 per tonne from the Great Lake to retail markets in Phnom Penh. As a result, marketing margins account for roughly 65-75 percent of fish retail prices; fishers receive 25-35 percent.
To improve the livelihoods of fishers through increased returns on their catch, steps need to be taken to reduce marketing costs and inefficiencies. To this end, the following policy recommendations are offered for consideration.
1) Inject competition into fish distribution services by granting additional licenses for distribution centres.
2) Campaign to change consumer perceptions about ice use and the freshness of freshwater fish at retail markets.
3) Conduct further technical research on spoilage problems in the marketing of fish from fishing grounds to distribution centres.
4) Determine the legality of current fee charges along domestic fish trade routes and eliminate fees that have no clear legal basis.
5) Carry out additional research on the role of the informal financing/credit system in the fisheries sector
Ding Dong the bells are going to chime...
Just received a dark purple smelly envelope from one of my Khmer colleagues.
Yes folks, that is right, my first Khmer wedding invitation !
A couple of weekends from now I will be drinking warm beer at 08:00, having monks throw water and lotus petals over me while eating chicken gizzard porridge.
So what the hell is the form ? I know that I am supposed to slip some cash into an envelope at some point and slip it to somebody, but who? When?? How much??? aggghhhh
Yes folks, that is right, my first Khmer wedding invitation !
A couple of weekends from now I will be drinking warm beer at 08:00, having monks throw water and lotus petals over me while eating chicken gizzard porridge.
So what the hell is the form ? I know that I am supposed to slip some cash into an envelope at some point and slip it to somebody, but who? When?? How much??? aggghhhh
Saturday, October 30, 2004
The Khmer Kitchen
The Khmer Kitchen
“Many of the people own their houses, but possess no tables, benches, basins, or buckets.
An earthenware pot serves to cook the rice, and sometimes earthenware stove for making sauce. Three stones are buried to form a hearth; ladles are made from coconuts. For serving rice, they make use of pottery dishes from China or copperware. To hold sauce, they fashion leaves into little cups which, even when filled with liquid, let nothing escape. "Chiao" leaves are also used to make little spoons for carrying liquid to the mouth; these they throw away when the meal is finished. They also keep beside them a tin or earthenware bowl filled with water for rinsing the hands, since only their fingers are used in eating rice, which is sticky. Wine is drunk from metal goblets, but poor people content themselves with earthenware cups. Every person dining in the houses of the nobility is given silver plates, and sometimes even gold ones.
At royal banquets a great number of food utensils are used, fashioned in a very special manner. Mats from Ming-chou are laid on the ground, and in some houses skins of tigers, panthers, deer and so forth, are laid down, as well as rattan mats.
Food is protected by cloth, and in the King’s palace use is made of double-woven silk spangled with gold, all of which are gifts of foreign merchants.
To hull the rice the Cambodians do not employ grindstones, contenting themselves with bruising it with a mortar and pestle.”
Chou Ta-kuan
Chinese envoy writing back to the Emperor in the 13th Century
These paragraphs from the celebrated account of Chou Ta-kuan on the customs of the Khmer Empire are the only available written description of the home and kitchen of ordinary Khmers at the height of their king’s power in the late 13th century. Chou Ta-kuan was part of a Chinese mission and spent a year between 1296 and 1927 at Angkor, the centre of power of what the Chinese knew as Chenla.
He returned to China to write Notes of the Customs of Cambodia in which he tells of the lives of the Khmer king and his people, from what many scholars say is his Middle Kingdom perspective. His keen observations are most valuable nonetheless.
The only other description of ordinary life in the Khmer Empire can be seen on the south wall of the Bayon temple, built in the 12th and 13th centuries during the reigns of Kings Jayavarman VII to Jayavarman VIII. All the monuments of the Angkor Empire serve religious purposes or honour rulers and their ancestors. The carvings on the south wall give us a glimpse of how food was prepared, what utensils were used, and how the cuisine was enjoyed. Many of the utensils and cooking techniques seen carved into the stone can still be found in homes throughout Cambodia today.
On the south wall the bas-reliefs even show a busy restaurant and a few steps away a scene shows people dressed in Chinese attire cooking a deer. An Angkorean kitchen is believed by some to be located at Wat Athvea, four kilometres south of Siem Reap city.
The structure was built during the reign of Suryavarman II (1113-1150), one of the greatest Khmer kings who initiated the construction of Angkor Wat. Villagers from nearby communities believe the temple, located by the Siem Reap River, once housed a kitchen which catered to the Khmer kings.
The villagers point to loose stones from the temple, which have fallen over time, and describe them as the kraya cham-en meaning "the preparation of the royal meal".
The villagers talk about brick stoves and a wall where meat, baskets of ingredients, and utensils were hung. There was never a roof over the structure so as to allow the smoke to escape quickly. Local people say this is what they were told by their parents, who in turn were told by their parents.
Professor Claude Jacques argues that there is no archaeological evidence a kitchen has survived the centuries since the Angkor Empire. The reason for this, he says, is simply that anything that was not to honour the gods was built of perishable material – even the kings’ palace. He says that was because men are mortal and will cease to exist one day and so too are the materials relating to his life. The gods, however, are immortal and thus stone was used to honour them forever.
The professor believes that the only glimpses of the ancient cuisine are those in the writings of Chou Ta-kuan and those on the south wall of Bayon. The Khmer kitchen today, as it is found in the countryside, is usually detached from the main house. It is close enough to be of easy access, but far enough away and airy to ensure smoke from firewood and undesirable odours do not disturb the main household.
The most important utensils found in the kitchen are:
“Many of the people own their houses, but possess no tables, benches, basins, or buckets.
An earthenware pot serves to cook the rice, and sometimes earthenware stove for making sauce. Three stones are buried to form a hearth; ladles are made from coconuts. For serving rice, they make use of pottery dishes from China or copperware. To hold sauce, they fashion leaves into little cups which, even when filled with liquid, let nothing escape. "Chiao" leaves are also used to make little spoons for carrying liquid to the mouth; these they throw away when the meal is finished. They also keep beside them a tin or earthenware bowl filled with water for rinsing the hands, since only their fingers are used in eating rice, which is sticky. Wine is drunk from metal goblets, but poor people content themselves with earthenware cups. Every person dining in the houses of the nobility is given silver plates, and sometimes even gold ones.
At royal banquets a great number of food utensils are used, fashioned in a very special manner. Mats from Ming-chou are laid on the ground, and in some houses skins of tigers, panthers, deer and so forth, are laid down, as well as rattan mats.
Food is protected by cloth, and in the King’s palace use is made of double-woven silk spangled with gold, all of which are gifts of foreign merchants.
To hull the rice the Cambodians do not employ grindstones, contenting themselves with bruising it with a mortar and pestle.”
Chou Ta-kuan
Chinese envoy writing back to the Emperor in the 13th Century
These paragraphs from the celebrated account of Chou Ta-kuan on the customs of the Khmer Empire are the only available written description of the home and kitchen of ordinary Khmers at the height of their king’s power in the late 13th century. Chou Ta-kuan was part of a Chinese mission and spent a year between 1296 and 1927 at Angkor, the centre of power of what the Chinese knew as Chenla.
He returned to China to write Notes of the Customs of Cambodia in which he tells of the lives of the Khmer king and his people, from what many scholars say is his Middle Kingdom perspective. His keen observations are most valuable nonetheless.
The only other description of ordinary life in the Khmer Empire can be seen on the south wall of the Bayon temple, built in the 12th and 13th centuries during the reigns of Kings Jayavarman VII to Jayavarman VIII. All the monuments of the Angkor Empire serve religious purposes or honour rulers and their ancestors. The carvings on the south wall give us a glimpse of how food was prepared, what utensils were used, and how the cuisine was enjoyed. Many of the utensils and cooking techniques seen carved into the stone can still be found in homes throughout Cambodia today.
On the south wall the bas-reliefs even show a busy restaurant and a few steps away a scene shows people dressed in Chinese attire cooking a deer. An Angkorean kitchen is believed by some to be located at Wat Athvea, four kilometres south of Siem Reap city.
The structure was built during the reign of Suryavarman II (1113-1150), one of the greatest Khmer kings who initiated the construction of Angkor Wat. Villagers from nearby communities believe the temple, located by the Siem Reap River, once housed a kitchen which catered to the Khmer kings.
The villagers point to loose stones from the temple, which have fallen over time, and describe them as the kraya cham-en meaning "the preparation of the royal meal".
The villagers talk about brick stoves and a wall where meat, baskets of ingredients, and utensils were hung. There was never a roof over the structure so as to allow the smoke to escape quickly. Local people say this is what they were told by their parents, who in turn were told by their parents.
Professor Claude Jacques argues that there is no archaeological evidence a kitchen has survived the centuries since the Angkor Empire. The reason for this, he says, is simply that anything that was not to honour the gods was built of perishable material – even the kings’ palace. He says that was because men are mortal and will cease to exist one day and so too are the materials relating to his life. The gods, however, are immortal and thus stone was used to honour them forever.
The professor believes that the only glimpses of the ancient cuisine are those in the writings of Chou Ta-kuan and those on the south wall of Bayon. The Khmer kitchen today, as it is found in the countryside, is usually detached from the main house. It is close enough to be of easy access, but far enough away and airy to ensure smoke from firewood and undesirable odours do not disturb the main household.
The most important utensils found in the kitchen are:
- The mortar and pestle to make the kroeung
- A bamboo sieve for filtering the prahok stock and ripe tamarind juice
- Various earthen stoves providing the different intensities of heat required to cook different dishes
- A coconut grater
- Earthen pots for cooking rice and soup, and for storing water
- Jars for storing prahok and kapi, and other ingredients, and
- Loose bamboo baskets for storing vegetables.
In many kitchens aluminium pots have replaced earthenware. Utensils are usually hung on the walls of the kitchen so they are in easy reach. The frying pan is also commonly found these days since the Khmers adopted frying from Chinese cookery. Traditional Khmer cooking is centred on boiling, grilling and roasting.
In some houses, there is also a bigger mortar for grinding rice, and flat round bamboo trays for separating the husk from the grain. There are not parts of the kitchen, however, but considered part of the household possessions.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Khmer Builders
Khmer Builders: Part I – The Morning
So here we are, Monday the 4th of October. I roll into the office at 07:00 as normal, swing round to park my bike only to be confronted by a huge mountain of sand – 9 or 10 foot high, odd I thought, that is not normally there, so I ride round the next corner to be greeted by an equally large pile of bricks. All very odd, I think. Maybe they are branching out from fish into build supplies – after 8 months, I am being surprised by less and less. Plus it is early on a Monday morning, I have not had a coffee [or any rice] yet so I am probably not firing on all brain cells yet…After parking my bike I stroll over to the office, fishing the keys out of my pocket and thinking about the many things I had to do this week.As I reached the secret side door into my office I noticed that something was wrong, but did not immediately register what it was.Ah yes, now I could see.The entire office is a building site.Internal walls were missing, so were the tiles of the floor.All of the desks had been piled into one corner, in an opposite corner 3 square feet of new tiles had been laid.Rubble and dust were everywhere, staff standing around looking blank, workmen sleeping in the corner.As I was standing there feeling, and probably looking, slightly baffled, the office vice-chief wandered in, his eyes go wide as he looks around, turning to me with and with his mastery of the English language, says ‘oh, mess’And I thought that I had a knack for understatement…He has a hurried, and what seems slightly heated, exchange with one of the builders [who have now woken up] it seems that they will be here for about, maybe, around, half a month.So as more staff start to drift in we manage to commandeer a few desks in the adjoining office, although none of those are connected to the office network or the internet…About half the staff just shrugs and says that they will ‘work at home’ which is a Khmer euphemism for ‘ we are going to have an extra couple of week’s holiday now’The office chief is out of the Country this week, attending some seminar or another, and next week is a bank holiday. Well, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are Bank holidays, which translates as – nobody will be in the office all week.Every time that I think that I understand Cambodia, that there will be no more surprises.
