Happy Khmer New Year ... Good Luck on Your Travel

Asia » Cambodia » North » Siem Reap
April 14th 2009

Published: April 14th 2009

My day started out with a good laugh thanks to my mother. I have said before that my mother follows my comings and goings of my trips religiously through this blog and sends me messages of encouragement along the way. This morning just made me smile when I read that she had googled to find out what the deal was with this coconut shell, sending me a message saying that there should be a big clay pot filled with water and a small coconut shell which would be used to wash your feet. I have definitely put it to that use as well after a full day of dusty temple-hopping and to scrape off the slew of preventative band-aids (Anik knows what I am talking about!)

In case you are wondering … the stomach is doing okay, I am dutifully taking my malaria medication (I wouldn’t want another scare, right Anik?) and I have yet to encounter night-biting mosquitoes that would cause said malaria. After spending full days outside, I definitely sleep like a log and have never managed to make it past 9 pm (the Angkor Beer every night with supper might have a little bit to do with that! Just one though …my rule for safe solo travelling!). My body is one big achy mess and bits of me are a beautiful shade of bright red … krama scarf to the rescue today to cover my poor neck! And I know that you are all wondering … photo count is around 900!

I also wanted to say that I have felt very safe all of this time. Although you see mostly groups, families or a few people travelling together, I definitely have noticed a number of solo travelers. I do have to say that they are mostly men but I have definitely spotted a few women.

So today was going to be a bit of a random kind of day, fitting in a few sites around Siem Reap and had made arrangements to have the same tuk tuk driver that I have had. He has been taking good care of me so it was only fitting. The first stop would be the Artisans d’Angkor Silk Farm. I had actually been really looking forward to this and I certainly was not disappointed. First, I was lucky because our tour consisted of me and a Norwegian couple and we had time to almost complete our entire tour before two big buses of tourists arrived. I had no clue as to how silk was made so this was a complete learning experience. First, the Artisans harvest their own mulberry trees, evidenced by a huge field on the farm grounds. They harvest the leaves which are fed to the silk worms. They do not leave the silk worms outside to eat right off the trees themselves as they could easily be eaten by birds. So as we entered the first small building, there was a man chopping away at leaves like he was preparing some gourmet salad. He then uncovered this flat wicker basket and there they all were munching away at the chopped up mulberry leaves. It is a well documented fact that I have a fear of worms which I verbalized to the guide to which he replied “no worry, these worms are very sensitive”. Yes because the ones I fear are just outright vicious! The worms feed for three days and then start mating (and to quote the guide “you know they have sex”). So he proceeded to go through the whole life cycle of the worm which ultimately ends with them having all of these yellow coloured cocoons which they have attached to baskets and from which they will ultimately be able to get about 400 meters of silk thread from just one cocoon. They are actually boiled to kill the worm inside (which we were told are actually quite a delicacy … I will take his word for it). They do keep 20% of them alive to allow for their reproduction (you know … the sex). Once they have dried up, they can then extract the actual silk thread which is amazing to see. They extract two types of silk depending on whether it comes from the outside of the cocoon or the inside. Some of the silk is dyed naturally using different types of leaves, tree bark and even rusty nails and of course some are done with chemical dyes (the more vibrant colours). The tour then took us to where they put the actual thread on spools and then onto the weaving area showing the different techniques used. One poor woman who was working a loom had one broken string and was meticulously trying to find it so as not to cause any irregularities in the pattern. The tour ended in a show room where they showed again some of the silk threads in different forms, some finished products like bed linens, traditional wedding attires for both men and women and the traditional apsara dance costumes.

