Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Going to Phnom Penh for ten weeks. I love Thai and Vietnamese food so I am really looking forward to making this a culinary journey.

Any recommendations? I've seen tons of roadside spider pics on Google. Anyone want to share good and bad experiences with the local cuisine? I love streetfood and am generally not squeamish about eating organ meats and stinky fish (bugs...not so sure).

Hopefully I will be able to take some pics and post throughout my time there.

Not a food rec per se (it's been a while so I can't remember the names of the places I ate at), but if you're going to be there for 10 weeks, you should definitely try to head over to the Siem Reap area to see Angkor Wat and the other temples. Food is ridiculously cheap in Cambodia by American standards. Beer is cheaper than water, which is good since you don't want to risk drinking the local water. I didn't develop any GI problems from eating the local street food, so I think it's pretty safe.

Have a fun trip!

If you go to Siem Reap, Jasmine is recommended -- a small restaurant with a roof and no walls, just surrounding flowers. Everything was great.

Probably the best known, most widely consumed dish is fish amok, which is fish combined with coconut milk, chile paste, and eggs and steamed into something that, depending on the cook, ranges from custard to thick soup. Great stuff. The fish may not be anything you've heard of, but will likely come from Tonle Sap, the largest lake in SE Asia. Tonle Sap is another thing worth visiting, as well, if you do get to Siem Reap -- cold water, so whole communities live in boats on the water, as it's cooler than living on land. There are whole towns -- a Cambodian town, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc. -- and schools, stores, everything is on the water. You can tour by boat. It's quite wonderful.)

Cambodian food is influenced by Thailand, but also by the French, and you often see people on bicycles with loaves of French bread in their baskets.

Lots of fish, lots of coconut, easier on the heat than Thailand or Laos, all great. Oh -- and chopsticks (as is the case in most of Southeast Asia) are for noodles. You use a fork and spoon for other food.

Have a great time. I loved Cambodia, and long to return. The people were absolutely wonderful.

However, you might want to stop at REI and get a cooling scarf (don't remember the brand name, but they'll know what it is) -- it's a neck scarf filled with tiny bids that absorb and hold water, but let the cloth dry out. It stays cool and can lower your body temperature by as much as 10 degrees -- which can make a big difference in Cambodia, which can be mighty toasty.