Khmer Builders: Part II – The Afternoon
So having spent the morning fighting over desks and climbing over piles of desks and rubble and sleeping builders to get from one side of the building to the other, I award myself a long lunch break and head off to a restaurant for some quality peace and quiet.
Wonderful.
Upon my return to the office I actually manage to do an hour’s work, then the rain starts, pounding down on the tin roof of the extended part of the building that we are now in, deafening as I am sure that many of you are aware of.
After an hour of this dull semi rhythmic pounding, and the start of some throbbing behind the eyes, there is a god almighty crash, followed by much shrieking and wailing in K’mai.
The next thing that I am aware of is being very, very, wet and slightly confused – oops no, make that dazed.
The roof had fallen in.
Several hundred gallons of built up water that had leaked into the false ceiling had proved too much for it. Those of us crammed, squatting, into this office were drenched and covered in plaster, rubble, and bits of polystyrene roofing tiles.
There was about 2 inches of water on the floor and more was pouring in.
Dashing around like a lunatic I started unplugging the dozens of extension cables and adapters that were strewn across, after a moment my colleagues finally realised why I was doing it and joined in.
After I had made sure that none of us were about to be electrocuted, I looked around at my Khmer colleagues who were all now giggling and laughing.
Cultural differences not withstanding, sometimes I do think that they are all CRAZY
Field Trip - Part Two
Friday afternoon in Kratie
So we are in Kratie for a couple of days, having arrived by boat from K. Cham.
We have our meeting with the Provincial Office early afternoon and then my Khmer colleagues insist that I go and see the dolphin. an excellent idea after a few days of fairly solid travelling. The vice chief of the local office says that he will go with us, so he gets his moto. As there are 3 of us, he calls two of his friends to drive me and my other colleague – luxury 3 motos between 6 people !
His friends turn up and they turn out to be the vice-chief of Kratie tourist police and the chief of Kratie Military police!?!
As motodope drivers go, you can not get much better !
I go with the Chief of Military Police. A stocky Khmer who it seems speaks no English, as we approach his bike I am a little surprised, instead of the requisite Honda Dream, he has some customised 250 low-rider, complete with oversize forks, ape-hanger bars and a king~queen seat.
As I see the bike he looks at me and utters 4 of the 6 words in English he knows,
“I love Peter Fonda”
He then smiles and pull out his [fake?] Rayban’s…
mmm???
Being somewhat larger than the average Khmer I feel quite exposed perched high on the back of his seat, which in reality was designed for some petite girl to be sat side-saddle on. But we head off down the road.
Now, as anyone of you who has been to Kratie will testify, the 15Km of road from the town to the dolphin place are not the best bits of road in the country, even the bits that have tarmac are full of holes, strewn with gravel or just general full of high pitch and yaw undulations due the large trees and their roots by the roadside, so after a few Kilometres my arse is beginning to feel a bit numb – due also in part to the fact half of it is perched on the chrome plated rear light rather than the actual seat.
All the way along he is humming something to himself. After a few K’s I realise that he is humming ‘Born to be wild’
Then as a Daelim careens past us on the wrong side of the road, he lets out an almighty roar, shouting and screaming at the rider and he then opens the throttle up full giving chase - I should point out at this point that we are on the dirt road starch and the road has more holes than surface at this point – as we bounce along as fast as the bike is capable of going the guy on the Daelim puts his head down and desperately tries to get away, now this chase only lasted about 5 minutes – until the guy on the Daelim hits a pothole the that was actually bigger than his bike – but it was enough to scare the shit out of me. I am caked in mud, my spine feels as though it has fused and my arse is almost completely off the back of the bike.
Reaching the pothole we skid to a halt and for a second I think that we are going to drop the 2 feet down the hole to join him, but we swerve just enough to stop on the side of it instead.
In a flash the MP Chief is off his bike and dragging the guy out off the floor and out of the hole, giving him a few slaps around the head for good measure , just in case the fact that the guys bleeding scalp wound was not enough, at this point the others catch up with us. There is lots of fast talking in Khmer, the upshot of which is that my 2 Khmer colleagues get on the back of one bike and I get on the back of the tourist police bike, leaving the MP Chief on the scene with his perp [victim?]
We carry on riding in silence the 10 minutes out to the dock where you get a boat to go out to look for dolphins.
As we all pull up there and stop I can contain myself no longer.
“fuck fuck fuck what the fuck was that fuck fucking fuck about?”
I ask in a less than erudite manner.
After a little discussion / translation I get the full story. It seems that a couple of weeks ago the Kratie Military Police arrested 4 guys coming over the border from Laos with 400,000 tablets of some kind of amphetamine – yes, that is right, I said 400,000 !
They were all arrested and flung into jail. It seems that our guy on the Daelim was one of them, the Chief had no idea why or how he had got out and was now riding around, but it seemed that he took great exception to him being a freeman rather than languishing in a prison cell awaiting trial
“So He escaped from prison” I [naively?] ask, feeling a little better about the whole incident.
“Maybe” my colleagues say, “or maybe he pays some money to be let out”
Well, judging by the Chief’s reaction, I pity the poor sod who was bribed to let him out when the Chief gets hold of him…
Oh a good note, we then saw lots and lots of dolphins, including some very brave and curious baby dolphins who came right up to the boat :-)
Saturday night in Kratie.
Ate at the Mlob Dong restaurant. About 5 minutes moto away from the river – don’t ask me for more specific directions !
While we were waiting for a menu a waitress brought a dish of pickled ginger and garlic cloves, as well as a small plate of wind dried shredded beef – the beef was actually very tasty, although it was a little on the chewy side it was full of flavour and a refreshing change from the freshwater fish and rice we had been eating 3 times a day.
The owner came over and chatted for a while to the Chief of Fish, he obviously knew him well. Having run through what food we wanted the owner disappeared back behind the scenes, presumably to talk to the chef.
While we were waiting, more beef turned up and so did large amounts of Tiger beer and ice.
The first of the food arrived, venison steaks with onions and French fries !?!
Now I know that venison is illegal in Cambodia, but hey what can you do?
They were so tender it was like cutting through pate, soft, moist, so full of flavour – I was in gastronomic heaven. Even the oddness of eating chips with chop sticks could not detract from it.
Next, the whole deep fried cat fish arrived, not a giant Mekong cat fish [Pangasianodon gigas] but just a regular 18 incher !
It was covered in shredded ginger and soya beans – lovely!
Next the rabbit and lemongrass soup, again excellent, very rich, suspect the base for it was venison stock.
All the while we were eating my colleagues kept asking me if I liked this food – between shovelling great mouthfuls down, grinning like an idiot and swilling Tiger by the gallon I managed to say yes a lot !
Have to say, some of the best food that I have had in a long time.
So we are in Kratie for a couple of days, having arrived by boat from K. Cham.
We have our meeting with the Provincial Office early afternoon and then my Khmer colleagues insist that I go and see the dolphin. an excellent idea after a few days of fairly solid travelling. The vice chief of the local office says that he will go with us, so he gets his moto. As there are 3 of us, he calls two of his friends to drive me and my other colleague – luxury 3 motos between 6 people !
His friends turn up and they turn out to be the vice-chief of Kratie tourist police and the chief of Kratie Military police!?!
As motodope drivers go, you can not get much better !
I go with the Chief of Military Police. A stocky Khmer who it seems speaks no English, as we approach his bike I am a little surprised, instead of the requisite Honda Dream, he has some customised 250 low-rider, complete with oversize forks, ape-hanger bars and a king~queen seat.
As I see the bike he looks at me and utters 4 of the 6 words in English he knows,
“I love Peter Fonda”
He then smiles and pull out his [fake?] Rayban’s…
mmm???
Being somewhat larger than the average Khmer I feel quite exposed perched high on the back of his seat, which in reality was designed for some petite girl to be sat side-saddle on. But we head off down the road.
Now, as anyone of you who has been to Kratie will testify, the 15Km of road from the town to the dolphin place are not the best bits of road in the country, even the bits that have tarmac are full of holes, strewn with gravel or just general full of high pitch and yaw undulations due the large trees and their roots by the roadside, so after a few Kilometres my arse is beginning to feel a bit numb – due also in part to the fact half of it is perched on the chrome plated rear light rather than the actual seat.
All the way along he is humming something to himself. After a few K’s I realise that he is humming ‘Born to be wild’
Then as a Daelim careens past us on the wrong side of the road, he lets out an almighty roar, shouting and screaming at the rider and he then opens the throttle up full giving chase - I should point out at this point that we are on the dirt road starch and the road has more holes than surface at this point – as we bounce along as fast as the bike is capable of going the guy on the Daelim puts his head down and desperately tries to get away, now this chase only lasted about 5 minutes – until the guy on the Daelim hits a pothole the that was actually bigger than his bike – but it was enough to scare the shit out of me. I am caked in mud, my spine feels as though it has fused and my arse is almost completely off the back of the bike.
Reaching the pothole we skid to a halt and for a second I think that we are going to drop the 2 feet down the hole to join him, but we swerve just enough to stop on the side of it instead.
In a flash the MP Chief is off his bike and dragging the guy out off the floor and out of the hole, giving him a few slaps around the head for good measure , just in case the fact that the guys bleeding scalp wound was not enough, at this point the others catch up with us. There is lots of fast talking in Khmer, the upshot of which is that my 2 Khmer colleagues get on the back of one bike and I get on the back of the tourist police bike, leaving the MP Chief on the scene with his perp [victim?]
We carry on riding in silence the 10 minutes out to the dock where you get a boat to go out to look for dolphins.
As we all pull up there and stop I can contain myself no longer.
“fuck fuck fuck what the fuck was that fuck fucking fuck about?”
I ask in a less than erudite manner.
After a little discussion / translation I get the full story. It seems that a couple of weeks ago the Kratie Military Police arrested 4 guys coming over the border from Laos with 400,000 tablets of some kind of amphetamine – yes, that is right, I said 400,000 !
They were all arrested and flung into jail. It seems that our guy on the Daelim was one of them, the Chief had no idea why or how he had got out and was now riding around, but it seemed that he took great exception to him being a freeman rather than languishing in a prison cell awaiting trial
“So He escaped from prison” I [naively?] ask, feeling a little better about the whole incident.
“Maybe” my colleagues say, “or maybe he pays some money to be let out”
Well, judging by the Chief’s reaction, I pity the poor sod who was bribed to let him out when the Chief gets hold of him…
Oh a good note, we then saw lots and lots of dolphins, including some very brave and curious baby dolphins who came right up to the boat :-)
Saturday night in Kratie.
Ate at the Mlob Dong restaurant. About 5 minutes moto away from the river – don’t ask me for more specific directions !
While we were waiting for a menu a waitress brought a dish of pickled ginger and garlic cloves, as well as a small plate of wind dried shredded beef – the beef was actually very tasty, although it was a little on the chewy side it was full of flavour and a refreshing change from the freshwater fish and rice we had been eating 3 times a day.
