The silk shop is run by a former American soldier who fought in Vietnam, then came to Cambodia afterwards to try to do something positive in the area. He ended up staying in the country and getting married, and after a few different jobs helping people disabled by bombs and landmines now runs a healthy silk weaving business employing local women. In addition to walking us through the process of the business we also had a rather delicious lunch prepared by his wife.
When we finally got to Kampong Cham, the hotel was a bit of a disaster. My room was run down and had some water dripping in the washroom, but was otherwise fine. Other people weren't so fortunate and there was a range of issues from rats to broken air conditioning to flooding. There was an optional bicycle/motorbike tour we all wanted to do, but after discussing it decided to leave it for the morning since most of us were hot and tired. In the evening we went to the home of the man who would be guiding us for the bike tour for dinner. The food was good, but the highlight of the evening was the hyperactive young son of the household. His antics included such things as running around us in circles then suddenly stoppng, pulling off all of his clothing and leaving it in a pile in the middle of the room, then marching proudly out. The night also provided one of the stranger drinks I've managed so far. Our host brought out a jug of special alchohol that consisted of Cambodian wine with dead tarantulas fermenting in the bottom. It tastes about as one would expect (like strong alchohol with a muskiness I can only assume is decomposing tarantula), which makes me question why they drink it at all. Our young star made a splash here as well. His party trick is apparently to scoop out the dead spiders from the bottom of the jar and hold them in his mouth.
Delicious looking, isn't it?
1 comment:
You're very adventurous with your eating! Snacking on grilled snakes, okay maybe, but don't think I could have managed that last one! Otherwise, looks like a fascinating country, with such interesting temples and people!
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