Royal palaces and feasts

Our last full day in Phnom Penh, and as the fesitval is over, a number of key attractions including the Royal Palace were open again. After a lateish breakfast, we found out that the palace was only open until 11am and reopened at 2pm. As we already had a cooking class organised for the afternoon, we had to make a very quick tuk tuk trip to the palace and arrived at 10.15am, so speed sightseeing was in order.

To enter the palace, you had to be covered up, so I had brought a long sleeve black running top with me and was wearing my jeggings, which was the stupidest idea in the book. Within minutes, I was sweating like a pig and cursing my choice of clothing attire. The palace was absolutely beautiful though, with the obligatory throne room, gold and silver elephants and temples on display.

We made it out of the palace grounds at 11am on the dot, where we decided to walk back to our hotel whilst being accousted by numerous tuk tuk drivers. It seems odd for anyone to walk anywhere here based on the looks we get from drivers when we say that we are happy to walk. Once back at our hotel, we decided to chill out for the few hours we had between when we arrived back and our cooking class. A quick change into pool attire and I found myself enjoying my book and drinking Mojitos on the side of the pool. The cost of Mojitos here varies from $1.5 to $5. At our hotel it was $5, so it certainly was a bit extravagent.

After getting a little more tanned, it was time to head to our Khmer Cooking Class, where fresh spring rolls, Beef (or for me, Tofu) Lok Lak and Banana Coconut Milk were on the agenda. We were also joined by a group of Canadians aged 50+ who were on a day trip from their cruise up the Mekong River. After a few introductions, we started on the first item of the day which was the dessert, as it needed time to set before being consumed. The basic ingredients were tapoica, gelatine, banana, coconut milk, water and sugar which was all boiled up in a pot and then poured into a dish to set at room temperature. Now it was time for the fresh spring rolls. After learning to make these various times in Vietnam, we thought we had this down, but the Cambodian roll theirs slightly differently and our first attempt turned out a little bit basic. Me, being the super competitive one, was just trying to beat everyone else to the finish line and I am pleased to report that I did. Once complete, we took our rolls out to the main dining area and spoke to the Canadians about our trip and enquired about theirs. They happened to be on a zooped up version of the cooking class and had two free drinks each included in their costs. Most of the ladies didn't want their second drink and "donated" them to Jamie and I, which was a lovely gesture.

Another mojito later and it was time to get cooking the main course "Beef Lok Lak" which consists of Beef/Tofu marianated in a sauce comprising tomato sauce, chicken salt, oyster sauce, salt and sugar and mixed with onions and garlic and topped with a fried egg. The dish which was surprisingly easy was absolutely delicious and will be definetely recreating this at home. We ate our mains and desserts proudly, and said goodbye to our Canadian friends, before making our way back to the hotel for a quick pit stop before going to meet Gauthier for a walk around the night markets. After a quick look around the clothing section of the market, we decided to grab a quick meal from one of the vendors and sat with the locals, on the ground mats. There was a bit of confusion about payment at the end of the meal which ended up with various Cambodians trying to translate for us to the owners. 30 minutes later, we managed to come to an agreement, paid and walked back to the hotel, feeling full and ready for sleep.Read more