Sam Chapmans – The Rocket Factory Photo Chronicle » The Rocket Factory – news from Thailand

I’ve been in Cambodia now for a couple of weeks. My last post on Ho Chi Minh was actually sent from a sweaty internet café in Phnom Penh. At the time I was setting a decent pace getting photos in the can and doing a little writing on the side. The internet in Cambodia has been less then favorable muting a lot of my efforts to push product out. I’d say the speed is definitely worse then Laos but there is more availability here.

I’ll pick up on this train of thought at a later date as it precludes other stories and it’s its own Pandora’s Box.

I’m going to change gears here with a blurb of thought that is almost comical now that I look back on it. I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time and delayed writing until the most inopportune time of my whole trip.

So I finished writing this and shortly thereafter found myself hovering over the toilet. I’ll pick up from there at the end of the narrative.

A lesson on food and bubble wrap eating.

This is a little side story I thought would be a good addition to the post. I think I have traveled enough in South East Asia that I feel comfortable making a very broad generalization of food standards and food quality.

First of all I’ll start out by taking a jab at people that go around tooting themselves as “foodies” as a lot of the foodies I have met restrict themselves to the upper echelon of food – not to mention some of the superiority complex that follows.

With that in mind I’d like to describe the approach to food I have been using, I’d brand it as “Renegade Consumption” It’s a holistic approach to food as it’s meant to be consumed, one that gives a full scale of 1-10 in food quality and quantity with full exclusion of presentation and delivery.

The foodie scale on the other hand resides somewhere between 4 and 7 unable to reach a full 10 because the price alone knocks off 3-5 points. This puts a glass ceiling on the scale at 7 or less – you can see our predicament.

There has been a pattern developing that became very noticeable in Phnom Pehn – enough in fact that I decided to write this. Food in Asia can be presented in many forms but the delivery and presentation doesn’t by any means coincide with the quality. Those foodies I mentioned earlier that pride themselves with their kowtowing in the upper echelon of “art” food wouldn’t even realize that they are being taken advantage as they eat their pineapple and egg fried rice in that swanky restaurant you avoided earlier.

To explain this without analogies and a raw example I’ll present my method. Pho can be served for 55,000 dong at a suit and tie restaurant, complete with ambience, impeccable delivery, and fanciful service. If this is the only stream you swam in, you would think it is the best thing you ever had, when in reality you just got screwed and it is one step above dirt – it’s almost a mind trick that you think presentation and delivery is tied to quality by default (it’s what you are lead you to believe) – if you’re are a Renegade Consumer you know this is far from true.

A lot of the “restaurants” here are in some ways intimidating, especially if you have just arrived, and in many ways – unapproachable. When I say restaurants I am actually referring to the street side eateries that occasionally splurge with a sign and name of the place; the food stalls that may or may not be there tomorrow; the rolling carts that leave behind a trail of smoke; – for the most part, none of them with menus.

If you’re still going for Pho you would most likely be paying around 20,000 dong, less then half price of the “fancy” one you had earlier. That same Pho is almost always leagues ahead of the fancy stuff and a larger portion to boot. The service in most all cases is gracious and they are genuinely happy that you are buying from them as the profit goes directly into their pocket and the middle man crap that happens at fancy places is gone.

I have a great example from today’s food experience. Usually when I get to a new city the first couple meals I eat from fancy places until I get a good pulse – it’s usually consistent that you can get the staples at the fancy places – not to mention a menu in English. So today I walked into a swank French/Cambodian fusion restaurant and ordered a basic soup that was $3.80 and a $1.25 coffee – the price with rice came to $5.55 which is an outrageous price by any South East Asian standards.

In short the dish was crap, and the coffee was extremely small. You would think that if you pay an outrageous amount of money for a dish, they would take the time to give you a decent cut of meat. In this case I had chicken. Sometimes chicken can be risky as some places tend to just whack away at a whole chicken and not take the time to butcher it right – removing the bones. Think KFC leg, breast, thigh or boneless cuts from the super market; the alternative is slap it on a board and cut the crap out of everything. This method gives you very little meat laced with tons of bone – very undesirable personally (although I know people who like bones).

The pattern of crap dishes at swank restaurants has happened way too often for my liking, especially when you compare it to what is about to follow.

Later on in the day I went Renegade stopping at two different places. One was for a large sugar cane drink that cost about 20 cents, I had two, and both were extremely good. The other was for a noodle meal that cost about $1.10. I don’t know what it was because to get it I just pointed. Either way it was leagues ahead of the fancy crap I had earlier. The problem is that both of the cheaper places looked far less then sterile, I could spend hours just on the atmosphere – but I’ll let it be. The noodle place in particular seemed surprised that a westerner would eat there. These places however, are the places that give you the full depth of the food experience – risky, but very rewarding. Without these places you are short changing yourself; unfortunately unknowingly, so this is your wake up call.

The lesson is this – bubble wrap eating is far worse then just taking a risk and swallowing your standards. I’ve been surprised by just about every new dive I have sat down at, almost never having had a bad dish – in most cases getting superb dishes.

In the same stream of thought there is also bubble wrap traveling and guide book nonsense, both of which I can tackle at a later date.

At first I was sitting in my room watching TV when I thought to myself, man I don’t feel so great – I think I need to puke, this is weird.

I haven’t puked without the aid of alcohol since I was in grade school. You can imagine that once I was white knuckling the toilet the thought that I was in trouble was settling in fast.

