Page 201 - Udaan 2019-2021 Final

EVER TRIED A TARANTULA?

Rajdeep Das, IX/X
Think of Cambodia and Angkor Wat is the firs t thing that comes to our mind.

And why not? It’s the worl d’s lar est Hindu temple complex; thousands of

touri sts fro m all over the world flock her to see this ar hitectur l
masterp iece. My experi ence in Cambodia, however, start ed with something

much scari er!

We visited Cambodia in the Puja Vacations last year. After spending a few
days in Phnom Penh, the capital, we dro ve to Siem Reap. On the way, we

stopped at a town called Skuon, 75 kilometr s nort h of Phnom Penh. I was
wonderi ng why we had stopped at a dusty town in the middle of nowher

when my mother said, “Do you know why we stopped her ? Ther ’s a big

mark et her which sells fri ed spiders – the Skuon Spider Mark et.” I was
wonderi ng whether she was joking when I saw the shops on the str et side.

Nothing could pr par me for what I saw ther . Imagine a r gular bazaar in
Kolkata selling fru its and vegetables. Then r place the fruits and vegetables

with fri ed spiders . That’s pr cisely what we saw ther . Piles of giant, hairy ,

juicy, fri ed tar ntulas dri pping with soya sauce, garn ished with chillies and
lemongr ss! And it didn’t stop at spiders . Ther wer mounds of scorp ions,

cockro aches, gr sshoppers , cri ckets, dr gonflies and every other insect you

can name. And the occasional ro ast duck in between them all.