The owner came over and chatted for a while to the Chief of Fish, he obviously knew him well. Having run through what food we wanted the owner disappeared back behind the scenes, presumably to talk to the chef.
While we were waiting, more beef turned up and so did large amounts of Tiger beer and ice.
The first of the food arrived, venison steaks with onions and French fries !?!
Now I know that venison is illegal in Cambodia, but hey what can you do?
They were so tender it was like cutting through pate, soft, moist, so full of flavour – I was in gastronomic heaven. Even the oddness of eating chips with chop sticks could not detract from it.
Next, the whole deep fried cat fish arrived, not a giant Mekong cat fish [Pangasianodon gigas] but just a regular 18 incher !
It was covered in shredded ginger and soya beans – lovely!
Next the rabbit and lemongrass soup, again excellent, very rich, suspect the base for it was venison stock.
All the while we were eating my colleagues kept asking me if I liked this food – between shovelling great mouthfuls down, grinning like an idiot and swilling Tiger by the gallon I managed to say yes a lot !
Have to say, some of the best food that I have had in a long time.
Nov Field Trip - Part one
Thursday in Kompong Cham
So it is our 2nd night of the field trip, and the moment I had been dreading arrives.
We had just finished our dinner - Fish and lemongrass soup, fried fish in ginger and spring onions and fried assorted vegetables – as we are wondering out of the restaurant, my colleagues turn right and start wandering down the road. Strange, I had thought that the hotel was to the left…
Knowing the answer from long suffering field trips with my Khmer colleagues I ask the question anyway.
“Where are we going?”
The answer that I knew was coming was indeed the one I was dreading.
“We go karaoke, maybe one hour? Maybe two. Very good here”
Yes, we were heading towards the dubious pleasures of a Khmer Karaoke Club.
As we enter the dark unlit stairwell, I feel a wave of resignation wash over me. My colleagues are warm, friendly, well meaning, but they have no idea what a trail they are about to put me through – again!
Reaching the second floor at least two of the lights in the corridor are working. Upon seeing us a gaggle of girls leap up from there plastic stools, the bored looks instantly replace with Formica smiles and lots of ‘hello’ ‘hello’ ‘how are you’ ‘what is your name’ et cetera.
We are led down the corridor to one of the converted hotel rooms, upon entering it looks pretty much the same as all the other private karaoke rooms I have been dragged kicking and screaming to over the last seven months.
Three of the four walls are taken up with sofa style seating, a large low coffee table in the middle of them. The fourth wall is covered with a large television set and enough speakers to produce a Led Zeppelin concert.
The three of us take a wall each and the girls start shouting, screaming, to try and outdo each other:
“Anchor” “Lao” “Tiger” “Heineken” “San Miguel”
My colleagues look at me expectantly, the girls suddenly concentrate their yelling at me and move closer, pressing themselves around me, mobbing me as if I was John Lennon and this was the sixties, all the while screaming beer brand names at me, feeling claustrophobic and more than a little heady due the amount of cheap perfume in close proximity I yell at random ‘San Miguel!’
Silence.
Five of the girls walk out in silence looking forlorn, the sixth girl – Ms San Miguel – smile at me, walks over to the table and picks up the phone. A few moments later, more girls appear bearing litre bottles of San Miguel, glasses and a large bucket of ice.
Three of the girls sit down, one next to each of us, fill our glasses and theirs with ice, and Ms San Miguel goes around topping up each of the six glasses.
She then perches on the end of my sofa and pours herself a glass – then the ritual chinking of glasses and toasting begins – they start out with the K’mai – soka peap la’or – excuse spelling! – Good Health. Then the girl next to me raises her glass, looks me in the eye and says ‘Cheer!’ I smile and say cheers, clink glasses and down my glass in one, this of course initiates everyone else having to do likewise.
I may have to sing later, so I need a few drinks inside me, plus if these guys are going to make me sing [something I do not do well] then I am going to make them drink [something that they do not do well!]
So as Ms San Miguel is topping everyone’s glasses up, in comes another girl, this one carrying the karaoke menu, my colleagues pour over this as if it is the Priory of Sion keystone describing the resting place of the Holy Grail.
Choices are made, songs picked, orders barked.
The girl picks up the phone and a minute later the music starts.
Yes, it is some sort of Khmer love song.
You know the sort, a lone woman walking through a field looking for her one true love, whom she then runs into, which means that they have to go and sit on a rock by the river.
So I endure several of these, drinking as much as I can, waiting for the next step in this little dance.
So it came, ‘Darren you sing one song!’
‘No, no, maybe later’
So on they go with the karaoke, the field is replaced by a forest and off they go to sit by a rock next to a river…
Several songs later, several beers later, some discussion in K’mai later, my colleague starts singing in English ‘I don’t like, to sleep alone’
Yes, that is the next step in this particular dance. With me having declined the direct request to sing, they are working around it by singing a song in English themselves.
I could almost count backwards from 10 for the next step in our little dance…
‘Darren you sing one song with me, we sing together’
This is invariably the point at which I have to sing my first song of the evening.
This was the point at which ‘Hotel California’ was murdered like it has never been murdered before – well, since I was last forced to sing it - me, tone deaf and half drunk, my colleague, half drunk and pigeon English – Don Henley will haunt me like Banquo’s ghost for the rest of my years.
As we finish, the polite applause follows cries of ‘very good, very good’
I am temporarily let off the hook.
All the while that I had been singing the girl sat next to me had been massaging my shoulders and neck. As my colleagues carried on singing in K’mai she started giggling and talking to Ms San Miguel, putting her thumb and index finger around my wrist, giggling some more and pointing at my wrist to Ms San Miguel, who reaches over and encircles my other wrist?!? Now they are both giggling and holding a wrist apiece. A third girl nearest us shuffles away from one of my colleagues, near to us and also has a grope of my wrist – what the hell is going on!?!
The three of them are highly entertained.
Opposite, the fourth remaining girl with my other colleague is far to busy trying to fend off his octopus-like arms and hands from her breasts and butt to notice the great mirth and hilarity that my wrists are causing among her friends.
One of the girls starts to massage my legs, which again, results in some ‘ooo-ing’ so all of a sudden I have a girl massaging a leg each and the third one stroking my arms, plucking at the hairs on them muttering ‘sa’aat nah’ you are very handsome…
Damn, I need more beer, reaching for my glass I raise it in a toast, chink some glass and down it – the girls suddenly remember that it is there jobs to get us to drink [thus spend] as much as possible so they chink glasses and drink as well, do a quick tour of the table topping up everyone’s glasses and then return to the business of poking and prodding me while giggling and talking amongst themselves.
After an hour or so of this my friends call for the bill – thank god.
We settle up for the beers and I end up having to tip three girls instead of one as them had all descended on me for the majority of the time there.
As we leave the room Mr Octopus hands is seen scurrying ahead of us with his girl swiftly in tow, no prizes for guessing what is going on there…
The other girls take their places back on the seats looking bored; my other colleague is off down the stairs as I bring up the rear.
Then I feel a hand on my waist, I half turn and there is Ms San Miguel grinning at me saying ‘me massage you?’
‘No thank you, I reply’
‘Me massage you?’ she repeats, rubbing her groin against my hip and tightening her arm around my waist so that the stupid barang gets the message.
‘Oh, sorry’ I say, ‘I have to be up very very early tomorrow’
She pouts – Khmer girls do that so well, do they get special training in pouting and looking hurt? ‘You no like me!’ she accuses me.
‘No, no, you are lovely, but I have to go now, I have to be up very early tomorrow’
Pout, pout. More groin gyration, more hugging.
‘Sorry’ I say one more time and walk towards the stairs.
But suddenly I am unable to walk, my left ankle is in a vice like grip, I look down and Ms San Miguel has thrown herself on the floor and is clutching my ankle with both hands!?!
‘Me go with you, me go with you’ she cries
Not knowing quite what the hell to do I look around, my colleagues have vanished, the other girls sat on their little plastic stools are watching this exchange intently, pointing and a few are giggling.
I crouch down, and say to the girl, ‘sorry, not tonight. I come back tomorrow, I see you tomorrow’ as I say this I slip a couple of bucks out of my pocket and hold them out towards her.
This puts here in quite a dilemma, in order for her to take the money, she has to let go of her vicelike grip on my ankle.
She says, ‘ I see you tomorrow?’ ‘Yes, yes’ I promise.
She takes the money, leaps to her feet, kisses me on the cheek and runs off down the corridor – thank god!
I walk swiftly down the stairs before she can change her mind, hop onto a nearby moto and thank god that we are leaving for Kratie at the crack of dawn tomorrow.
So it is our 2nd night of the field trip, and the moment I had been dreading arrives.
We had just finished our dinner - Fish and lemongrass soup, fried fish in ginger and spring onions and fried assorted vegetables – as we are wondering out of the restaurant, my colleagues turn right and start wandering down the road. Strange, I had thought that the hotel was to the left…
Knowing the answer from long suffering field trips with my Khmer colleagues I ask the question anyway.
“Where are we going?”
The answer that I knew was coming was indeed the one I was dreading.
“We go karaoke, maybe one hour? Maybe two. Very good here”
Yes, we were heading towards the dubious pleasures of a Khmer Karaoke Club.
As we enter the dark unlit stairwell, I feel a wave of resignation wash over me. My colleagues are warm, friendly, well meaning, but they have no idea what a trail they are about to put me through – again!
Reaching the second floor at least two of the lights in the corridor are working. Upon seeing us a gaggle of girls leap up from there plastic stools, the bored looks instantly replace with Formica smiles and lots of ‘hello’ ‘hello’ ‘how are you’ ‘what is your name’ et cetera.
We are led down the corridor to one of the converted hotel rooms, upon entering it looks pretty much the same as all the other private karaoke rooms I have been dragged kicking and screaming to over the last seven months.
Three of the four walls are taken up with sofa style seating, a large low coffee table in the middle of them. The fourth wall is covered with a large television set and enough speakers to produce a Led Zeppelin concert.
The three of us take a wall each and the girls start shouting, screaming, to try and outdo each other:
“Anchor” “Lao” “Tiger” “Heineken” “San Miguel”
My colleagues look at me expectantly, the girls suddenly concentrate their yelling at me and move closer, pressing themselves around me, mobbing me as if I was John Lennon and this was the sixties, all the while screaming beer brand names at me, feeling claustrophobic and more than a little heady due the amount of cheap perfume in close proximity I yell at random ‘San Miguel!’
Silence.
Five of the girls walk out in silence looking forlorn, the sixth girl – Ms San Miguel – smile at me, walks over to the table and picks up the phone. A few moments later, more girls appear bearing litre bottles of San Miguel, glasses and a large bucket of ice.
Three of the girls sit down, one next to each of us, fill our glasses and theirs with ice, and Ms San Miguel goes around topping up each of the six glasses.
She then perches on the end of my sofa and pours herself a glass – then the ritual chinking of glasses and toasting begins – they start out with the K’mai – soka peap la’or – excuse spelling! – Good Health. Then the girl next to me raises her glass, looks me in the eye and says ‘Cheer!’ I smile and say cheers, clink glasses and down my glass in one, this of course initiates everyone else having to do likewise.
I may have to sing later, so I need a few drinks inside me, plus if these guys are going to make me sing [something I do not do well] then I am going to make them drink [something that they do not do well!]
