Day 12: Mosquitos, Monkeys & Mediocre Munchies

Gerard aka bæ takes the wheel

1am

I feel something touch my right ear. I am half-awoken by it, so I swat away in the general direction of the disturbance. About a dozen seconds later, I feel something small crash into my lips, waking me up ever-so-slightly more as I blow air out through my mouth while spazzing out with my hands. Not even one minute passes by as I hear the sound of a mosquito buzzing in my left ear, at which point I immediately jump out of bed, grab my phone, and turn on the flashlight. I am wide awake.

I see the mosquito over my side of the bed. I inch closer towards it, but it flies away to the other side of the bed. Oh no, you don’t, I think to myself. You are not going to attack the love of my life. The mosquito does a very poor job of blending in with its surroundings, so I aim, hold my breath, and crush the mosquito under my hand against the wall with ease. Malina is safe, and I feel accomplished. After washing my hands, getting back into bed, and not hearing or feeling any more mosquitos for at least five minutes, I drift off to sleep peacefully again.

My name is Gerard O’Neill, and I am ghostwriting this post (under duress).

Note: Prices are in USD, as it is the de facto currency of Cambodia at the moment. Also, killing mosquitos does not go against veganism, as it is self-defense.

7am

It’s our first and only full day in Cambodia. Malina and I have a long day ahead of us; we are visiting Angkor Wat, which is going to take up the entirety of the morning as well as the early afternoon. Finding a restaurant that’s open this early is a bit tough, but there’s a place nearby called Sister Srey Cafe, so we go there. Aside from their participation in the exploitation of animals, it’s a neat little spot. They contribute to some good causes which you can read about on their website. I hope that they one day see the importance of animal liberation and choose to support that as well.

There’s a sign on the curb outside which says something along the lines of:

Sorry, this is not parking anymore. We don’t know why.

Pretty hilarious, and it made us happy that this street no longer offered parking, because we truly hate motor vehicles.

Anyway, Malina ordered a Bodia Bowl, which looked pretty good! It’s hard to go wrong with a colorful bowl of plants—in this case: sweet potato, brown rice, chickpeas, sauerkraut, mango salsa, cucumber, and spinach.

I opted for a smoothie bowl from the breakfast menu because I didn’t think we could order from the lunch menu just yet. Malina didn’t take a picture, but the smoothie had a nice purple color from the dragon fruit and was topped with chia seeds, papaya, pineapple, shredded coconut, and raw granola. $12 (including tip; 10% is customary here)

12pm

The gang is hungry, but we still have so much of the temples to see! We visit the Bayon temple and Ta Prohm (popularized through Tomb Raider). Along the way, we also catch a glimpse of monkeys — some of which are so tiny! I get really excited to see monkeys in action and it’s perhaps the highlight of my day.

Luckily, Malina’s mother gave us some dried mango yesterday, and we brought it with us. We all munched on it while in the car, going from temple to temple, to hold us over until lunch. $0

1:45pm

We have arrived at the restaurant, and are ready to eat. This is the first time where we’ve eaten a vegan meal with Malina’s family, which is a nice change of pace (up to this point, we had been going to restaurants without them, as they typically choose to eat animals).

The restaurant is named Banlle, and while they too engage in the exploitation of animals, they have an extensive vegan menu, which everyone ordered from exclusively. Since we are a family, we ordered a bunch of things to share with each other: amok, lok lak, curry, stir-fried tofu, and pad thai. You likely haven’t hard of the first two, but they are traditional Cambodian dishes. We also ordered some spring rolls as an appetizer, some drinks, and some desserts as well.

Overall, I thought the food was decent. The amok and curry were pretty good, but I thought the other main dishes were bland. The spring rolls were good, and while the desserts were solid, they were a bit different from what we expected based on the descriptions. I’m a bit bummed that the only meal we’ve had on the trip together as a family was less than stellar. It’s always disappointing when that happens when sharing a vegan meal with non-vegan friends and family, because the stakes are much higher, and I think Banlle unfortunately failed to impress. $56.60 (for five of us)

6:30pm

Malina woke up from her nap with an appetite, and I’ve been hungry for a while at this point. She learns that her family is already at a nearby restaurant with vegan options, so we book it to join up with them.

The restaurant’s name is Chanrey Tree, and I’m not particularly excited about it. Malina and I originally planned to go to Vibe Cafe, and while their food isn’t Cambodian, it’s a vegan restaurant, which I strongly prefer. Chanrey Tree is not a vegan restaurant, so I am skeptical about their vegan (“vegetarian”) offerings and not super keen on eating at a table where flesh is being consumed. Despite this, we decide to join up with the family.

They served us banana chips in the same way an Italian restaurant might serve bread; they were probably my favorite part of dinner. I decide to order an eggplant tofu dish, and Malina got the garlic mushrooms with black pepper because she’s a mushroom fiend. Like lunch, I thought it was okay. The tofu in my dish was extremely soft, which is not at all what I was expecting, and the eggplant wasn’t very flavorful. Malina’s dish was about as unremarkable as mine. It wasn’t anything to write home about, but also not subpar enough for me to complain. One complaint I do have however, is how skimpy the restaurant is with rice. For whatever reason, you have to grab a waiter’s attention, ask for rice, and wait for them to come back to give you a single serving spoon of it, which is enough to cover perhaps 1/4 of the dish. It was a very annoying experience, and that alone would keep me from returning, to be honest. $14

Overall, it wasn’t a spectacular day for food. I was really hoping to get some awesome vegan Cambodian food in the short time we have to spend here, but my expectations were far from being met. However, I am lucky to have access to my mother-in-law, who is not only from Cambodia, but also an amazing cook who has prepared many delicious vegan meals, and will almost certainly continue to do so. Who needs restaurants, anyway?

$82.60