And screwed I was.

I spent the entire night making trips to and from the bathroom. By the next morning I was absolutely destroyed. Luckily there was a grocery store across the street where I was able to stock up on yogurt. It took me three days to recover and a fourth to feel strong again. Even when I went out on the fourth day I was still feeling weak.

As I mentioned soon after finishing the post I found myself making omens with the toilet. The utter irony is that I believe my sickness came from the very dish I was praising. I’ve always had a policy of being overly truthful on my travel experiences, with this in mind I hope to reiterate that this sickness by no means characterizes the food experience in its entirety.

The pictures pick up from here. I shot the first day of Phnom Penh so I have photos from then. I spent the second day working on the Ho Chi Minh post and contracting food poisoning. The rest of the photos pick up from the fourth day on.

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/8000 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 170 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 11, 2009, 4:41:02 PM

I’m 90% happy with this photo – to the trained eye you’ll see a very unfortunate lens flare bubble – it’s hard to compose a shot with so much happening and be able to nail the lens flare also. I might Photoshop it out later for production purposes.

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/1000 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 14 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 11, 2009, 4:31:24 PM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/320 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 11, 2009, 4:50:49 PM

These temple shots were all from the Grand Palace in Phnom Penh. This shot in particular was crazy. This guy was 4 stories or higher on a near vertical gable without any protection.

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/250 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 11, 2009, 4:33:42 PM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/320 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 11, 2009, 4:02:56 PM

With this picture I’ll make one very obvious point about Cambodia and to date a truism for the whole country. Phnom Penh has 2 million people – 1 million of them own either a Tuk-Tuk or motorcycle and spend the entire day sitting on the corner trying to get riders.

The grocery store near my hotel was about 1 block away. I counted solicitations every time I made the journey and averaged about 10 – it gets real old especially if you put in a couple miles. Head phones don’t do much for a deterrent as some of the guys will resort to grabbing you.

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/200 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 11, 2009, 4:54:54 PM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/3200 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 155 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Date Taken: Nov 15, 2009, 11:23:08 AM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/125 second
Aperture: F/2.0
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 11, 2009, 4:22:46 PM

In a completely different direction I also have some reflection on quality of life in capital cities – with the exclusion of Vietnam as I didn’t see what I am about to describe take place there.

In Phnom Penh the separation of wealth showed itself in a dramatic and nauseating presentation of over opulence and disparity. I saw the same thing in Vientiane and less excessively in Bangkok.

You’ll see a brand new place that in America that could fetch several million sitting next to a hut that is lucky to have electricity. There is usually a castle like security wall that in most cases encloses a car collection – of American cars. The capital cities stink of political corruption and abuse. I might be wrong in saying this but there are signs of a cast system; as I have seen several occasions of the local “ins” taking advantage of the “outs”. By default as an American you get put into the “ins” which if you were inclined would permit you “special status” for anything you desired.

In Laos, however, even the “rich” people were poor but the cast system was blatantly obvious.

I’m sure there is a direct connection with the fortification you see on just about every house of size and the separation of wealth. This separation apparently causes a despondent need to rob. I’m not sure what the actual crime rates are but you would think it is terrible on first glance. The fortification of some of these places almost looks like a maximum security prison with multiple lines of defense usually including a spiked iron fence or wall, several rows of barb wire, and barred windows. Even the roughest of the American ghettos I have been in can’t compare to the protection they have here. There is also the fact that the remaining 50% of the population that isn’t selling transportation is instead working as a security guard for said fortifications. The security details, however, don’t necessarily find themselves as prevalent in cities other then Phnom Penh.

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/800 second
Aperture: F/4.5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 15, 2009, 11:37:27 AM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/500 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 15, 2009, 12:06:13 PM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/30 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 15, 2009, 12:21:44 PM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/40 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 14 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 15, 2009, 12:08:32 PM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/40 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Date Taken: Nov 15, 2009, 12:25:10 PM

I was on the fence about seeing the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh but having not done anything for 3 days I decided to give it a go.

When I was in Ho Chi Minh I went to the War Remnants Museum and got enough death and destruction to hold me over for quite sometime. Arriving at the Genocide Museum I wasn’t really in the mood to read over everything – that and I was still experiencing discomfort and fatigue from the food poisoning.

I wanted to go to the Killing Fields, but by the time I finished the Genocide Museum I had exceeded my death and killing tolerances.

So with that I’ll transition to Sihanoukville Cambodia. It was a pleasant transition and even better place to recoup.

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/500 second
Aperture: F/8.0
Focal Length: 80 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 17, 2009, 5:21:22 PM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/250 second
Aperture: F/8.0
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 17, 2009, 5:21:58 PM

I can assure you these pictures are 100 times better at full quality – it’s disgusting. The saturation is also getting lost in the jpg conversion – such is life.

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/3200 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 18, 2009, 3:08:50 PM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/500 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 155 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 18, 2009, 3:39:22 PM

In the process of gathering these photos I got myself into some non-tourist country including this fishing settlement. I’d go into the details, but I’ll just leave it short saying “it was interesting.”

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/1250 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 18, 2009, 3:42:41 PM

Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/500 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 17, 2009, 4:29:30 PM

This shot is nerf’d but I’ll put it in anyway.

So this all leads to where I am today. I arrived in Siem Reap AKA Angkor Wat, early this morning via night bus. I am planning to do some street shots tonight then hit the ruins tomorrow – should be interesting.