French Chef in Siem Reap

Saturday night we had a fabulous tasting dinner at a new hotel here in Siem Reap, the Hotel de la Paix. Very modern architecture and very chic-chic.

The crazy French chef has been there since the hotel opened seven months ago. He tries to adapt Khmer recipes to modern ingredients and tastes. We had an appetizer with minced snake meat (tastes like beef jerky), fish with red ant sauce, beef curry, a soup with lemongrass, etc. I wonder where he gets the red ants for the sauce. Probably has some Cambodian sous chef run outside to pick them off the ground. There are a LOT of them here. Along with mozzies and an occasional snake.

We took the latest in Cambodian public transportation to the restaurant - a motor trailer or Cambodian tuk-tuk. It is a motorbike pulling a small people trailer. They are all over the place and mostly employed by Westerners.


Got to go to bed now so Caren can rest her bruised ribs and we can prepare for Angkor Wat in the AM after breakfast. We've got to beat the rush of Korean and Japanese tourists.