A Chemistry teacher at Puok High who I’ve become friends with invited me for dinner at his family’s house.  That’s his mother-in-law cooking over two open fires.  Luckily, she loved my camera and all my questions.

I expected traditional Khmer food, but I got something else entirely.  It’s called “bon-chai-o”, and it’s delicious.

It looks a bit like an omelet, but the egg layer is thinner.

It’s usually filled with chopped and fried fish (or pork) with vegetables.  This time we had fish.

“Bon-chai-o” is a traditional Vietnamese food.  It’s much more prevalent in the southern part of Cambodia, closer to Vietnam.  But, we’re up north, near Thailand, so it’s a more rare treat here.

The final spread was huge.  The picture below is only part of it.

We had so much food because 11 people live in the house.  Plus, they had friends over helping them build a bridge behind their house so monks can get to the pagoda more easily.

I ate so much I thought I was going to explode.  Below is my teacher friend, Jamnang. (His wife and daughter are in the background).