So as Ms San Miguel is topping everyone’s glasses up, in comes another girl, this one carrying the karaoke menu, my colleagues pour over this as if it is the Priory of Sion keystone describing the resting place of the Holy Grail.
Choices are made, songs picked, orders barked.
The girl picks up the phone and a minute later the music starts.
Yes, it is some sort of Khmer love song.
You know the sort, a lone woman walking through a field looking for her one true love, whom she then runs into, which means that they have to go and sit on a rock by the river.
So I endure several of these, drinking as much as I can, waiting for the next step in this little dance.
So it came, ‘Darren you sing one song!’
‘No, no, maybe later’
So on they go with the karaoke, the field is replaced by a forest and off they go to sit by a rock next to a river…
Several songs later, several beers later, some discussion in K’mai later, my colleague starts singing in English ‘I don’t like, to sleep alone’
Yes, that is the next step in this particular dance. With me having declined the direct request to sing, they are working around it by singing a song in English themselves.
I could almost count backwards from 10 for the next step in our little dance…
‘Darren you sing one song with me, we sing together’
This is invariably the point at which I have to sing my first song of the evening.
This was the point at which ‘Hotel California’ was murdered like it has never been murdered before – well, since I was last forced to sing it - me, tone deaf and half drunk, my colleague, half drunk and pigeon English – Don Henley will haunt me like Banquo’s ghost for the rest of my years.
As we finish, the polite applause follows cries of ‘very good, very good’
I am temporarily let off the hook.
All the while that I had been singing the girl sat next to me had been massaging my shoulders and neck. As my colleagues carried on singing in K’mai she started giggling and talking to Ms San Miguel, putting her thumb and index finger around my wrist, giggling some more and pointing at my wrist to Ms San Miguel, who reaches over and encircles my other wrist?!? Now they are both giggling and holding a wrist apiece. A third girl nearest us shuffles away from one of my colleagues, near to us and also has a grope of my wrist – what the hell is going on!?!
The three of them are highly entertained.
Opposite, the fourth remaining girl with my other colleague is far to busy trying to fend off his octopus-like arms and hands from her breasts and butt to notice the great mirth and hilarity that my wrists are causing among her friends.
One of the girls starts to massage my legs, which again, results in some ‘ooo-ing’ so all of a sudden I have a girl massaging a leg each and the third one stroking my arms, plucking at the hairs on them muttering ‘sa’aat nah’ you are very handsome…
Damn, I need more beer, reaching for my glass I raise it in a toast, chink some glass and down it – the girls suddenly remember that it is there jobs to get us to drink [thus spend] as much as possible so they chink glasses and drink as well, do a quick tour of the table topping up everyone’s glasses and then return to the business of poking and prodding me while giggling and talking amongst themselves.
After an hour or so of this my friends call for the bill – thank god.
We settle up for the beers and I end up having to tip three girls instead of one as them had all descended on me for the majority of the time there.
As we leave the room Mr Octopus hands is seen scurrying ahead of us with his girl swiftly in tow, no prizes for guessing what is going on there…
The other girls take their places back on the seats looking bored; my other colleague is off down the stairs as I bring up the rear.
Then I feel a hand on my waist, I half turn and there is Ms San Miguel grinning at me saying ‘me massage you?’
‘No thank you, I reply’
‘Me massage you?’ she repeats, rubbing her groin against my hip and tightening her arm around my waist so that the stupid barang gets the message.
‘Oh, sorry’ I say, ‘I have to be up very very early tomorrow’
She pouts – Khmer girls do that so well, do they get special training in pouting and looking hurt? ‘You no like me!’ she accuses me.
‘No, no, you are lovely, but I have to go now, I have to be up very early tomorrow’
Pout, pout. More groin gyration, more hugging.
‘Sorry’ I say one more time and walk towards the stairs.
But suddenly I am unable to walk, my left ankle is in a vice like grip, I look down and Ms San Miguel has thrown herself on the floor and is clutching my ankle with both hands!?!
‘Me go with you, me go with you’ she cries
Not knowing quite what the hell to do I look around, my colleagues have vanished, the other girls sat on their little plastic stools are watching this exchange intently, pointing and a few are giggling.
I crouch down, and say to the girl, ‘sorry, not tonight. I come back tomorrow, I see you tomorrow’ as I say this I slip a couple of bucks out of my pocket and hold them out towards her.
This puts here in quite a dilemma, in order for her to take the money, she has to let go of her vicelike grip on my ankle.
She says, ‘ I see you tomorrow?’ ‘Yes, yes’ I promise.
She takes the money, leaps to her feet, kisses me on the cheek and runs off down the corridor – thank god!
I walk swiftly down the stairs before she can change her mind, hop onto a nearby moto and thank god that we are leaving for Kratie at the crack of dawn tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Been in Cambodia Too Long ???
Been in Cambodia Too Long ???
Barangs
How do you know when you are becoming Khmer
- You wake up in the night with cravings for prohok.
- You start smiling and looking happy at work.
- You can sleep on top of a moto.
- You find yourself sitting on your balcony wearing a yellow string vest, chewing a toothpick and wearing a sarong.
- There are always foot prints on the toilet seat at your house.
- You would date Herman Munsters twin sister providing she had white skin and a pointy nose.
- You buy a set of curtains and then fit them in your cars windows.
- You have a mobile phone which is worth more than your house.
- You feel the need to walk around with your t-shirt pulled up to just under your nipples.
- You would rather eat offal soup and some durian than a Big Mac and fries.
- You go to work wearing a three piece suit and a pair of flip flops.
- You have just spent your life savings on a fluffy white pedigree lap dog.
- You show off your expensive tastes by mixing super saver cola pop with fifteen year old malt whiskey.
- You start buying your cigarettes three at a time.
- You’ve sold your Cartier to buy an oversized BA Barackeresque emerald ring and a watch that looks like you won it at a fair ground.
- If you won $100,000,000 on the lottery you buy a Toyota Prado with cream leather trim and have your wife gold plated.
- You’d rather sit outside your apartment playing cards with a stack of hundred riel notes than sit inside watching CNN.
Khmers
How do you know you are becoming a Barrang?
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Six Months Already - pram-moie kai howee
Acclimatisation
One of the strangest things about having been here for six months, I think, must be the level of acclimatisation I seem to have achieved.
Walking down the street, things that made me stop and look six months ago now just pass me by as perfectly normal.
* Four Buddhist monks, orange silk robes flapping in the breeze, crowded onto the same 50cc motorbike.
* Five 12 year olds all piled on to the same 50cc motorbike swerving in and out of traffic the wrong way around a roundabout.
* Crossing a road by just walking into the traffic and trusting that people will drive around you
*
* Eating things that you would normally just stand on and throw out the window [cockroaches, locusts, water-beetles…]
* Eating rice and bacon for breakfast
* Street children, beggars, amputees, et cetera although these do still usually make me stop and reach for my wallet
Of course it has not all been so strange, I can pop round to the local ‘supermarket’ and buy toothpaste and loo roll, even Gordon’s gin or Red wine. But that has to be for special treats, it is far too expensive to shop there every week.
Being able to check my Email everyday at work is another bonus, as is getting messages and news from family and friends back home [hint, hint]
* Having friends here on holiday being the top one of them. Including a week at the beach relaxing and also a fair number of shopping trips to the Russian Market - P’sar Tool Tum Pong
*
*
* Buying a motorbike (Honda KL400) to get myself around, and out of, the city
* Sampling some great Khmer food [not including the items on the list above!]
* Seeing
* Visiting the
* Sitting up in a riverside cafe, drinking a coffee and watching the general street theatre that is
* Karaoke
* Only joking about that last one, I could not sing to save my life and go into a panic every time anyone suggests that I do!
Also, my visits out to the provincial projects are usually both entertaining and interesting Spending time with local Khmer families, eating in their homes, getting up at
- Oh and we do some work as well !!!
Moving out of VSO accommodation [after 7 weeks] and into my own flat was another milestone, that I think was the point at which I felt ‘yikes, I really am here for 2 years!’ But actually having my own place was a wonderful feeling. I could relax, buy my own food, watch
Socially
1 Ex-pat bars/restaurants full of westerners earning a
2 Khmer restaurants/karaoke bars with blue plastic chairs, tin tables, cheap food and drink, but you are ankle deep in chicken bones by the end of the evening and deaf from the full volume ‘singing’
But, all in all, I have had a good six months, know my way around the city fairly well, am starting to make friends with some of my colleagues, have home, cleaner, transport and a small social circle.
All things that will hopefully build and grow during the next six months.
Happy August everyone
Love to all
Darren
Saturday, August 21, 2004
SPARK - Nightclubbing in PP the Khmer way
Couple of weeks ago I was dragged to Spark [again] by my dear dear Khmer colleagues, they always go through a similar routine when they take me out -
Park the ministry car right outside the front door, walking up to the doorman say ‘’we have a member of the British government with us, out of the way peasant scum’’ - or something like that in a K’mai equivalent.
After which we were shown to one of those booth-like private tables near the stage, with the requisite 10 members of staff kissing our arses along the way…
When the manager comes over to take our order, there is some debate among my colleagues about Tiger Vs. ABC.
It was at that point I was getting rather bored, so I said, ‘I will have a Johnny Walker, Black label, single piece of ice.’
More debate in K’mai, the manager scurries off, and a few minutes later a waitress arrives with a BOTTLE of JW, an ice bucket and 4 glasses.
So they thought that they could drink and play with the big dog !?!?!!
An hour and a half later I was asking them if we should order another bottle, their bleary, tear-filled, unfocused eyes were suddenly stricken with panic, they was a sudden flurry of activity to attract the waitress and some very very slurry attempts at asking ‘kit loy, kit loy’
They were having to hold each other up as we attempted to negotiate the crowded club. As we get outside, one of them makes a sudden lunge for the large plant pot by the side of the door – lo and behold, re-enter the rice and fish from earlier… one of the others is now sat on the curb holding his head in his hands.
Have not laughed so much in ages !
Park the ministry car right outside the front door, walking up to the doorman say ‘’we have a member of the British government with us, out of the way peasant scum’’ - or something like that in a K’mai equivalent.
After which we were shown to one of those booth-like private tables near the stage, with the requisite 10 members of staff kissing our arses along the way…
When the manager comes over to take our order, there is some debate among my colleagues about Tiger Vs. ABC.
It was at that point I was getting rather bored, so I said, ‘I will have a Johnny Walker, Black label, single piece of ice.’
More debate in K’mai, the manager scurries off, and a few minutes later a waitress arrives with a BOTTLE of JW, an ice bucket and 4 glasses.
So they thought that they could drink and play with the big dog !?!?!!
An hour and a half later I was asking them if we should order another bottle, their bleary, tear-filled, unfocused eyes were suddenly stricken with panic, they was a sudden flurry of activity to attract the waitress and some very very slurry attempts at asking ‘kit loy, kit loy’
They were having to hold each other up as we attempted to negotiate the crowded club. As we get outside, one of them makes a sudden lunge for the large plant pot by the side of the door – lo and behold, re-enter the rice and fish from earlier… one of the others is now sat on the curb holding his head in his hands.
Have not laughed so much in ages !
Traffic Changes in PP
Never mind all this travel around the provinces stuff, what the hell has been going on in PP while I have been away !?!?
Yesterday lunch I headed up to a restaurant near P’sar Thmey as I have no food in the house – yet again.
Only to discover that streets 51 and 63 have now been made into one-way streets, complete with no entry signs and everything.
