We spent a week in Siem Reap (fun fact: Siem Reap means defeat of Siam [which stands for Thailand, and if you're watching world news you may have seen there is current fighting over a temple along their border called Preah Vihear]) to both explore the temples of Angkor and to enjoy time in the beautiful area surrounded by rice fields and friendly, smiling Cambodians. We initially planned to travel to another area in Cambodia from here, but we were so relaxed in the town, we just decided to stay! We stayed a fabulous place run by an Aussie ex-pat who has great stories. The guesthouse is outside the town center in the village along the river, which was perfect to be away from the noise while also getting to be closer to the local culture. One of the best parts of our travels has been staying in the local neighborhoods and getting a small glimpse of local life rather then just seeing what is around a hotel or resort and only seen by tourists; it makes the experience far more culturally rewarding as well.
When not having our Indiana Jones/Lara Croft adventures in the temples, we spent our days walking around the town, perusing (and shopping) at the markets, and eating delicious meals at some great vegetarian places (we even tried out Mexican one night, which we thought would be an interesting experiment in Asia - it wasn't too bad, but doesn't quite get the spice experience of our favorite Mexican delights).
On the 2nd of May we visited Artisans d'Angkor, a training facility and shop that helps local Cambodians learn a valuable skill and earn a living. They currently have artisans in 13 villages throughout Cambodia and sell their products through these shops in particular towns and at the Phnom Penh airport. The workshop in Siem Reap is open to the public for free tours so we were able to see trainees working on projects carving wood, sandstone, soapstone, and molding metals.
The trainees apply to the program and those admitted spend between 6 and 18 months learning a craft. The training involves following a set program with pre-determined patterns to provide the future artisans with knowledge to make Angkor-style carvings and eventually branch out to their own styles. They also teach lacquer painting and silk painting; the persons working in these areas are mute and deaf so they have large posters of sign language symbols and words posted on the walls.
In addition to the Siem Reap carving workshop, we were transported to the Silk Farm just about 15 km outside of town. Here we learned about the life cycle of the silk worm (47 days) and the process of taking the raw and fine silk from the cocoon to transform it into beautiful scarves and other garments.
The silk worm eats leaves of the Mulberry Tree, so there is a grove of trees on the ground, but the worms cannot eat them outside as birds will eat the worms. The leaves are brought into the silkworm room and they eat away. They form their cocoons, which are 300m of silk: 100m of raw silk on the outside and 200km of fine silk on the inside. Once they come out of the cocoon, the worms mate and then the male dies, the female lays eggs and then dies and then the process begins itself again.
The cocoons are dried in the sun and then boiled so the silk can be more easily unwound and spooled. Once the two types of silk are spooled, they are dyed and then re-spooled. They then find themselves on looms where artisans set up the pattern by organizing the bars in certain ways and using their feet on pedals to control their movement as the weave the silk through the loom. It's fascinating work that we enjoyed observing.
We had fun walking around town and visiting the markets, where we often heard "Sir/Lay-dee, tuk-tuk" or "buy something." ginnie had too much fun strengthening her negotiation skills and ended up accumulating some skirts to wear since it's just so hot and they are far more comfortable, a dress for the coming family wedding celebrations, silk scarves (it was hard not to buy them when people just stopped us on the way and wrapped them around her neck and only charge $1), and books {all for under $15US}. We were not aware of the book selling market in this region and are able to get books for VERY low prices ($1-$2), so we picked up one we were interested in by a young girl documenting her and her family's experiences during the Khmer Rouge regime. We almost felt like we had to buy what we asked about since by the time we walked away when we were not happy with a price they always said "ok" and took our offers! It got so we just stopped asking about items!
We also visited our first night market. Cambodia is new to the night market scene in Asia, so we are looking forward to seeing more of them, but it was a good start and fun to explore at night and check out the offers.
Our week was further enhanced by the wonderful tuk-tuk driver, Mr. Tek, who met us at the bus drop-off and drove us through town and the temples on our first full day and for the sunrise. We were lucky to have the best driver in Siem Reap!
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