A Holiday in Cambodia...
Trip Start
Nov 12, 2008
1
10
17
Trip End
Dec 02, 2008
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Thursday, November 20, 2008
We safely arrived in Siem Reap - which means there are more updates missing in between. Like the arrival into Cambodia and the flight up to Siem Reap. Only now we're staying at an amazing hotel/spa which is like a little caccoon of relaxation in the middle of slight zaniness outside. Yesterday (after a morning of pool time and massages), Vicki, Jen and I went on a tuk-tuk over to see a silk farm and then a long distance to see the floating village. The other two stayed at the hotel and relaxed some more.
The silk farm was surprisingly interesting (for a little while anyways). It is a free trade cultural center where they still use very antiquated ways to get the silk from the worms and then spin it into silk thread and using natural products (resin, leaves, etc.) to dye it different colors. They used old bicycle wheels on the machines to spin it into thread - all of it was done by hand. Then they dyed the threads with different patterns, wrapped them around chop sticks and then, keeping the chopsticks in order put it all on a loom to create patterned materials. All done completely by hand.
Next came the long drive on the tuk-tuk to the floating village. Along the way we passed a ton of houses that lined the river, all on stilts. As we neared, we had our tuk-tuk driver stop so we could buy beer from a woman who laughed and joked with us even though she didn't speak any English beyond "Hello". When we arrived at the end of the road, we stepped onto a rickety old cut-out boat that had holes in the floor and the chairs were old rattan chairs with life vests for seat cushions. Once settled on our flotation devices (which we did not need to wear although Vicky did try), we took off to go see the floating river. It was late and the other boats were all starting to come back in but we still kept going which turned out fine (just a little dark on the way back). The other tourists on the boats coming in were clearly jealous of the bottle of beer we each held in our hands as we enjoyed the ride out. The floating village had a school that at night kept the orphans there so they would have a place to live and could still learn and go to school. There was a floating basketball court (a la Amazing Race, this season) and many of the boats that they lived on had televisions that were run off of generators for limited night time entertainment.
When we got to the end of the village and were staring out at a huge fresh water lake, our guide told us a little about the children in the school and asked if we wanted to buy books and pencils for the kids. He said he had grown up in the floating village as an orphan, his family having been killed (Killing Fields), etc. While we knew we were clearly being worked, it did feel good to buy the books and pencils and the boat took us to the school where we gave them to the teachers and took pictures with the kids who all had no family and slept at the school each night. Yes, it could have been a racket but even if it iwas, the people in the village were clearly very poor and it is easier to believe that the world can be just that simple - books and pencils bought for kids are meant for those in need.
And now we have to run to get to the awe-inspiring temples of Angkor Watt (think Tomb Raider).
Comments
Tuk-Tuk heaven!!
Hi gals,
so great to follow your adventures. This post made me think about all the poverty in this world and about how a few books and pencils can make all the difference in a kid's life. What a cool experience to see the kids and interact with them. I have seen pictures of the floating villages and have always wanted to visit.
On a lighter note, Jen and I took a tuk-tuk in Peru, when we were in the Amazon. The 'carriage' on the bike vibrated like nobody's business, and when we finally arrived at our destination we both felt like we needed a cigarette! Awesome!
Safe travels.
Lara.