Street Food & Night Markets

Bottom line: Last month I ate my way across Cambodia and Thailand. Yeah, there were some spectacular temples to see and rivers and boats and trains to ride and I did a bit of all the usual tourist stuff. I got to cross the Mekong River on a makeshift ferry, rode the Bamboo Railroad and I walked across the Bridge on the River Kwai. I survived travel on the backs of motos, the 125 CC motor bikes driven by drivers with nothing to loose through the back streets of Phnom Pen, which is also rumored to have the worst drivers in the world, second only to New Delhi. I would vote it a tie.

Anyway, my high point of just about every day was my search for new street food and dinner at the local night markets. Actually looking back, I probably downed no more than a dozen meal at any place that could be considered a restaurant – Mr. Nun's included.

Mostly, I had little idea of what I was eating. I don't speak either language and the food sellers rarely spoke any English. I did lots of pointing and I rarely was disappointed. I also rarely spent more than a dollar for any dish. 'Complete' meals usually meant stuff from several stands.

I balked at the fried insects, but I also did not examine all of the crunchy stuff I downed all that carefully, so who knows. I ate stuff that everybody else was eating, shared communal tables and often some of the dishes my fellow diners were having and with a few rare exceptions, enjoyed it all. And no, I never, ever got sick.  My one bit of ill health on the trip came from something I picked up on the plane back and I blame the Chinese tour group that occupied half of it.  Chinese tour groups are rapidly replacing Germans as the most obnoxious travelers.  But that's yet another story.

Meantime, some snapshots of the food and several of the lovely ladies who made it all happen:

Street market in the town of Lopburi, which is famous for having monkeys wandering around, but that's another story. 

 The main attraction was my breakfast and the lady who crafted it. This is the color egg yolks are supposed to be.

(Yep, exactly what you think they are)