Eating Vegetarian in Cambodia

I won’t talk about how I felt about Cambodia, it’s a blog post for another day, I’m here to talk about the food, and the food is good.

I was on a pretty tight budget so I often found I was limited to just fried rice or noodles. When I was willing to spend a little more money I found there was plenty of delicious vegetarian food all across Cambodia. Some parts of Cambodia are very tourist friendly, there are downsides to this but a positive for veggies is there’s often a ‘vegetarian’ section in menus or even a little green V next to meat free meals.

Imma let you finish, but this was the most delicious curry of all time!

There are definitely more cheap options than just noodles and rice, baguettes are everywhere! If you’re a cheese lover you’ll be hooked on the sheer amount of fresh baguettes you can buy.

You might even rekindle your childhood as the sound of the ice cream man ringing his distinctive bell as he pulls up outside your hostel selling ice cream baguettes!

I had one of the best curries of my life in a vegetarian restaurant  in Phnom Penh, I’ve since tried, and failed, to repeat it at home. Phnom Penh isn’t for everyone, I actually loved the city life. I  enjoyed all the cities I visited in Asia, there was so much life everywhere, it sent my imagination running wild.

The next stop was Sihanoukville and by this point I was fed up of noodles and rice so I did end up giving in to the temptation of chips and to be honest I ate a lot of junk during my time there, once you’ve visited I think you’ll understand how easy it is to do so.

Reasonably healthy by Sihanoukville standards

By this point in my trip I was pretty confident I could order vegetarian food, even though I still hadn’t learnt the phrase for meat free. I’d attempted ‘Aht Saight’ which is supposed to mean meat free but it got me nowhere, tofu was pretty well understood and it normally gives a good idea you’re going for something without meat.

If you had any more luck with phrases, let me know in the comments.

 

 

 

To Travel Alone

It’s hard to understand how it feels to travel alone until you’ve done it. Before the trip I’d taken shorter trips solo, I knew I was competent enough to do it and I actually preferred it to travelling with others, that wasn’t the issue. It’s the doubt in the back of your mind that says you can’t.

Myanmar Sunrise

If you’re considering travelling on your lonesome you’ve probably already heard the familiar phrases:

“You won’t be travelling alone for long!”

“There’ll be loads of people just like you out there!”

“You’re going to be killed in your sleep! Trust no one”

The last one’s probably not as common, it’s actually what my sister told me shortly before I left – apparently she’d dreamt it and was worried for me, more likely she was trying to freak me out. Thankfully I wasn’t smothered in my sleep but the other phrases weren’t as helpful as intended.

They’re meant with good intensions and for the most part, they’re true. There’ll be people you can travel with who are often quite similar, or very different – both are good. What they do is give you a false sense of security. When I was sat with a creepy Aussie man telling me how the teenage girl serving us wasn’t wearing a bra I was well aware that chance plays a huge part in the people you meet. Because of the helpful comments from people assuring me I’d make friends straight away, I’d allowed myself to imagine my trip being shared with others. Ultimately, this isn’t what I actually wanted.

I’d forgotten the sort of person I am, not just someone who has black & white photos taken of themselves staring at city skylines…

There aren’t always going to be people you want to spend time with or let into your plans.I spent some time travelling with people who were nice enough but I wouldn’t be friends with them outside of the travelling bubble. Eventually I was lucky enough to meet someone who I got to know and had an amazing last few weeks. It gave me the best of both worlds, I was able to share beautiful views and new experiences with someone but I could also be alone if I wanted to.

So don’t be afraid and believe in yourself! Just remember you are alone and you shouldn’t be surprised when you find yourself without company for a few days, take the opportunity to get to know yourself better and wait for the right people to come along.