24 February 2008. I spend my fine sunny Sunday morning at Central Market checking around some stuff. After purchasing a pair of sunglasses (the one I’m using is more than a year already!) I passed by and took photos of one of the Khmer’s favorite delicacies.
I’m sure tourists and locals alike will never leave this market without taking a glance or photos of this unique Khmer cuisine.
Feast your eyes and indulge yourself with this exotic khmer cuisine with wide variety of selections from roaches to spiders, crickets to grasshoppers and a lot more! If you could not hear those as dark fells nor could not see it hopping around it might be that they are swimming already on that heated pan or they are on display on markets like in Phsar Thmey.
I tried one before with the persistence of my officemate. A crunchy deep fried cricket like a fresh served fried spring roll wrapper. Better imagine that way while taking it into your mouth!
Nearby the market I also found small shells sold on a push cart. This flower like form caught my attention and I take out my cam and take a shot. What a creative presentation!
11 pcs. of chilli formed like a flower, it looks like an octopus swimming in this red sea of shells.
The shell is called locally as “Leas”. What more amazed me is that this shell is cooked under the sun, no wonder why most of the push carts I’ve seen are exposed under the sun and the shells are placed in G.I. sheets, wherein if exposed on the sun it becomes also hot that makes the cooking more faster. Quite a unique preparation isn’t it? With the whole preparation package then it’s called as “Leas Harl”. Harl is the local term for the G.I. sheet. (Please feel free to give correction if my terms are incorrect.)
Some prefers also cooking it with onion leaves and sauce. My officemate even gags that no one buys if its raining since they knew that its not well cooked. Leas are usually harvested in Pursat province. If the shell has more dark apple green color it comes from a sandy river, and if it’s dark, it comes from a muddy river.
It reminds me of my childhood days looking shells like these but bigger ones in the river banks nearby our house. We use sickle to scratch around the muddy banks, usually on the base of the Nipa tree and once we heard a tick, it means we hit a shell already and just grab it in the mud and place it in our basket. Our paths are noticeable with lines marked like a chessboard and our foot paths. It was a fun experience really before! Even my mom would get angry with me since I don’t sleep in that sunny summer afternoon and rather spend my time playing with my friends on the river banks.
13 April 2008. The central Kuala Lumpur is already crowded that the (Malaysian) government had decided to seat its government offices on this newly born capital Putra Jaya City. This birth of a new capital was named after Prince Putra, whom championed the Independence of Malaysia from its British colonizers 50 years ago, while Jaya means excellence or success. 
A mixture of modern Malay and Arabic architecture, Putrajaya City spreads on 4, 931 hectares and is located 25 kms. from Kuala Lumpur and about 20 kms. from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The structures are impressive with clean and well-paved streets and alley. This Sunday is flocked with both international and local tourists alike visiting the mosque and taking snapshots of this remarkable place. 
One of the place to see is the Prime Minister’s palace that according to the tour guide, based on the feng-shui reading, the area is the highest ground in which the whole city can be viewed, an exact location on where a head of state must be placed. 
It’s a worth visiting place that gives a good impression when you visit in this one of the developed countries in Asia. Putrajaya City best represents on how this country seriously works on its development.
