Bugs, Boats, and Bowing Out: A Night on the Phnom Penh Riverside

Walking along the river at night is one of the best things you can do in Phnom Penh. If you ask me, the riverside walk is what really sets this city apart. It's a proper melting pot — locals and travelers strolling up and down, families out for the evening, and vendors lined up the whole way selling every kind of food you can think of. On this particular night I decided to point my camera at the food and just see what the riverside had cooking.

First up were the boats. There's a row of them moored along the bank, big wooden river cruisers strung end to end with lights, glowing in pinks and purples and golds and throwing colored reflections all over the water. One of them, the Hanuman, lit up bright enough to read by. They run up and down the river all evening, and even just watching them from the shore is a nice way to pass the time.

Further along I came across an older woman working a street food cart, with my friend happily digging into whatever she was serving up. Being a vegetarian, I sat that one out, but I like watching this stuff regardless. The cart was a whole operation — trays of eggs simmering in a dark broth, baskets of quail and chicken eggs, jars of sauces, a stack of plastic stools for anyone who wanted to sit and eat right there on the riverfront. Not my plate, but a good scene.

Next was a fruit and pickle cart, the kind you see all over the city. Bags and bags of cut green mango, guava, and little fruits I couldn't name, plus tubs of pickled odds and ends with chili and salt to dip them in. I was told, again, that this stuff is great. And again, it's not really my jam. But there's something I genuinely enjoy about watching people line up for the snacks they grew up on. That's the real flavor of a place, whether or not it ends up in my mouth.

And then, of course, the bugs.

You can't walk far in this city without passing a stand piled high with fried insects — crickets, grasshoppers, the works, heaped up in glistening mounds with chili peppers tossed through them. These aren't a tourist gimmick either. The locals genuinely love them, and the stands are everywhere because people actually buy them. I've seen a hundred of these carts by now and still haven't worked up the nerve to try one.

The friend I was with took one look at the pile, told me they were delicious, and insisted I had to eat some. I gave my standard reply — I'm a vegetarian — and politely bowed out of the challenge. A bug is still very much an animal, last I checked, so my conscience and my diet were in full agreement on this one.

But I'll be honest: I keep looking. Maybe one of these nights the curiosity wins and I let a cricket talk me out of my vegetarianism, just to say I did it. Not tonight, though. Tonight I was happy to walk, watch, take my photos, and let everyone else do the eating.

That's the riverside for you. You don't have to taste it all to enjoy it.

More coming a little later on.