Oh, how yummy, said our Cambodian guide as we walked through the market in the village Skon. Everywhere were spiders, cockroaches, crickets, most of them fried with chilli and garlic, but some of them, the giant spiders in particular, were very much alive and kicking, as it were. I usually don't hesitate to go local, but here I did not.
Peanuts, peanuts, peanuts and more peanuts. All put out to dry along the road. And corn, corn, corn and more corn, neatly packed and waiting to be loaded onto trucks: We passed through a very fertile area near the Mekong.
The temple and pagoda visits today (with monks playing with monkeys and elderly followers enjoying a nap in front of the Buddha) will have prepared us for the upcoming visits. I now recognise the Angkorian smile and have learned that the name 'Angkor' comes from the Sanskrit word for 'city', nagara.
We are now between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, in Kampong Thom, where we will stay two nights.
And so far today (it's now 5.30 pm) it hasn't rained on us! We saw only the wet road and the puddles that the midday monsoon downpour had left behind. But it isn't too late yet ...
PS We just had some of the local peanuts - they have nothing at all to do with the stuff we buy in sealed plastic bags at home. These were divine.
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