Lunch by the River

While we were in Kampomg Thom preparing for the building open house, we went to lunch with the people from the service center who were there to inspect the new building and to help train the members on using the facilities.  We drove north of town a ways and stopped at a place along the river that has a row of small, open air huts where people can stop to rest and also to eat. There are hammocks to lay in to rest in each hut and they provide floor mats to sit on while you eat.  Our friends had stopped there before while driving to Siem Reap so knew the place well and had called ahead to order lunch. We were served a variety of Khmer dishes including pickled vegetables, green mango salad, two kinds of grilled fish, grilled chicken, fish soup and wild pork. Some things we liked a lot and some were a little harder to eat. Richard really liked the small grilled fish but I couldn't quite eat it. They don't clean the fish, they just cook them till crispy and most just eat the whole thing. Richard figured out how to bite the meat off the bones and not eat them. I couldn't sit like they do for very long and had to sit on the railing for most of the time but it was a really enjoyable time with our friends.