Of course I was heading in a now illegal direction – along with all the other traffic…
When we hit a police road block. They see 25 Khmers on 50cc Daelim’s and one fat barang on a Honda 400
No prizes for guessing who they stopped …
After much arguing back and forth about the lack of a sign post at the ENTRANCE to the street i.e. before you get on it to drive the wrong way they demanded US$10 !?
I just laughed at them, argued for a while longer and they dropped to US$5
It was at that point that I told them that I was a volunteer, that I had very little money because I was working here with no pay to help
[yes, yes, I know what it sounds like, but hey, I was desperate am skint until payday next week]
The officer looked sceptical about this, and asked if I was sure that I was a volunteer !??! So, I showed him one of my business cards.
‘oh, so sorry’ he said, ‘I saw the colour of your skin and thought that you were a rich man’
I bit my tongue, shook my head and said that I was sorry, but I was not rich.
‘okay’ he says. ‘but could you buy me a packet of cigarettes ?’
So I hand over a dollars worth of riel with a half smile and head on my way.
I guess you have to admire the man’s honesty
‘I saw the colour of your skin and thought that you were a rich man’
Yesterday lunch I headed up to a restaurant near P’sar Thmey as I have no food in the house – yet again.
Only to discover that streets 51 and 63 have now been made into one-way streets, complete with no entry signs and everything.
Of course I was heading in a now illegal direction – along with all the other traffic…
When we hit a police road block. They see 25 Khmers on 50cc Daelim’s and one fat barang on a Honda 400
No prizes for guessing who they stopped …
After much arguing back and forth about the lack of a sign post at the ENTRANCE to the street i.e. before you get on it to drive the wrong way they demanded US$10 !?
I just laughed at them, argued for a while longer and they dropped to US$5
It was at that point that I told them that I was a volunteer, that I had very little money because I was working here with no pay to help
[yes, yes, I know what it sounds like, but hey, I was desperate am skint until payday next week]
The officer looked sceptical about this, and asked if I was sure that I was a volunteer !??! So, I showed him one of my business cards.
‘oh, so sorry’ he said, ‘I saw the colour of your skin and thought that you were a rich man’
I bit my tongue, shook my head and said that I was sorry, but I was not rich.
‘okay’ he says. ‘but could you buy me a packet of cigarettes ?’
So I hand over a dollars worth of riel with a half smile and head on my way.
I guess you have to admire the man’s honesty
‘I saw the colour of your skin and thought that you were a rich man’
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
A typical work day for yours truly...
Greetings one and all from the backend of beyond!
Despite my glorious tales of do daring and adventure out here in the wilds of Cambodia, some of you have expressed an interest in what the ordinary day holds for me, your intrepid hero.
I must say that it seems a mundane and, nigh dare I say it, pedestrian request when viewed alongside my battles with rabid halibuts, or my dangerous forays into restaurants run by Johnny Foreigners.
However, as the old showbiz adage goes “give ‘em what they want”
An average day in the life of…
Let us by way of an example look at a typical work day.
06:15
My first alarm clock goes off and I generally turn it off, rollover and ignore it
06:30
Alarm clock number two goes off. This one however is a little more devious. It is out of reach and keeps going off every ten minutes until I drag my sorry carcass out of bed and am forced to belligerently admit that the day has indeed started at this wholly ungodly hour.
07:15
Have taken care of the usual early morning ablutions; shower, shave, shirt et cetera. By this time I am usually sat on my balcony with a cup of coffee watching the early morning sun break over large hordes of screaming children that can be found in the large municipal building opposite – I believe it is called a school or something…
Around this time also Da usually arrives. Now for the uninitiated, Da is my cleaner and cook. A woman of great character and personal bravery, by which I mean she does my laundry as well. After the obligatory early morning hellos, how are you and her signature giggling at my casual and expert use of the K’mai language, she wonders inside [no doubt with baited breath] to see what kind of carnage she has to face this morning.
07:25
Having given up wondering why Da giggles at me every time I try and speak to her in K’mai [she speaks no English] I drive off down the road, heading East on Mao Tse Toung Boulevard to the Norodom crossroads and the National Head Quarters for the Ministry of Fish.
Parking my bike in my reserved VIP parking space [the bit of unbroken tarmac by the mango tree] I wander into the office and turn the air-con on.
07:30
The working day at the Ministry of Fish starts at 07:30. By way of translation, this means that when I arrive at 07:30 that I am the only one in the building.
Between 07:30 and 08:00 people start to wander in, so I spend every two minutes saying ‘good morning’ ‘yes I am fine thank you, how are you’ and all that. Everyone here is so keen to speak/learn/practice English that I am starting to forget the K’mai I have learnt.
Between all of this I usually manage to commandeer the one and only landline in the office for long enough to down load my Emails to the laptop.
08:00
By this time we have normally reached a quorum within the department, by some sort of telepathic, unspoken command, a group of the guys will all stand and shuffle over to my desk
“Mr Darren” they oh so respectfully say, “Have you breakfast already, or not yet?” A few times a week I will tell them that I have not had breakfast yet. At which point they get all excited and happy and say “You come breakfast us” So we all stroll around the corner from the Ministry to ‘The Restaurant With No Name’ now this is not a super hip trendy no name restaurant, with a retro look back to the movies of Sergio Leone, it is just a street corner Khmer restaurant that is so rough and casual that it does not have a name other than ‘that restaurant on the corner over there’
So we get there and I order my usual Khmer breakfast of rice~bacon with chilli sauce, everyone else orders a variety of dishes from baked fish to pork dumpling soup with noodles, et cetera.
During the course of breakfast several topics usually come up in conversation, these are; what did I do at the weekend, what will I do tonight, have I got a Cambodian girlfriend yet, do I need there help in finding one, when should they arrange the wedding for?????? Most of my Khmer colleagues find it very very odd indeed that I am not married with children at my age, they find it even odder that I have been in country for five months and do not have a Khmer girlfriend/fianc̩/wife/whatever yet. With this in mind, they often ask me if I want to meet various cousins/nieces/neighbours/etc of theirs. I keep telling them that it is it perfectly normal and fine for me to not be married off, at which point they just nod and say yes Рjust to be polite Рthen we all have to go through the same routine again a few days later.
08:30
Having had the usual fight over the bill [I am not allowed to pay] we head back to the office to start our work day in earnest.
The next few hours are taken up with me reviewing reports and updates on the various projects that are currently underway, or with me assisting the staff with their English language skills when writing these reports or proposals. Sometimes I am required to give impromptu sessions on things like report writing skills, or I have to explain what various line items in budgets mean [no you can not buy a car with the money for office equipment]
I quite often attend meetings with various project teams or other departments within the Ministry or with colleagues from other Ministries with areas of overlapping responsibility (Ministry of the Environment, et cetera)
12:00
Lunch. Here my options vary. Mostly I just head back home to have a quick bite, after which I will read for a bit or watch some TV.
On a Fridays’ I will usually go out for lunch, usually for something Western rather than Khmer . There is a large choice of restaurants in Phnom Penh.
Occasionally I may meet up with another VSO for lunch if there are any in town at that time.
Several times a week I will go back into the office early, around 13:30 or 14:00, during which time I can again download any new Emails and send out any I have written
14:30
The work afternoon begins, similar set up to the morning working schedules and practices, only without the trip out for breakfast obviously.
17:00
Time to head home, send any last minutes Emails, et cetera.
17:30
Home, showered and changed. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays Da has my dinner ready for this time as she leaves for the day.
Listen to some music, check out what movies are playing on HBO, generally chill out for an hour or two.
The evenings
Again, much variety here. Ranging from; a quiet night in watching TV or a movie, to going out clubbing with my insane Khmer work colleagues.
The only small part of an evening routine is on Mondays, when I, and any other VSO’s in town, head on over to the Peace Café for the Monday evening British pub quiz night.
That all pretty much covers my working week, Monday to Friday.
Weekends can vary a lot, from travelling out to the provinces to visit other VSO’s, to going out with the Khmers, to going out with the seedy English teachers, to just doing some shopping and chilling out at home. Not that different to ones normal routines back at home. Except of course the 35 to 40 degree heat, continual sunshine, dust, 5 monks on the same moped, karaoke bar on every street corner and the fact that Tarmac seems to be very transitional here.
Well, with that out of the way, I shall get back to my reports of Fish and will update you all soon on the events of National Fish Day !?!!?
Ciao
D
Despite my glorious tales of do daring and adventure out here in the wilds of Cambodia, some of you have expressed an interest in what the ordinary day holds for me, your intrepid hero.
I must say that it seems a mundane and, nigh dare I say it, pedestrian request when viewed alongside my battles with rabid halibuts, or my dangerous forays into restaurants run by Johnny Foreigners.
However, as the old showbiz adage goes “give ‘em what they want”
An average day in the life of…
Let us by way of an example look at a typical work day.
06:15
My first alarm clock goes off and I generally turn it off, rollover and ignore it
06:30
Alarm clock number two goes off. This one however is a little more devious. It is out of reach and keeps going off every ten minutes until I drag my sorry carcass out of bed and am forced to belligerently admit that the day has indeed started at this wholly ungodly hour.
07:15
Have taken care of the usual early morning ablutions; shower, shave, shirt et cetera. By this time I am usually sat on my balcony with a cup of coffee watching the early morning sun break over large hordes of screaming children that can be found in the large municipal building opposite – I believe it is called a school or something…
Around this time also Da usually arrives. Now for the uninitiated, Da is my cleaner and cook. A woman of great character and personal bravery, by which I mean she does my laundry as well. After the obligatory early morning hellos, how are you and her signature giggling at my casual and expert use of the K’mai language, she wonders inside [no doubt with baited breath] to see what kind of carnage she has to face this morning.
07:25
Having given up wondering why Da giggles at me every time I try and speak to her in K’mai [she speaks no English] I drive off down the road, heading East on Mao Tse Toung Boulevard to the Norodom crossroads and the National Head Quarters for the Ministry of Fish.
Parking my bike in my reserved VIP parking space [the bit of unbroken tarmac by the mango tree] I wander into the office and turn the air-con on.
07:30
The working day at the Ministry of Fish starts at 07:30. By way of translation, this means that when I arrive at 07:30 that I am the only one in the building.
Between 07:30 and 08:00 people start to wander in, so I spend every two minutes saying ‘good morning’ ‘yes I am fine thank you, how are you’ and all that. Everyone here is so keen to speak/learn/practice English that I am starting to forget the K’mai I have learnt.
Between all of this I usually manage to commandeer the one and only landline in the office for long enough to down load my Emails to the laptop.
08:00
By this time we have normally reached a quorum within the department, by some sort of telepathic, unspoken command, a group of the guys will all stand and shuffle over to my desk
“Mr Darren” they oh so respectfully say, “Have you breakfast already, or not yet?” A few times a week I will tell them that I have not had breakfast yet. At which point they get all excited and happy and say “You come breakfast us” So we all stroll around the corner from the Ministry to ‘The Restaurant With No Name’ now this is not a super hip trendy no name restaurant, with a retro look back to the movies of Sergio Leone, it is just a street corner Khmer restaurant that is so rough and casual that it does not have a name other than ‘that restaurant on the corner over there’
So we get there and I order my usual Khmer breakfast of rice~bacon with chilli sauce, everyone else orders a variety of dishes from baked fish to pork dumpling soup with noodles, et cetera.
