We started at 6:45am with our guide, Ta, picking us up at the guesthouse we are staying at. Ta asked if we needed anything, so he took us to the market to buy bug spray which we forgot to pack. We picked up one other couple, Richard and Pauline, and headed out to the Tonle Sap Lake. Along the way we passed through the flood plain of the Tonle Sap where all of the houses are on stilts. Ta was super informative, and also really keen on giving us an authentic Cambodian experience with genuine hospitality.

We stopped to have bamboo filled with rice, coconut milk, some sugar and salt and some black beans for breakfast from a roadside “shop.” Next food experience was Lotus seeds. A woman was selling them, and Ta asked if we wanted to try them. He bought us each a pod of seeds to eat. They taste like fresh peas from the garden. We also saw some kids set up like a lemonade stand on the side of the road. We asked what they were selling, so Ta stopped and bought us some of the fruit. I don’t know how to spell the name, but they looked like yellow/orange figs that peel open to reveal a super sticky, SUPER sour apricot like fruit with several large pits. Ta bought all of the fruit from the kids. He said they were so excited.

While driving we saw a funeral procession which we followed for a while, and then we saw a wedding which guests were inviting us in to take photos. That seemed really weird to me. We saw tons of adorable little kids. They are super keen on seeing their photo on the camera. My display screen was a smudgy mess from them pointing out themselves in the photos. My God were they cute though!

And, the next random food experience-Ta asked if we had tried cashew fruit since we had been in Cambodia. The 4 of us were pretty sure he meant cashew nut, but no there is an actual fruit like an apple that grows off of the nut. He said it wasn’t really the right region, but if we saw a tree he would stop. So we did! We literally invaded some random yard to check out the tree.

The fruit looks like a cashew nut attached to a small pepper-shaped, orange-coloured apple. The fruit is kind of mushy, not crisp. It is very juicy, but at the same time it dries out your mouth-quite an odd flavour sensation really. The home owner was quite happy to have “barang” (foreigner) company. She let Ta use the fire in the kitchen to roast the cashews for us.

While they were roasting we sat in the stilt house with the woman, her daughter, her neighbour, her kids etc etc. It was pretty crazy. The neighbour was 42 years old; she has 11 kids, her oldest child was 28-her youngest 5 months! She asked Ta how many kids we have, and when I said none, she offered me the baby, because “who is going to look after me when I’m old?”

We finally ended up at Beng Mealea where we climbed through the Temple. This is one of the few unrestored “jungle” temples. FYI: there is no fricken way the tour would happen in Canada. We were able to walk on roof tops and wall tops of the crumbled temple. Loved it.

Afterwards, Ta told us about some of his other tours and projects. He dropped us downtown at about 7:15pm so we could easily find somewhere to eat dinner. He also gave us his card and said if we needed anything, help, directions, information anything, to give him a call. He also gave us a map and made sure we knew how to get back to the guesthouse. I have more about Ta, but can’t possibly fit it all in. He was an incredibly inspiring person. I’m sure I will be talking to him again some day. For sure.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network