The Flynns spent a long day at Angkor Wat temples today. It's a huge, ancient complex of stone temples, gates, libraries, moats (they used to have crocs in them) and other structures. Some of them are overgrown with humungeous trees, others are being restored. Very interesting to see.
After that we took a little excursion into the countryside. We noticed some odd plastic contraptions by the side of the road and asked our tuk tuk driver to stop. He said that we were looking at cricket catchers. They create a little pool on the ground out of thick plastic, and fill it with water. Then they hang a sheet of plastic (about 3 by 4 feet) above it, with a blue florescent light above that. He said the crickets are attracted to the light, hit the plastic and slide down into the water, from which they cannot escape, but they stay alive in the water. The farmer comes along every once in a while and dips the crickets out, washes them with salt water and they are ready for frying and seasoning. He says they taste like peanuts, and there are sweet ones, salty ones, curry and other flavors. We asked what else the farmers living there grow, and he said they have just planted their rice crop, which will be ready for harvest in October or November. We also noticed some giant lily pads with big flowers. He said they were lotus. They pick the flowers and sell them to people to use as an offering in the temple, and the fruit is sold to eat. So They have several crops that they can use for an income.
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