Pandoraspace

The Soup Dragon

On the day we went to the Silk Farm, we asked Tony out for lunch and he recommended that we eat at the Soup Dragon. The Soup Dragon is a casual dining restaurant that serves Khmer, Thai and Vietnamese food. It is located beside the Old Market in that part of town that tourists usually visit. The waitresses were friendly and accommodating. I felt very relaxed at the Soup Dragon.

We were given a table at the second floor veranda that overlooked the street. As we were starving when we got there, we over-ordered. Of the six or seven dishes we ordered, I was only able to sample the Beef Loklak, Vietnamese spring rolls and a Khmer dish of chicken in sour pandan broth. Of course, I ate all those dishes with steaming moist white rice. My favorite dish was the beef Loklak, which surprised me. There was nothing unusual about the stir fried tender strips of beef but eating it with the dip made of lime juice salt and ground black pepper made the dish extraordinary. The tangy taste of lime and the spicy pepper gives the beef a refreshingly usual flavor and it opened my taste buds. There is no taste quite like it. If you are looking for a cozy place to eat a hearty meal, I suggest you eat at the Soup Dragon.

Tip No. 8:  Chose your temples and avoid getting “Templed Out”.

There is much to learn from every temple.  Alas, there are more than 1,000 temples in Cambodia and it is impossible to visit all those temples in a couple of days (and I suspect even during a lifetime).  I find that the best way to enjoy the temples is to select only a few to visit and explore them at a leisurely pace. Two temples a day is my quota. Otherwise, my mind cannot absorb all the information about the temples, I would get overwhelmed and would  have no time to get a feel of their magic and mystic. Also, try to do other things like going to the Silk Farm or shopping in between temple visits to avoid getting “Templed Out”.

Between our temple visits, Padma and I visited the Silk Farm and went shopping at Artisan D’ Angkor and the Old Market.

From the Silk Farm or Artisan D’ Angkor, you could buy premium quality raw silk fabric and other items made of silk like bags, clothes, bed covers, table napkins and runners. From the Old Market you can buy Kramas or cotton scaves (just make sure you get the good kind by feeling the fabric to make sure it is 100% cotton), Kampot pepper (they say that no self respecting French restaurant would use pepper other than Kampot pepper, which is grown in Cambodia), silverworks (make sure you get the items that have 92.5% silver content), amber (cheap), and semi-precious stones. According to my friend, Toe, all stones that are mined in Cambodia like topaz are cheap but those which are not mined there like rubies and sapphires are expensive. The stones they sell are real but I suspect that not all are of the highest quality. Unless you know what you are buying, I suggest you just buy those that are less than $5 a carat and do not forget to haggle.