During the course of breakfast several topics usually come up in conversation, these are; what did I do at the weekend, what will I do tonight, have I got a Cambodian girlfriend yet, do I need there help in finding one, when should they arrange the wedding for?????? Most of my Khmer colleagues find it very very odd indeed that I am not married with children at my age, they find it even odder that I have been in country for five months and do not have a Khmer girlfriend/fianc̩/wife/whatever yet. With this in mind, they often ask me if I want to meet various cousins/nieces/neighbours/etc of theirs. I keep telling them that it is it perfectly normal and fine for me to not be married off, at which point they just nod and say yes Рjust to be polite Рthen we all have to go through the same routine again a few days later.
08:30
Having had the usual fight over the bill [I am not allowed to pay] we head back to the office to start our work day in earnest.
The next few hours are taken up with me reviewing reports and updates on the various projects that are currently underway, or with me assisting the staff with their English language skills when writing these reports or proposals. Sometimes I am required to give impromptu sessions on things like report writing skills, or I have to explain what various line items in budgets mean [no you can not buy a car with the money for office equipment]
I quite often attend meetings with various project teams or other departments within the Ministry or with colleagues from other Ministries with areas of overlapping responsibility (Ministry of the Environment, et cetera)
12:00
Lunch. Here my options vary. Mostly I just head back home to have a quick bite, after which I will read for a bit or watch some TV.
On a Fridays’ I will usually go out for lunch, usually for something Western rather than Khmer . There is a large choice of restaurants in Phnom Penh.
Occasionally I may meet up with another VSO for lunch if there are any in town at that time.
Several times a week I will go back into the office early, around 13:30 or 14:00, during which time I can again download any new Emails and send out any I have written
14:30
The work afternoon begins, similar set up to the morning working schedules and practices, only without the trip out for breakfast obviously.
17:00
Time to head home, send any last minutes Emails, et cetera.
17:30
Home, showered and changed. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays Da has my dinner ready for this time as she leaves for the day.
Listen to some music, check out what movies are playing on HBO, generally chill out for an hour or two.
The evenings
Again, much variety here. Ranging from; a quiet night in watching TV or a movie, to going out clubbing with my insane Khmer work colleagues.
The only small part of an evening routine is on Mondays, when I, and any other VSO’s in town, head on over to the Peace Café for the Monday evening British pub quiz night.
That all pretty much covers my working week, Monday to Friday.
Weekends can vary a lot, from travelling out to the provinces to visit other VSO’s, to going out with the Khmers, to going out with the seedy English teachers, to just doing some shopping and chilling out at home. Not that different to ones normal routines back at home. Except of course the 35 to 40 degree heat, continual sunshine, dust, 5 monks on the same moped, karaoke bar on every street corner and the fact that Tarmac seems to be very transitional here.
Well, with that out of the way, I shall get back to my reports of Fish and will update you all soon on the events of National Fish Day !?!!?
Ciao
D
How many Cambodians does it take to change an air filter ?
How many Cambodians does it take to change an air filter ?
Yesterday afternoon the air-con in my office stopped working, or to put it another way, it started screaming screeching banging and generally sounding like it was about to explode. Half an hour after it shuffled off this mortal coil, my boss wandered in, took one look at the large sweaty lump drowning in his own perspiration (that would be me) and asked, ‘’are you warm, shall I put the air-con on?’’ my response was somewhat vitriolic to say the least – it was 45°C yesterday. He then said he would get it fixed !
Today a small army of Khmer repairmen turned up and proceeded to dismantle the unit. 2 stood on a desk and removed the cover, another one stood on a chair and prodded the motor with a large screwdriver, another held the chair and 2 more looked on waiting to be handed things down from the others.
They were then handed the air filter, which they carried outside, one of the ones standing on the desk then went out to join them so the 3 of them then set about cleaning the large plastic mesh filter thingy with more screwdrivers, a bucket of brownish water and the odd poke with a finger.
Meanwhile back at the main unit, the guy standing on a chair was still tapping things with his large screwdriver and generally prodding bits of machinery.
Having determined by acoustic engineering that some thing was wrong with the motor he got down off his chair, wandered out to the rusty skip on wheels he would call lovingly his van and returned with another screwdriver and a hammer.
For the next part, let us just say that he removed the motor with the minimum loss of fingers and blood……….
He, and the remaining workmen, then joined the others out in the car-park to repair the damaged motor with that particular assortment of tools.
It was at this point that I decided that I should just resign myself to working in a sauna for the next couple of years.
With this thought on my mind, I thought it best to take an early, and long, lunch break.
Having returned from lunch, the workmen, the air filter and the motor were nowhere to be seen. My boss came to see me looking very sad. ‘’the air-con it is now dead. I think I will call a company that deals with air-con’’
What for ? To give it the last rites ??
But this tale does have a happy ending, first thing tomorrow morning (that is on a Khmer timescale) someone is coming to fit a brand new A/C unit in the office :-)
Well, maybe….
Yesterday afternoon the air-con in my office stopped working, or to put it another way, it started screaming screeching banging and generally sounding like it was about to explode. Half an hour after it shuffled off this mortal coil, my boss wandered in, took one look at the large sweaty lump drowning in his own perspiration (that would be me) and asked, ‘’are you warm, shall I put the air-con on?’’ my response was somewhat vitriolic to say the least – it was 45°C yesterday. He then said he would get it fixed !
Today a small army of Khmer repairmen turned up and proceeded to dismantle the unit. 2 stood on a desk and removed the cover, another one stood on a chair and prodded the motor with a large screwdriver, another held the chair and 2 more looked on waiting to be handed things down from the others.
They were then handed the air filter, which they carried outside, one of the ones standing on the desk then went out to join them so the 3 of them then set about cleaning the large plastic mesh filter thingy with more screwdrivers, a bucket of brownish water and the odd poke with a finger.
Meanwhile back at the main unit, the guy standing on a chair was still tapping things with his large screwdriver and generally prodding bits of machinery.
Having determined by acoustic engineering that some thing was wrong with the motor he got down off his chair, wandered out to the rusty skip on wheels he would call lovingly his van and returned with another screwdriver and a hammer.
For the next part, let us just say that he removed the motor with the minimum loss of fingers and blood……….
He, and the remaining workmen, then joined the others out in the car-park to repair the damaged motor with that particular assortment of tools.
It was at this point that I decided that I should just resign myself to working in a sauna for the next couple of years.
With this thought on my mind, I thought it best to take an early, and long, lunch break.
Having returned from lunch, the workmen, the air filter and the motor were nowhere to be seen. My boss came to see me looking very sad. ‘’the air-con it is now dead. I think I will call a company that deals with air-con’’
What for ? To give it the last rites ??
But this tale does have a happy ending, first thing tomorrow morning (that is on a Khmer timescale) someone is coming to fit a brand new A/C unit in the office :-)
Well, maybe….
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Khmer Cooking - I
Kha TreiFish in Palm Sugar
Ingredients
500 g fish
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup palm sugar
1 tsp black pepper
3 cups watergreen mango, grated
Clean fish and cut into thick slices. Salt it and set aside. Chop the garlic finely. Heat the palm sugar in a pot on a low heat until it caramalises. Add garlic and stir frequently, when it starts to brown, add the salt, pepper and fish. If the mixer gets too thick add a little water to help it along. Do not stir as the fish will break apart, instead lift the pot and swish it around.
When the fish turns yellow-brown, add the rest of the water and simmer until the sauce thickens. The dish is served hot or cold, usually with steamed rice and grated green mango.
Nhoam Kra-Ao ChhoukLotus Roots Salad
Ingredients
300 g lotus root
100 g chicken, boiled and shredded
1/3 cup bacon, cut into 1/2-cm pieces
1/3 cup dried shrimps, washed, drained, and pounded coarsely
1/3 cup peanuts, roasted and pounded coarsely
1/2 cup chi
Dressing
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1-2 bird chillies
Lotus roots have a hard exterior which need to be removed before cooking. This is done by using a knife to make a shallow cut at the tip of the root and pulling the skin upwards similar to how you might remove the stringy veins from celery. Then the roots are cut at an angle into 5-cm pieces, soaked in water and stirred with wooden chopsticks which "catch" the rest of the tough fibres. boil chicken and tear into strips. Boil bacon and cut. Soak and rinse shrimps, then pound. Toss these ingredients with the fresh lotus roots, peanuts and chi.For the dressing, pound the garlic, shallots and chillies, then add fish sauce, sugar and lime juice and drizzle over salad
Trei PhattDried Salted Fish
Ingredients
1 trei ngeat (salted fish, 300 g)
6 cloves garlic
8 shallots
vegetable oil
2 tbsp sugar
This dish requires patience because the fish has to be handled with care at every stage: in the drying out,pounding and frying.
boil the salted fish and once cooked, drain before skining and removing bones. Then break into pieces andset aside to dry further: Then use a clay mortar to pound the flesh until it becomes fluffy. (If there is excess water in the fish it will turn soggy instead.)
Slice garlic and shallots thinly and fry separately in a little oil. Then, on a low heat, stir-fry the salted fish in 2 tbsp of oil until it starts to yellow and turn crispy, then add sugar and continue stirring. Finally return the garlic and shallots to the pan and continue to cook over a low heat to let any moisture evaporate before serving with steamed rice.
This dish is often served with thick slices of water melon or pineapple during festivals, such as the New Year.
Num Sang Khya L'peouPumpkin Custard
Ingredients
1 whole pumpkin
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup palm sugar
2 cups coconut milk
Wash the pumpkin thoroughly, then cut open the top and remove the seeds. In a largh bowl, beat the egg yolk with palm sugar until completely dissolved, then add the coconut milk and blend until smooth. Pour into the pumpkin, put the top back on and steam for 30 minutes.
Eat the pumpkin and custard cold, and serve by cutting like a cake.
Ingredients
500 g fish
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup palm sugar
1 tsp black pepper
3 cups watergreen mango, grated
Clean fish and cut into thick slices. Salt it and set aside. Chop the garlic finely. Heat the palm sugar in a pot on a low heat until it caramalises. Add garlic and stir frequently, when it starts to brown, add the salt, pepper and fish. If the mixer gets too thick add a little water to help it along. Do not stir as the fish will break apart, instead lift the pot and swish it around.
When the fish turns yellow-brown, add the rest of the water and simmer until the sauce thickens. The dish is served hot or cold, usually with steamed rice and grated green mango.
Nhoam Kra-Ao ChhoukLotus Roots Salad
Ingredients
300 g lotus root
100 g chicken, boiled and shredded
1/3 cup bacon, cut into 1/2-cm pieces
1/3 cup dried shrimps, washed, drained, and pounded coarsely
1/3 cup peanuts, roasted and pounded coarsely
1/2 cup chi
Dressing
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1-2 bird chillies
Lotus roots have a hard exterior which need to be removed before cooking. This is done by using a knife to make a shallow cut at the tip of the root and pulling the skin upwards similar to how you might remove the stringy veins from celery. Then the roots are cut at an angle into 5-cm pieces, soaked in water and stirred with wooden chopsticks which "catch" the rest of the tough fibres. boil chicken and tear into strips. Boil bacon and cut. Soak and rinse shrimps, then pound. Toss these ingredients with the fresh lotus roots, peanuts and chi.For the dressing, pound the garlic, shallots and chillies, then add fish sauce, sugar and lime juice and drizzle over salad
Trei PhattDried Salted Fish
Ingredients
1 trei ngeat (salted fish, 300 g)
6 cloves garlic
8 shallots
vegetable oil
2 tbsp sugar
This dish requires patience because the fish has to be handled with care at every stage: in the drying out,pounding and frying.
boil the salted fish and once cooked, drain before skining and removing bones. Then break into pieces andset aside to dry further: Then use a clay mortar to pound the flesh until it becomes fluffy. (If there is excess water in the fish it will turn soggy instead.)
