Cambodia - Koh Okhnatey

We have turned and sailed back down the river towards Phnom Penh and gone up another branch of the Mekong River. In the wet season this cruise goes from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh and then to Siam Reap, so we should have been cruising from Phnom Penh to Siam Reap. However, as the dry season starts in November the water levels suddenly fall significantly and so the cruise cannot continue to Siam Reap, and instead the cruise company fly you to Siam Reap from Phnom Penh. We don't mind that, I would rather be here in the dry season and not sail on to Siam Reap than be here in torrential monsoon weather with temperatures of +40C.

This morning we were off the boat by 8am to go to silk island, formally known as Koh Okhnatey, an island famous for its silk weaving. The skiff dropped us off where some of us took bikes to cycle around the island, (others on tuc-tucs) and the route we did today was 20km. It seems a more prosperous island due to this industry with a very lavish and ornate gold temple, and the homes look smarter and more substantial. As we cycled past the houses we noticed so many of them are set up to weave silk. We stopped off at one home where mother and daughter were weaving silk by hand on looms, it was a completely mechanical process using the hands and feet to adjust the settings. Then we cycled on to a home where they extract the silk from the cocoons spun by silkworms, a fascinating process to watch. From one tiny cocoon they can get a silk thread of up to 500m long! (see extra) The pupae are not allowed to develop into moths, the cocoons are placed in the heat of the sun to destroy the pupae so as to keep the cocoon intact and the thread unbroken. It is a very labour intensive process and one can see why silk products are so expensive to buy. They had a shop that we visited after learning about the silk making process, where I bought a silk scarf (or two!) that was priced at US$20, they were so ridiculously cheap. 

The people in the tuc-tucs went back to the skiff to be returned to our boat but the cyclists continued and we visited a home where they make soy curd and soy milk. The soy beans are dried then crushed and boiled in large vats over wood fires. As the scum rises to the surface it forms a film on the liquid which is removed and hung to dry, and this becomes the curd to be used in cooking stews and soups. Again it is a very labour intensive process with only one man going around the vats removing the film of curd as it forms, and working in very hot conditions from all the fires. This is an image of that process.

As we cycled along the children are so friendly and come running out to wave at us and shout hello - they cannot speak English yet have learned to say hello. We also hit ’school rush hour’ when the children finished the morning shift of school and there was a mass of scooters and mopeds driven by the students as they go home for lunch. There were many dogs again, some looking fine but some in very poor form, chickens, and beautiful Brahman bulls with their long silky ears and silky folds in the neck.

In the afternoon we went out again to visit a temple in Preah Prosop where we talked (through an interpreter) to the young monks. They were aged between 9 years old and 21 years old, and explained about life as a monk. They enter the monastery to avoid poverty and to obtain an education. Some do leave when they are older and finished school. We then did another cycle of about 8km to a sandy beach on the Mekong River where we had sundowner drinks set up by the boat staff and watched the stunning sunset. Back at the boat the staff all sang and danced farewell to us as we leave the boat tomorrow.

We have met some lovely people on this cruise, only 23 of us of all nations - American, Thai, Taiwanese, Singaporean, French, German and British. It has also been great not being at the full capacity of 40 people.

In other news we are very proud of Adam who completed his first half Iron Man challenge yesterday in Indian Wells in California - a swim of 1.2 miles, then a cycle of 56 miles and finally a run of a half marathon of 13.1 miles. He was hoping to complete it in 6 hours as he had under trained due to moving countries etc, and he completed it in 5 hours 18 minutes. He said the run was brutal, scorching hot in the middle of the day in a desert, and the swim - which I was so worried about as people die from drowning due to the numbers - he got kicked many times including having his goggles kicked right off his face.

Tomorrow morning we have an outing in Phnom Penh and then go back to the boat to pack up and we leave to fly to Siam Reap.