Tropical Christmas Solo

 

Christmas Pineapple curry

I confess to an absence of forethought. Today is Friday, much like the day before (Thursday) and tomorrow (Saturday) except for the fact that today is also Christmas Day here in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I’ve just returned from a 1,200 meter walk (according to Google maps that is) to get some of the things that I should have bought yesterday, but didn’t.

Yesterday, Thursday (Christmas Eve), I asked Mr Win (my local friendly tuk tuk driver) to take me to the Old Market so that I could buy pig’s liver, pork ribs, chicken wings and some odds and ends of vegetables. I like the Old Market, and some of the sellers remember me and smile at my wallet. Old market finished, I walked out to meet Mr Win, again. And off we jolly well went.

We were going in search of Bang Bang Bakery. Nombang is the Khmer for bread, or so I am reliably informed (from the bakery’s website). But why, I don’t hear you ask. Cutting a long, and quite tedious, explanation involving women, bicycles and Germany, short, Mr Win and I were seeking the quite exquisite (apparently) and very rare - Stollen Balls. Not, as you might expect, the testes of some exotic animal but small versions of the German Christmas cake, Stollen, once made infamous by Billy Connelly (Tesco advert, 1986).

Bang Bang Bakery was marked by a slim standing sign which was easily missed, so we did. Google maps screamed at us “ it’s here, it’s here, you bloody fools, you’re right on top of it.” Lacking the evidence of our own eyes, we trundeled up and down the road but keep coming back to the same spot. I gestured a local Khmer lady over to the tuk tuk, in the hope that she could enlighten Mr Win. She smiled a massive smile and pointed to the small building immediately to her left, our right. It was then, and only then, that we noticed the slim plastic sign.

What a malarkey, and what a relief. I was in sight of my Stollen Balls. Only I wasn’t. Sold out, yesterday, they had all sold out yesterday. Crushed, I bought three bagels instead. Not as though bagels could in any way make up for the loss of those German cakelets, but have finally found the place I had to buy something, and I happen to like bagels. But then I had to also buy butter and cream cheese. Hence this morning’s little jaunt in the hot Cambodian sun. Then dinner....well I did have a pineapple.