Handicrafts and craftsmen (and -women).

We visited many small workshops were various handicraft products were made. Most of the products were based on tradition. Often they were very detailed and demanded a lot of hours an professionalism.

Stone carving was clearly important with the background in religion, Angkor and purely decoration.

One village had silver as their specialty and again I was amazed by the details and the exactness in the work.

Bracelets were sold in the workshops, but also in the streets. I had a nice talk with this salesperson, and yes, I also bought something from her.

Another specialty was inlay of either mother of pearl or shells from geese. I think that was the most detailed work I have ever seen. and the products were stunning. These two are old in an old house where a Chinese family had lived.

But we visited a workshop that produced inlay items in the old style, but also more modern design. Paintings were also part of their products.

Traditional mats woven with straw were produced in what they called a factory. The definition of factory seemed to be if they had electric motors, but manhours were the main factor.

I was  really impressed by the quality of the products and the competence of the craftsmen. But I doubt if an inspection of Worker’s safety would come of favorable for the workshops.

Palm oil and pottery.

We visited a small village a bit inland to see the harvesting of palm oil. We were introduced to an elderly man who had as his responsibility to harvest palm oil from the top of 25 palm trees. He was a man full of smiles and laughter.

He climbed a tree for us with his containers made of bamboo.

Then the oil was “refined” by boiling.

Then it could be taken to the market to be sold, and again with bamboo containers and on a bicycle.

The pottery production was equally primitive, they did not even have a proper turntable.

But everything was done with a smile and it was actually quite impressive what they produced.

Visits ashore.

We had our meals and slept on board our cruise ship, but every day we had a one to three visits to villages and towns by the river. We came very close to the everyday reality of the people.

One day we should visit a temple. That was actually very interesting, but there were two more interesting parts of that outing.

First we were transported to the area on ox carts absolutely without any form of suspension so every bump in the road was absorbed in my body.

We visited a school and that was an eye-opener. It was absolutely minimum both the building and the material.

They sang for us both in Cambodian, but also in English. They sang “If you are happy and will show it…” and I surprised them by standing by their desk singing with them.

The kids on the first row were definitely too young to schoolchildren.

The teacher explained that since both parents were working, the smaller children had to be with their older siblings at school.

Our Norwegian discussions on teaching plans, absentees, grades etc are abolutely luxury problems compared to what I saw. Education is clearly important to them and not an obvious thing.

In addition to that one of the teachers was quite good-looking!

Traditional dance.

One night when we were docked in Phnom Penh a dance group performed three traditional dances for us on the ship. Apparently they came from an orphanage in the city. They were very professional even if they were young, from 14 to 24 years old. They put on their costumes and did their make-up out on the deck and rude me mingled with them and took pictures. They pretended I wasn’t there most of the time.

The first dance with the most elaborate costumes were mythological with complicated hand movements and poses.

The second had something to do with fishes and demons.

The last dance was  more down-to-earth, it was about rice harvesting and flirting and easy to understand.

I really enjoyed their performance. It was beautiful and partly mysterious. A taste of a world very different from rap an pop. I like and is appreciative when I experience something different, but still part of the human conglomerate.

Finally we were introduced to the dancers, they told us their name and age and what they wanted from the future. Most of them were down-to-earth. They wanted to be police, teacher etc, but one girl wanted to become Miss Cambodia!

Activities on board.

We had daily breefings of the programs on board, and since we shared the ship with a French group, it was done in two languages. What was strange was that the French breefing was three times as long as the Norwegian.

But there were other activities as well. We had demonstration of Khmer dances, and there is a separate post on that..

We learned napkin folding from the four girls in the restaurant, and I believe I got special attention from them. Either I was clumsy or they extra good care of me.

One afternoon we were told we should get an exotic surprise, and we sure did. Insects to eat! Suree demonstrated!

Yes, I ate three and it was actually not a big deal. The insects had been roasted in chilli, so they were crunchy and tasted chilli!

One day the chef demonstrated his passion, food carving, and he was very good at it.

Sunrise and sunset.

Sunrise and sunset over the Mekong were great for pictures, and here are a few.

Life on the Mekong.

From our ship we got a front seat view over the activities on the Mekong river. It became very clear that the river was essential for many,

Fish from the river and it’s tributary give more than 60% of Cambodia’s production of protein. and we saw hundreds of small fishing boats where a single person or with family members fishing with net.

There were also fixed fish traps, some even with houses on. (to the right of the picture)

Some floating houses were actually fish farms. They had cages in the water under the house where they in 6-9 months had raised  fish for the market.

The bottom of the river was also an important natural resource. The sand was well suited for the building industry so many places sand was taken up and loaded on barges.

The barges were loaded to their maximum and they are completely dependent of calm water.

Of course boats were used as ferries across the river. I don’t think we saw any bridges except in Pnom Pehn, so if you wanted to cross the river you were depending on boats.

Many people lived not only from the river, but lived on the river. Some had small houses on the boats and could move around.

But many more lived on floating villages that were stationary. Most of had bamboo as floating devices and that must be replaced every seven years. Of course they used boats to get home or go to school or go shopping.

But most of the people live by the river on houses or sheds built on poles. The water level varied a lot with yearly floods so they needed a safety margin

The river was also used for washing of clothes, dish washing, bathing and toilet.

 

Our ship on Mekong.

After spending approximately three days at Siem Rap and Angkor we boarded our cruise ship, Indochine II. We stayed on her (a ship is feminine) down the Mekong and on a canal all the way to Ho Che Min-city or Saigon.

The cabin I stayed in was on the second floor and had a small veranda.

The restaurant was on the first floor and four smiling girls gave us excellent service.

They were very friendly and we came on good terms during the voyage with smiles. waves and hugs.

People I met at Angkor.

It was very crowded everywhere at Angkor. With 3 million visitors every year, and the number is growing, and everybody looking at the same temples just walking is a challenge. I believe there were many groups of Japanese and I surprised one of them  (she did not mind!”.

I met a father and daughter that worked on the site cleaning and collecting garbage. I asked if I could take a picture of the daughter and that was OK.

Among the tourists was a family with a girl with flower in her hair. I found the contrast between a beautiful girl with flowers and ancient stone ruins interesting. (Later I realized the flowers were made of plastic!)

The only religious person i saw was a Buddhist monk.

Angkor Wat.

The most famous temple in Cambodia is probably Angkor Wat, and of course we visited that site. The location and how it is built is really nice with ponds etc. It is a national symbol and is in the Cambodian flag and money bills.

Again with a moat and a wall surrounding the temple complex.

The temple itself is dedicated to Vishnu and has been a significant religious place since it was built 800 years ago. It was of course filled with people so actually walking through the temple was a challenge. I sat down in one of the courtyards and by just looking around I could really appreciate the atmosphere and decorations.

No, I don’t think they had black bras, I think the wear is part of a fertility procedure.

Again the walls had also other carvings.

and again I was impressed by the quality of the work.

A proof that it still is a religious place is this:

I had high expectations about Angkor, it is one of the names that has stuck in my mind. But it was so much more and better than I had anticipated. It was the main reason I took this trip and I am so glad I did! It is a must for interested tourists!