Slice garlic and shallots thinly and fry separately in a little oil. Then, on a low heat, stir-fry the salted fish in 2 tbsp of oil until it starts to yellow and turn crispy, then add sugar and continue stirring. Finally return the garlic and shallots to the pan and continue to cook over a low heat to let any moisture evaporate before serving with steamed rice.
This dish is often served with thick slices of water melon or pineapple during festivals, such as the New Year.
Num Sang Khya L'peouPumpkin Custard
Ingredients
1 whole pumpkin
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup palm sugar
2 cups coconut milk
Wash the pumpkin thoroughly, then cut open the top and remove the seeds. In a largh bowl, beat the egg yolk with palm sugar until completely dissolved, then add the coconut milk and blend until smooth. Pour into the pumpkin, put the top back on and steam for 30 minutes.
Eat the pumpkin and custard cold, and serve by cutting like a cake.
Khmer Cooking - II
Khmer Recipes II
Somlah Machoo Soup
This recipe is a great example of the kind of Cambodian soup known as Somlah Machoo, with its herb paste and lightly sour taste of tamarind. These flavors serve as a backdrop for the watercress and pork ribs. Other vegetables that go well with the ribs are zucchini and young winter melon, which, unlike zucchini, has to be peeled. Cut either vegetable lengthwise in half, slice 1/4 inch thick and add it haft an hour before the soup is done. You may want to ask the butcher to cut the ribs into pieces for you.
THE INGREDIENTS: ( SERVE 4 PERSONS )
* 2 stalks of lemongrass, thinly sliced.
* 5 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped.
* 1 tablespoon peeled, coarsely chopped galangal.
* 1 large shallot, coarsely chopped.
* 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh cilantro.
* 1/4 teaspoon turmeric.
* 2/3 cup water.
TO MAKE THE PASTE: Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth, 2 to 3 munintes.
* 2 1/2 pounds of baby back ribs, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces across the bone, then cut between the bones.
* 1 tablespoon prahok ( optional ).
* 5 cups of water.
* 3 tablespoons of fish sauce.
* 1 1/2 tablespoon of salt.
* 1 tablespoon of sugar.
* 1 cup of tamarind juice.
* 1-1 1/2 pounds of Chinese watercress or regular watercress, cut into 2-inch pieces ( or young winter melon or zucchini ).
* Julienned red bell pepper, for garnish.
PREPARE THE SOUP: Transfer the paste to a large pot, stir in the ribs and prahok ( if using ) and cook over medium-high heat, stirring well, for 5 to 6 munintes. Add the water, fish sauce, salt and sugar and bring to a boil over high heat. When the soup has reached a boil, skim, reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the ribs are tender, about 1 1/4 hours. Stir in the tamarind juice and watercress, remove from the heat and serve in bowls, garnished with slices of red pepper.
Sach ko ang nung tirk plei spuu.(Khmer Krom star fruit steak.)
Grilled beefsteak with delicious, spicy star fruit marinade sauce is my family favorite. For this recipe my family prefers with tenderloin steak rolls but sirloin steak also very good and much cheaper.
Ingredients :
4 Pieces tenderloin steak rolls, approx 1 ½ lbs
Sauce:
1 Ripped star fruit, seeded and slices
3 Cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Teaspoon sea salt
2 Hot chili pepper or to your taste (option)
¼ Teaspoon black pepper
1 Cup water
Procedures : Places steak rolls in container. Set it a side. Put remaining ingredients in a blender and blended it well. Pour sauce over steaks, covered container and refrigerated it over night or at least 4 hours. Cook steak over hot grill to your liking. Serve hot with rice or potato.
Nem To hu sap.(Khmer Krom vegetarian summer roll.)
Khmer Krom vegetarian summer roll is light , delicious and great for appetite. Combination of lightly brown tofu with fresh cucumber, mint, lettuce and rice vermicelli noodles wraps in rice paper is very tasty to serve at any meal.
Ingredients :
2 Pieces firm Tofu.
16 Pieces rice papper.
2 Cups cooked rice vermicelli noodles.
1 Cucumber. Peeled and cut into same length as Tofu with 16 slices.
2 Cups chopped Romaine or Boston lettuce.
1 Cup chopped mint.
2 Tablespoon cooking oil.
A bowl of warm water to moist rice paper.
Procedures : Heat up a non-stick frying pan, when it hot add cooking oil and places tofu in the frying pan.Lightly brown both sides tofu, remove from the heat when done. Cut 8 slices out of each piece of tofu. Set a side.Take a piece of rice paper and lay flat on a plate or cutting board.Moisten your fingers with water and rubs gently on top of rice paper.When the rice paper is softening, take a slice of tofu put on 1/3 top of rice paper.Top tofu with cucumber, some cook rice noodle, chopped lettuce and mint.Lifts the top part and both side of rice paper over the ingredients. Carefully roll it tightly forward like you roll spring roll.Continue until done. Serve with Sweet dipping soy sauce
Kdam salk chien nung xieng .(Soft shell crab with bean sauce. )
Khmer Krom loves soft-shell crab because it taste great and can eat whole. About soft-shell crab: Crab sheds many times during their whole life span; before crab shed out the hard-shell, it grows a new layer of soft-shell under the hard-shell. During this shedding or molting process crab go hidden or buried under sands until crab’s soft-shell harden. At the same time the crabbers would be look out to catch the soft-shell crab. When you buy soft-shell crab, touch it body to check for firmness. Don’t buy if soft-shell crab has strong odor. Fresh soft-shell crab has very light odor. Golden crispy deep fry soft shell crab savor with gingery black bean sauce is absolute delicious.
Ingredients :
2 Large soft- shell crab.
1 Cup all purpose flour.
1 Cup cold water.
2 Tablespoons corn starch.
4 Cups cooking oil.
SAUCE:
1 Cup water.
1 Tablespoon cornstarch.
2 Tablespoons soy bean paste. Rinsed soybean under cold water, drained.
1 Tablespoon soy sauce.
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce.
1 Tablespoon sugar.
4 Cloves garlic. Minced.
1 Yellow onion. Sliced.
1 Tablespoon grated ginger root.
3 Stalks green onion. Chopped ½ inch in length.
¼ Teaspoon black pepper.
3 Chili pepper. Chopped.(Option).
Procedures : Removed apron (flap on the belly) of soft-shell crab, washed crab with cold water. Drained. Pour cooking oil in a large skillet, before heat up the oil, saved back 2 tablespoons oil for sauce later . While waiting for the oil to hot, put all-purpose flour with cornstarch and water in large bowl. Mix it well. Gently immersed crab in flour batter and deep fry crab till both sides crispy.Removed fried crab and placed it in paper towel covered plate to drain excessive oil. SAUCE: In a small bowl, mix water with cornstarch, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Mix well. Pre-heat a small saucepan or skillet. When it hot pour 2 tablespoons oil (from saved back).Sauté garlic, yellow onion, ginger, chili pepper and soybean paste. Stirs well. Pour cornstarch sauce in skillet; stirs well till the sauce thicken. Add green onion before serve.To serve:Put crab in a big plate or platter, pour bean sauce over fried crab and sprinkles with black pepper. Serve hot as mahope sar (appetizer) or with rice.
Sach chrouk kho tirk doung poan chap .(Caramelized pork with quail eggs)
Traditionally, most Khmer Krom cook a big pot of caramelized pork with chicken , duck or quail
eggs on New Year Eve to eat for the whole week along with other foods. Caramelized pork with eggs is one of the most popular food offerings in Kampuchea Krom, because pork and eggs are symbol of luck and wealth.My friends prefers caramelized pork hocks and quail eggs to caramelized pork with , duck or chicken eggs because my dad loves bony and fatty meat with skin on, and the rest of family loves the tiny quail eggs. Quail eggs taste same as duck or chicken eggs but much smaller, perfect bite sizes. Caramelized pork with coconut juice and quail eggs is absolutely delicious.
Ingredients :
3 lbs. Pork hock or 1 ½ lbs Pork meat with skin on or lean meat.Cut to bite sizes.
1 Canned coconut juice. or 2 cups fresh young coconut juice.
3 Cups water.
2 Cloves garlic. Minced.
1 Stalks green onion. Chopped.
1 Teaspoon salt.
¼ Cup fish sauce.
2 Tablespoons sugar.
¼ Teaspoon black pepper.
2 Dozen fresh quail eggs or 1 canned quail eggs.
Caramelized Sauce.
1 Teaspoon sugar.
1 Tablespoon water.
Procedures : If you’re using fresh quail eggs, boiled quail eggs, removed the shells and set a side.If you’re using canned quail eggs. Drained and rinsed under cold water, set a side.To make caramelized sauce: Put 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a pot that big enough to hold all the ingredients. Cook sugar water in low heat and stirs frequently till sugar turns dark brown color, and not burn.Immediately add pork meat and garlic in the pot , and pour coconut juice (or soda) and water over the meat. Add sugar, fish sauce, black pepper and salt.Cook in low heat till pork tender tender. Add quail eggs with pork meat and simmering till meat is tender.Sprinkles with chopped green onion before serve. Serve hot with rice.
Samlor Nam NgauChicken with Preserved Lemon Soup
This soup is one of Khmer Authentic dish. You can cook with pork, beef, and duck also. It’s very easy to make. The soup is light and delicious with rice.
Ingredients :
½ Chicken. Cut up to 8 pieces.
1 Preserved lemon. Cut in half. You could find it at Asian markets, it comes in a jar.
5 Cups water.
2 Gloves garlic. Do not peel.
1 Tablespoon fish sauce.
1 Teaspoon sugar.
½ Teaspoon salt.
Black pepper.
Half yellow onion. Slice.
1 Stalk green onion. Chopped.
Procedures :
In a soup pot, place chicken, yellow onion, preserved lemon, garlic and pour water in.
Cook till the meat tender to your liking. Seasoning with sugar, salt and fish sauce.
Sprinkle green onion and black pepper.
Serve hot with rice.
Samlor Machu TreySweet and Sour Soup with Fish
This soup has a sweet, sour and spicy taste. Very popular in Cambodian kitchens because it is very easy to make and taste yummy. But it takes so many herbs and vegetables to make a perfect bowl of soup. My recommendation for this soup is to seasoning to your taste. Some like more sour and some like sweeter. Is all depending on how you prefer the taste.
Ingredients :
1 Whole fish about 2 lbs. Cut up to steak size.
6 Cups water.
1/2 Fresh pineapple. Diced or
1 large can chunk pineapple.
1/2 lb Fresh okra. Or
6 oz frozen whole okra.
1 1/2 Tablespoon Knorr tamarind Soup base powder
3 Tablespoon sugar.
2 Tablespoon fish sauce.
1/4 Teaspoon salt.
