Travel by Ferry: Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

My fear of spiders was potent until I shook myself out of it many years ago now. I now very much admire and appreciate them and they are safe around me. I just get on with whatever it is that I'm doing and leave them to do likewise. When we pulled in to a market on the road to Siem Reap, I declined the opportunity to hold a giant spider. Carole and Anne stepped up to the experience, which was incredible to watch.

Thank you to Robyn for the gift of my hat about 40 years ago, to Shigemi for the fabulous and much needed fan and to Trudi for my fabulous sunglasses! (And mega apologies if I have thanked the wrong friends!)

Channa our guide with what mum would name, Charlie

Good on you Carole!… note calm…

…note not so calm as Charlie heads off!

From there we called in to see how silkworms are cared for, their cocoons harvested, silk thread dyed, spun and woven into beautiful scarves and such. It was amazing to see the whole process happening on their one small farm. We also saw cashew nut trees and …no wonder they are so pricey!

Silkworm cocoons

Silk threads harvested

Woven

Spinning dyed thread

Lunch with the group and much needed coconut juice

One cashew nut! I’ll never complain about their cost again!

We stopped at the incredible Kampong Kdei Bridge (aka Spean Praptos) built in the 12th century during the reign of King Jayavarman VII (or possibly earlier) and still in full use today! It has 20 or so narrow arches and the imoressive Khmer Naga seven headed serpent statues with body forming the top edges of the bridge. Here's a photo showing how unperturbed we were by the sun and relentless heat:

Carole, Anne and I showing that we CAN smile in this heat

That creamy yellow box contains deliciously icy water. We’d fill our water bottles and drench our hand towels in it and place them around our necks before leaving the bus…heaven!

Carole is very good at selfies!

Sunset in Siem Reap

We checked in to the lovely Navutu resort at Siem Reap and headed off to take a look at the town. The night markets were lively and the sunset was so pretty.

Night markets are a normal part of life across Cambodia

We attended a dance concert at the Apsara Theatre which came with a big dinner served on individual trays. As we ate I noticed a table of three but your can’t see them very well in the photo below, near the standing woman - was that elderly woman sitting with headphones on, doing so as a respectful way to shaperone the young couple? Or did she just not want to hear their chatter?

Note the arching fingers in all performers (and illustrated on temple walls)

The length of the show was long and that was a bit of a challenge for a few of us. That said, I saw so much of the traditional dancing reflected the next day on the walls of Angkor Wat and other temples! So incredible that the traditional dancing, story telling and dress is carried on through carvings/ dance and practices in societies where histrorical connections with the land and ancestors hasn't been scrubbed through colonisation. Here are some pictures showing gracefulness, beauty and threats.