Cuisine: Chicken Feet, Rice Wine, and 'Assorted Delicious Meats'

Nothing says travel to me like exotic cuisine. There are so many options in Asia that I'm not sure I can do them justice. Vietnam was our jump off point and while I was game for trying almost anything, I was unable to find a lot of the exotic cuisine I had hoped for. Pho is delicious and a novelty as a breakfast item but it doesn't exactly qualify as adventurous eating.

Floating Restaurant

In Vietnam we went to a floating restaurant and ate dinner one night at the suggestion of the older man who ran our guesthouse. After looking over the menu, I really only found a lot of seafood. While I certainly enjoy seafood, I wasn't impressed with the water quality around Saigon and I am fairly certain that is where all of the fresh sea life was coming from. You can only see so many dead carcasses of poultry float by covered in motor oil before your stomach starts to revolt. After looking at the menu for a long time, I decided to let fate tell me what to eat, so I ordered "Noodle with Delicious Meats". I attempted to ask how that varied from "Noodle with Assorted Meats" and if they could magically merge them together so I could have the best of both words but we found that people in Vietnam simply don't have the English language skills to answer my annoying barrage of questions about their food. Lessons have been learned and my stomach has adjusted (to both sketchy food and doxycyline), so from now on, it's new experience after new experience.

Mekong River Tour/Vietnam to Cambodia

Last night was our first night in Cambodia. To get there, we took a tour that we thought would save us money and time, but I'm convinced just added an extra day to our travel and contributed to global warming. Granted, the boat ride on the Mekong was beautiful and I loved the fact that the people passing us by on their houseboats and the on-shore residents were waving and yelling at us enthusiastically, but toward the end I was going a little stir crazy. The things we got out and did were great, though. At one point, after touring a floating market and going past hundreds of houses on the river built up on bamboo stilts, we got off at a random boat dock near a back alley store. The river was experiencing low tide and our boat couldn't progress down the waterway with all the weight of fat western tourists. We walked to a bike rack on the side of the road where basic, rusted out bikes innocently waited for us. We rode gleefully down a dirt road for a mile amidst motorbikes and pedestrians and then sat down to lunch at a small restaurant that belonged to the ex boyfriend of our tour guide.

Our night was spent in a 'floating hotel'. It was terrible. I'm fairly certain that it was worse than sleeping on a mat with a stranger in a hill tribe village in Thailand or that terrible hostel in Florence with Kristen without any AC or sheets where I got devoured by bedbugs.

At one of the stops on our tour, after giving us shots of home-brewed rice wine and letting us try rice paper and coconut candy, I stumbled across bottles of Vietnamese snake wine. Several bottles tempted me with low southeast Asian prices. How could I resist a bottle of rice wine with a cobra inside? Let us hope that my 110,000 dong were well spent and that customs doesn't take away my prize.

Entrance to Cambodia

Fast forward through a lengthy review of a tour to our entrance into Cambodia. The group we traveled with wanted to maximize their day by seeing the Cambodia Killing Fields so they stopped by the nearest guest house and got rooms. While $5 is cheap and I love a good sketchy hostel adventure as much as the next girl, the beds were flimsy, the bathroom was leaky and didn't come with toilet paper, and the hostel only let you use the air conditioner for 10 minutes. Pass, thanks.

A brief walk around the corner and a 5 minute conversation with a Cambodian tuk-tuk driver proved to be a much better use of our time. Simon, as he proudly named himself so that tourists didn't have to mutilate his native tongue, drove us across town to the Nice Guest House where $10 a night gave us AC, hot showers, free wi-fi, and a bed that didn't sink into the floor. Sometimes you have to choose your budget travel adventure, you know?

The Funky Chicken

Instead of squeezing out some rushed sightseeing, we decided to go in search of food. After Lonely Planet's nearest recommended spot proved to be turned into a bike store, we walked down the street and turned into the nearest place we saw. It was empty when we arrived. While I felt underdressed in gym shorts and a tank top, US dollars are US dollars any way you look at it and if they complained, they kept a smile on their face and only did so in Cambodian.

They brought us a pot of hot tea and a complimentary appetizer to start the meal. Chicken feet, boiled and covered in sesame and chili oil. I'll try anything one, but actually figuring out how to eat a chicken foot is apparently beyond me. I gnawed unceremoniously on the foot, eventually abandoning my chopsticks and using my hands like a barbarian, but I was met with bone and a very small amount of actual meat. Perhaps there is a trick to eating it that i'm missing. Where is Anthony Bourdain when I need him? The second appetizer looked innocent enough, with some pork, green peppers, and onions, but a few bites found me chewing on something with the consistency of what I assume was cartilage. I didn't ask.

After seeing how odd Khmer cuisine could be, Frank opted for chicken and rice, which we assumed was a safe decision while I opted for abalone and bean curd. When Frank's food was delivered, it wasn't just half a chicken. . .there was half of a chicken head on his plate, staring him down as he peeled away the skin and picked at the flesh underneath. Who says Frank isn't an adventurous eater?

We inquired about dessert options to one of the two people on staff who spoke English and the man (who we assumed owned the establishment based on his popularity) quickly brought us three kinds of dessert to try for the price of one USD. . .for all 3. The first was a fruit plate of papaya and watermelon. The second was a cup of what looked like bean soup, but was slightly sweet and contained some tapioca, and the third was a mysterious bread with a yellow top. When we bit into the third option, we were greeted by a delicious yellow custard. After we paid our bill, we asked the other English speaking person the tell us what they were. She wrote down the Chinese and english translation of each item and then brought us the savory version of the pastry for free since we were so interested.

So far, my first impressions of Cambodia are positive. The people are friendly and the food is good. I'm not sure I could ask for anything else. Frank and I are journeying on a bus today from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, where we'll spend 2 days exploring Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples before trekking to Thailand. While spending time on a bus isn't my idea of a good time, I do enjoy the idea that we're going to a smaller city and seeing something new.

Until next time!