Cambodian Countryside

Selfie with the King (Your first thought was Elvis, wasn't it?  Not that king.)

Independence Monument - in daylight

We start off this morning viewing a few of the monuments we didn't get to yesterday (and we'd previously seen lit up at night).  There's obviously no leash laws here, as we see dogs roaming around and in the countryside there are loose horses and cows.  What I don't notice as we travel around today are the cone-style hats - apparently, that's only a Vietnamese thing.  We also don't observe public displays of affection - that's a big "no, no" here.  So Steve and I develop a secret code to give each other a kiss in public. 

No leash, but he has a harness on.

loose horses...physically or morally?

Something I do notice as we go around are the cute signs indicating the bathrooms. 

These are adorable!  They should become the
international standard.

She has hair in this one!  And yes, people
probably thought I was strange to take
pictures of the entrance to the bathroom.
"Tourists! They take pictures of anything."

 


We then take a quick ferry across the Meking River to go to an island.  Car ferries are my least favorite means of transportation, and there's not much to see, so we entertain ourselves by taking a selfie.

Does anyone know where the life jackets are on this boat?

The car ferry turns out to be worth it, since it allows us to stop at the silk farm.  We get to scrutinize some of the worms, first.  They sleep with their heads up, so if you zoom in you can tell which ones are napping. 

Sleeping and munching mulberry leaves.  That's the life!

Steve examining the different kinds of silk thread.

Once they spin their cocoons and die (well, I should say they're killed) you can collect the thread for spinning.  I never realized the term "raw silk" comes from the outer potion of the cocoon, which is about 30% of the total.  The inner portion is the "fine silk."  Now I understand the difference in clothing, too.  Once the cocoons are spun into thread, they can be dyed with either natural elements or chemicals.  Then they can be woven into cloth.  I get to try out the loom, but I'm not very good at it.  I keep getting the shuttle stuck between the threads.  

Steve doesn't have to worry that I'll start a new hobby!

We then drive on to the village we'll be visiting.  Along the way we notice a local market (but no grocery stores, so this is it).

Everything under one roof - not quite!

Is it only $500 for a condo??

I find the billboard for condos and a golf course interesting.  Reminds me of some places in the US!  I wonder if it will actually be built.  When we travel back to Phnom Penh along the highway (no ferry this time) we do see some construction on large condo buildings like this.

Luckily, there's not a lot of traffic here.

The mopeds are around, too.  Four people on this one - that was the most I could get a picture of.  Looks like helmets are not required, like leashes.  One thing I didn't get a picture of was the ice cream truck riding around, playing music.  Who knew that was universal?

Similar to what we saw in Vietnam, the houses in the village range from "very nice" to "made from scraps."  The houses are all built up off the ground and have dirt as their ground level (no concrete or grass).  Even the silk farm had their facilities directly on the dirt floor.  That's why we couldn't see all the worms at work - yesterday's rain made it too muddy for us to walk back to the coop. 

The rice and lotus fields are here, also similar to Vietnam.

We take a horse-drawn cart to see the lotus fields up close.  There is a horse here, but my body is blocking it.  If you look close it looks like I have horse ears growing out of my head!

cart selfie!

School is out for the day, so we see the students returning home, in their uniforms.  School only lasts four hours a day in Cambodia.  It's also not mandatory.  Around the world, children look happy when the school day ends.  Lots of people are out and about in their yards (working) and if you smile and wave, they will, too.  It feels like a friendly community.

School's out!

Lotus as far as you can see!

The land used to be covered with rice fields, but more recently lotus farms have become preferred.  The crop has a shorter growing season and is more profitable.

It's afternoon, so the lotus have almost closed up all the way (they bloom in the morning) but I'm able to take a close up of a partially open flower.

Pretty!

Lotus pod bouquet

 Our guide collects some of the lotus pods to show us the seeds.  You have to open the outer shell, then the green shell, then the white one before you reach the seed.  They are dried, and sell for around $30/kg.  He gives us one to try, and it reminds me of a soybean.  Our guide also shows us what they did as children - you take an unripe seed and pop it against your forehead.  We all giggle at the noise.  It makes the same sound as popping bubble wrap, another game kids seem to enjoy.  I guess that's universal, too!

Pop!

Who can resist a lotus field selfie?

Setting up lunch

We ride the cart back to our host's house, where we enjoy a home cooked lunch at a table on the ground floor (under the house).  There's chicken soup with mint (which tastes different than Mom's chicken soup), pork stir-fry, and bean flan.  Dessert is dragon fruit and bananas (dessert always seems to be fruit in Asian countries).  It's all very good, as usual.  I notice they eat like Thai people - the fork is used to scoop food up on the spoon, then they eat from the spoon.  So the fork is used the way we use a knife.  

Our host's wife is a nurse, and she arrives home as we finish eating.  Our guide helps to translate, and we have an enjoyable conversation (so much so we forget to take pictures).  One interesting tidbit she says is that it's not easy for Cambodians to travel outside of their country.  The government requires you to have $10,000 in a bank account before you can leave (so they know you'll return for your money) and you can't depart for more than 90 days.  Since a skilled worker averages $8 a day in wages, it's much more money than the average person has. 

One of the two classrooms

We're able to tour the school for English that they have on their property.  It was started in 2007 but they were able to build a new building in 2013.  They teach two sets of classes a night and have 120 students.  Though public school is not required and is only for a limited time, some people take classes and lessons to try to improve their job prospects. 

Once we drive back to the city we take one last selfie with our guide, before leaving him for our flight to Siem Reap.  It all goes smoothly and we're glad we have a chance to get a good night's sleep at our hotel in anticipation of tomorrow's early morning bike tour.

Selfie with our guide