T is for Ta Prohm

One of the places I always wanted to visit was the temple of Angkor Wat, in Cambodia.  In November 2008, I finally had the chance, and it was an amazing experience.

Perhaps only slightly less famous than Angkor Wat is the ruined Buddhist temple of Ta Prohm.  Even if you have not heard of the name, you may recognize the pictures:

Yes, those are huge trees growing over the temple itself.  When the reclamation and restoration of the Angkor temples began during the 20th century, a decision was made to leave Ta Prohm as it was, largely (but not completely) taken over by the jungle.  This was in contrast to many of the other ruins, where there were extensive reclamation efforts.  This was largely done because Ta Prohm, in its state, was so magnificent in its disarray.  Since then, efforts have been made to maintain its state, preventing further overgrowth of the jungle, and to reinforce some of the more fragile structures.

The temple was commissioned by Jayavarman VII, king of the Khmer Empire, in the late 12th century, and construction was completed around 1186.  The most amazing thing about Ta Prohm, and all of the Angkor temples, is its age and grandeur -- the Khmer Empire was a highly advanced civilization that ruled from the 9th to 13th centuries, and built singular structures like Ta Prohm, Angkor Wat, and Banyon.  And yet I barely knew anything about it before I visited Cambodia. 

When we think of ancient civilizations and the architecture they left behind, names like the Great Pyramids, Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, the Parthenon, the Colosseum, and the Great Wall of China spring to mind.  I think the temples of Angkor deserve mention in the same breath. 

F is for Fried Spider

YES!  I really wanted a reason to post these pictures again, and now I have it!

That's right, that is me chowing down on a fried spider, a delicacy I enjoyed when I visited Cambodia in 2008.  According to Wikipedia, the species of spider used in Cambodia is the Thai zebra tarantula.  I figured it was some sort of tarantula, because it was pretty large -- the legspan was larger than the palm of my hand, easily:

I did not travel to Skuon, the epicenter of fried spiders in Cambodia, but instead had this particular morsel during my first evening in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia.  I had told my friend for some time that I wanted to try one, so she knew exactly where to go, and when I asked for one, the woman running the cart made me pick.  I had no idea what to do, so I picked one that looked like a spider (eight legs, venomous fangs, stuff like that), and paid 1000 riels (about $0.25) for it.  The cart also featured huge beetles (or cockroaches, I was not quite sure), the biggest crickets I have ever seen, and what I think was a small species of python (or maybe a baby python) on a stick.  I regret not trying the snake, though a few days later I did have python at a restaurant in Siem Reap.

What does it taste like?  Well, they fry it with garlic and sugar and what I assumed was something like soy sauce, so it was crunchy, salty-sweet, and garlicky.  The cephalothorax of the spider contained a flaky white meat, reminiscent of crab, but I could not really taste anything distinctive about it.  The abdomen, which contains a lot of organs, had a discernable taste, something like the muddy flavor I associate with eating a shrimp head, or any of the various parts in the head of a lobster.  Not great tasting, but not terribly offensive, either.  I suppose the best part of eating a fried spider are the looks you get from your friends :)