1 Table spoon cooking oil.
2 Gloves garlic. Crushed.
1 Stalk lemon grass.
1/4 lb Bean sprouts
1 Stalk celery. Chopped.
2 Tomatoes. Cut ½ inch slices.
2 Stalks Asian rhubarb. Sliced thin.
1 Cup chopped mix herbs (rice paddy herb( ma-om), sweet basil, saw leaf herb and green onion leave).
Hot chili pepper. (Optional)
Procedures :
Heat up a small saucepan on the stove with cooking oil. Sauté’ garlic and lemon grass. Set a side. Pour water in large soup pot. Bring to boil. Add fish, pineapple (juice and all if you are using from the can). When fish cooked, add okra, celery and tamarind powder. Stir gentles be careful not break the fish. Add Asian rhubarb, tomatoes, bean sprouts and pour lemon grass oil over. Stirs. Seasoning with sugar, fish sauce, and salt. Top with mix herbs and hot chili pepper. Serve hot.
Somlah Machoo Soup
This recipe is a great example of the kind of Cambodian soup known as Somlah Machoo, with its herb paste and lightly sour taste of tamarind. These flavors serve as a backdrop for the watercress and pork ribs. Other vegetables that go well with the ribs are zucchini and young winter melon, which, unlike zucchini, has to be peeled. Cut either vegetable lengthwise in half, slice 1/4 inch thick and add it haft an hour before the soup is done. You may want to ask the butcher to cut the ribs into pieces for you.
THE INGREDIENTS: ( SERVE 4 PERSONS )
* 2 stalks of lemongrass, thinly sliced.
* 5 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped.
* 1 tablespoon peeled, coarsely chopped galangal.
* 1 large shallot, coarsely chopped.
* 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh cilantro.
* 1/4 teaspoon turmeric.
* 2/3 cup water.
TO MAKE THE PASTE: Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth, 2 to 3 munintes.
* 2 1/2 pounds of baby back ribs, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces across the bone, then cut between the bones.
* 1 tablespoon prahok ( optional ).
* 5 cups of water.
* 3 tablespoons of fish sauce.
* 1 1/2 tablespoon of salt.
* 1 tablespoon of sugar.
* 1 cup of tamarind juice.
* 1-1 1/2 pounds of Chinese watercress or regular watercress, cut into 2-inch pieces ( or young winter melon or zucchini ).
* Julienned red bell pepper, for garnish.
PREPARE THE SOUP: Transfer the paste to a large pot, stir in the ribs and prahok ( if using ) and cook over medium-high heat, stirring well, for 5 to 6 munintes. Add the water, fish sauce, salt and sugar and bring to a boil over high heat. When the soup has reached a boil, skim, reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the ribs are tender, about 1 1/4 hours. Stir in the tamarind juice and watercress, remove from the heat and serve in bowls, garnished with slices of red pepper.
Sach ko ang nung tirk plei spuu.(Khmer Krom star fruit steak.)
Grilled beefsteak with delicious, spicy star fruit marinade sauce is my family favorite. For this recipe my family prefers with tenderloin steak rolls but sirloin steak also very good and much cheaper.
Ingredients :
4 Pieces tenderloin steak rolls, approx 1 ½ lbs
Sauce:
1 Ripped star fruit, seeded and slices
3 Cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Teaspoon sea salt
2 Hot chili pepper or to your taste (option)
¼ Teaspoon black pepper
1 Cup water
Procedures : Places steak rolls in container. Set it a side. Put remaining ingredients in a blender and blended it well. Pour sauce over steaks, covered container and refrigerated it over night or at least 4 hours. Cook steak over hot grill to your liking. Serve hot with rice or potato.
Nem To hu sap.(Khmer Krom vegetarian summer roll.)
Khmer Krom vegetarian summer roll is light , delicious and great for appetite. Combination of lightly brown tofu with fresh cucumber, mint, lettuce and rice vermicelli noodles wraps in rice paper is very tasty to serve at any meal.
Ingredients :
2 Pieces firm Tofu.
16 Pieces rice papper.
2 Cups cooked rice vermicelli noodles.
1 Cucumber. Peeled and cut into same length as Tofu with 16 slices.
2 Cups chopped Romaine or Boston lettuce.
1 Cup chopped mint.
2 Tablespoon cooking oil.
A bowl of warm water to moist rice paper.
Procedures : Heat up a non-stick frying pan, when it hot add cooking oil and places tofu in the frying pan.Lightly brown both sides tofu, remove from the heat when done. Cut 8 slices out of each piece of tofu. Set a side.Take a piece of rice paper and lay flat on a plate or cutting board.Moisten your fingers with water and rubs gently on top of rice paper.When the rice paper is softening, take a slice of tofu put on 1/3 top of rice paper.Top tofu with cucumber, some cook rice noodle, chopped lettuce and mint.Lifts the top part and both side of rice paper over the ingredients. Carefully roll it tightly forward like you roll spring roll.Continue until done. Serve with Sweet dipping soy sauce
Kdam salk chien nung xieng .(Soft shell crab with bean sauce. )
Khmer Krom loves soft-shell crab because it taste great and can eat whole. About soft-shell crab: Crab sheds many times during their whole life span; before crab shed out the hard-shell, it grows a new layer of soft-shell under the hard-shell. During this shedding or molting process crab go hidden or buried under sands until crab’s soft-shell harden. At the same time the crabbers would be look out to catch the soft-shell crab. When you buy soft-shell crab, touch it body to check for firmness. Don’t buy if soft-shell crab has strong odor. Fresh soft-shell crab has very light odor. Golden crispy deep fry soft shell crab savor with gingery black bean sauce is absolute delicious.
Ingredients :
2 Large soft- shell crab.
1 Cup all purpose flour.
1 Cup cold water.
2 Tablespoons corn starch.
4 Cups cooking oil.
SAUCE:
1 Cup water.
1 Tablespoon cornstarch.
2 Tablespoons soy bean paste. Rinsed soybean under cold water, drained.
1 Tablespoon soy sauce.
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce.
1 Tablespoon sugar.
4 Cloves garlic. Minced.
1 Yellow onion. Sliced.
1 Tablespoon grated ginger root.
3 Stalks green onion. Chopped ½ inch in length.
¼ Teaspoon black pepper.
3 Chili pepper. Chopped.(Option).
Procedures : Removed apron (flap on the belly) of soft-shell crab, washed crab with cold water. Drained. Pour cooking oil in a large skillet, before heat up the oil, saved back 2 tablespoons oil for sauce later . While waiting for the oil to hot, put all-purpose flour with cornstarch and water in large bowl. Mix it well. Gently immersed crab in flour batter and deep fry crab till both sides crispy.Removed fried crab and placed it in paper towel covered plate to drain excessive oil. SAUCE: In a small bowl, mix water with cornstarch, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Mix well. Pre-heat a small saucepan or skillet. When it hot pour 2 tablespoons oil (from saved back).Sauté garlic, yellow onion, ginger, chili pepper and soybean paste. Stirs well. Pour cornstarch sauce in skillet; stirs well till the sauce thicken. Add green onion before serve.To serve:Put crab in a big plate or platter, pour bean sauce over fried crab and sprinkles with black pepper. Serve hot as mahope sar (appetizer) or with rice.
Sach chrouk kho tirk doung poan chap .(Caramelized pork with quail eggs)
Traditionally, most Khmer Krom cook a big pot of caramelized pork with chicken , duck or quail
eggs on New Year Eve to eat for the whole week along with other foods. Caramelized pork with eggs is one of the most popular food offerings in Kampuchea Krom, because pork and eggs are symbol of luck and wealth.My friends prefers caramelized pork hocks and quail eggs to caramelized pork with , duck or chicken eggs because my dad loves bony and fatty meat with skin on, and the rest of family loves the tiny quail eggs. Quail eggs taste same as duck or chicken eggs but much smaller, perfect bite sizes. Caramelized pork with coconut juice and quail eggs is absolutely delicious.
Ingredients :
3 lbs. Pork hock or 1 ½ lbs Pork meat with skin on or lean meat.Cut to bite sizes.
1 Canned coconut juice. or 2 cups fresh young coconut juice.
3 Cups water.
2 Cloves garlic. Minced.
1 Stalks green onion. Chopped.
1 Teaspoon salt.
¼ Cup fish sauce.
2 Tablespoons sugar.
¼ Teaspoon black pepper.
2 Dozen fresh quail eggs or 1 canned quail eggs.
Caramelized Sauce.
1 Teaspoon sugar.
1 Tablespoon water.
Procedures : If you’re using fresh quail eggs, boiled quail eggs, removed the shells and set a side.If you’re using canned quail eggs. Drained and rinsed under cold water, set a side.To make caramelized sauce: Put 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a pot that big enough to hold all the ingredients. Cook sugar water in low heat and stirs frequently till sugar turns dark brown color, and not burn.Immediately add pork meat and garlic in the pot , and pour coconut juice (or soda) and water over the meat. Add sugar, fish sauce, black pepper and salt.Cook in low heat till pork tender tender. Add quail eggs with pork meat and simmering till meat is tender.Sprinkles with chopped green onion before serve. Serve hot with rice.
Samlor Nam NgauChicken with Preserved Lemon Soup
This soup is one of Khmer Authentic dish. You can cook with pork, beef, and duck also. It’s very easy to make. The soup is light and delicious with rice.
Ingredients :
½ Chicken. Cut up to 8 pieces.
1 Preserved lemon. Cut in half. You could find it at Asian markets, it comes in a jar.
5 Cups water.
2 Gloves garlic. Do not peel.
1 Tablespoon fish sauce.
1 Teaspoon sugar.
½ Teaspoon salt.
Black pepper.
Half yellow onion. Slice.
1 Stalk green onion. Chopped.
Procedures :
In a soup pot, place chicken, yellow onion, preserved lemon, garlic and pour water in.
Cook till the meat tender to your liking. Seasoning with sugar, salt and fish sauce.
Sprinkle green onion and black pepper.
Serve hot with rice.
Samlor Machu TreySweet and Sour Soup with Fish
This soup has a sweet, sour and spicy taste. Very popular in Cambodian kitchens because it is very easy to make and taste yummy. But it takes so many herbs and vegetables to make a perfect bowl of soup. My recommendation for this soup is to seasoning to your taste. Some like more sour and some like sweeter. Is all depending on how you prefer the taste.
Ingredients :
1 Whole fish about 2 lbs. Cut up to steak size.
6 Cups water.
1/2 Fresh pineapple. Diced or
1 large can chunk pineapple.
1/2 lb Fresh okra. Or
6 oz frozen whole okra.
1 1/2 Tablespoon Knorr tamarind Soup base powder
3 Tablespoon sugar.
2 Tablespoon fish sauce.
1/4 Teaspoon salt.
1 Table spoon cooking oil.
2 Gloves garlic. Crushed.
1 Stalk lemon grass.
1/4 lb Bean sprouts
1 Stalk celery. Chopped.
2 Tomatoes. Cut ½ inch slices.
2 Stalks Asian rhubarb. Sliced thin.
1 Cup chopped mix herbs (rice paddy herb( ma-om), sweet basil, saw leaf herb and green onion leave).
Hot chili pepper. (Optional)
Procedures :
Heat up a small saucepan on the stove with cooking oil. Sauté’ garlic and lemon grass. Set a side. Pour water in large soup pot. Bring to boil. Add fish, pineapple (juice and all if you are using from the can). When fish cooked, add okra, celery and tamarind powder. Stir gentles be careful not break the fish. Add Asian rhubarb, tomatoes, bean sprouts and pour lemon grass oil over. Stirs. Seasoning with sugar, fish sauce, and salt. Top with mix herbs and hot chili pepper. Serve hot.
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