Market Series: Siem Reap & Phnom Penh, Cambodia

As usual, one of the first places I checked out was the main food market in Siem Reap.  It didn't look too different from ones I had seen in places like Myanmar and Vietnam.  The smells (even the fishy and bloody) of food markets in Southeast Asia are nostalgic for me and in some ways comfort me.

Dried sausages and fish

Love these mushrooms!

I didn't eat these but they were sun dried clams of some sort, sold on the streets.

Outdoor food market in he capital city of Phnom Penh.

Fast food of Cambodia.  The food at these stalls in the markets are quick, cheap and good!

Sat down for a quick bowl of Cambodian dessert (coconut milk with red ruby type gelatinous jelly).  Less than 25 cents!

Grilled sparrow.

The one thing that I didn't want to eat while I was in Cambodia was balut (an egg with a half developed embryo- apparently you can eat it raw or steamed and it's crunchy).  I actually didn't see any while I was there though- maybe because of the bird flu epidemic, or maybe I just wasn't look at the right places.

Markets Series: Shanghai, China

Ever since I was young, I have almost always gone to a food market at my holiday destinations. To be honest I hated going to them during my earlier years (eight to thirteen years old) but my parents would drag me along with them. I hated the smell of the unrefrigerated meat and seafood and all the flies around my feet. I remember going to a food market in Pagan, Myanmar, and I held my breath as not to inhale the almost rotten aromas. I didn't even like following my mum to the Tekka market in Little India when I was living in Singapore, but now I would make sure that I go there when I go back for a visit. As cliche as it may sound, the food market is really where you can see the food culture of a country. Places like Shanghai, Singapore and Cuba may have supermarkets, but outdoor markets are always more fascinating. I feel like an idiot for taking photos of foods that are every day ingredients for the locals, but I guess tourists do it all the time. It would be so fun to actually go grocery shopping and cook with local ingredients but I've never really had the opportunity to do that. Surprisingly I didn't see anything too bizarre at this market in Shanghai.