From there, I headed into Siem Reap itself. I got quite a laugh when I saw one furniture store called “Ikea Spongy Furniture”. I wanted to go into Siem Reap to visit the Psar Chaa Market which turned out to be very similar although slightly smaller than the Chatuchak Weekend Market of Bangkok. There is a randomness to it all, ranging from souvenirs, books, housewares, shoes, suitcases, fruit, vegetables ... you name it, they’ve got it. There is even a small food court with different vendors whipping up traditional Khmer fare. The smell is a little overwhelming in the section where they mostly sell meats of all kinds and a little nauseating as you see women gutting fish and the like. All part of the experience though and still quite something to see!!! So I did manage to buy quite a few souvenirs and have failed miserably at the whole bargaining thing! I truly have a moral issue with trying to bargain down from $ 3.00 for a t-shirt although it IS amazing what the words “it’s for my mother/father” will do! So dad … sorry it’s a damn t-shirt again! As is the tradition, I also bought a book (most likely a counterfeit though!) called First They Killed My Father, written by a woman who is my age who was recruited at the age of 10 by the Khmer Rouge. Yes me and my light reading!

From there, I visited two different temples called Wat Bo and Wat Thmei. The first one seemed closed and I could not enter the actual temple itself. In design, both were very reminiscent of the temples that I saw last year in Thailand but just not as ornate and definitely not as bejeweled. Both had a number of small chedis in all different colours and designs which I would venture a guess and say that they were memorials for those who have passed on. Wat Thmei was interesting in that I arrived to blaring and very festive music. It is Khmer New Year, if you must know. Everyone from the tour guide, the guy I bought water from and the few ladies that I bought souvenirs from has said to me “you know today in Cambodia is Khmer New Year” and most have ended with “and good luck on your travel”. The sweet thing is that there is such an incredible pride in their eyes when they announce that it is their New Year. I did not know that it was a holiday when I planned this trip but what luck to have been here during such a special time for the Khmer. But I digress ...

Wat Thmei has a couple of large temples and has a memorial stupa to the victims of the Khmer Rouge, evidenced by a number of skulls and bones encased in glass. It is a disturbing sight, made even more so by disturbing eerie photos of prisoners as well as Khmer Rouge themselves. The Lonely Planet guide had stated that at this particular temple, there are tons of monks who would love the opportunity to practice their English. You are not supposed to address monks but lo and behold one came up to me and started telling me in very broken English that today was Khmer New Year, the celebrations and the fact that there were 55 monks that actually lived on those grounds. Once he said it, it was actually quite obvious seeing that there was this residence-like building just off to the side of the temple with many an orange robe hanging from the balconies.

From there I returned to the hotel to simply relax, enjoy the incredible weather, sit by the pool, read a book and wait out the afternoon until 3 pm, the time at which I had made an appointment for a massage. Some of you may remember my experience with Thai massages last year and although wince-inducing, it sure does the body good. The pamphlet that was given to me when I arrived described it as energizing involving stretching and pressing. Like I have said, my body is quite sore from the temple-hopping of the last three days so releasing a little lactic acid was the thing for me. The masseuse arrived and I swear she must have been about 5 feet tall and 100 pounds but freakishly strong! At times, I honestly could not tell you which part of her body she was using but I can definitely tell you that at one point she sat on me for a good minute or so and she kneed me a few times in the back. Things were poked, prodded, pulled (and if it didn’t pop or crack, she would pull again!), stretched and I do believe that I may have been airborne at one point! It truly is wince-inducing but you feel so amazingly awesome afterwards. The setting was brilliant also in that you are outside in this small house on stilts with bamboo mats on the floor, mosquito netting for privacy and the traditional krama scarves over the pillows. I am coming back to the hotel on my very last day of being in Cambodia and I will definitely splurge on another!! Splurge being a big word ... a one-hour massage is $ 9.00!

So now it is close to five o’clock and I am going to go and throw myself in the pool one last time before supper. I have pre-ordered my supper, a traditional Khmer meal (and an Angkor Beer of course). Today is my last full day here so I will spend the rest of the evening packing my suitcase as I leave early for Phnom Penh. I have a date with my tuk tuk driver at 6:30 am who will give me a ride to the airport … and no I just did not have the heart to bargain him down from $ 4.00!!

So hopefully the internet connection at my next hotel will be as cooperative as the one here in Siem Reap!!

Happy Khmer New Year ... Good Luck on Your Travel

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved