January 6, 2013

Another couple of cycling tourists checked into our guesthouse. They managed to catch us at breakfast and joined us. It was really nice chatting with them. They had been on the road for 18 months, starting in England and had traveled almost completely overland. They had a lot of great advice, including taking some Ciprofloxacin for Chan’s continued stomach bug.

Whatever we caught was hard to shake but we decided to do a short ride to see the silk farm outside of town. The farm is pretty cool and they give a free tour of the entire operation.

The process begins with moths laying eggs. When the baby caterpillars hatch they will eat only mulberry leaves.

Moth laying an egg

Silk caterpillar

When the caterpillars turn yellow they are ready to be transferred to a basket to make their cocoons. They make their cocoons from a single strand of silk that they spin around themselves hundreds of times.

Spinning silk cocoons

Only 20% of the caterpillars are allowed to reach adulthood to make more caterpillars. The cocoons are left out in the sun, and then boiled to kill the caterpillar inside, otherwise they would destroy the silk when emerging from the cocoon. Apparently, the little dead bugs make a delicious snack and aren’t wasted. Our guide ate a few, but Chandler and I weren’t up to the challenge. The boiled silk are then spun together to make threads for weaving.

Making thread

The natural cool of the silk is yellow, so it is usually then bleached and dyed. The last step is weaving the silk into beautiful scarves or other fabric.

Weaving

Unfortunately, the tour guide rushed us through the tour rather impatiently as we came right before lunch. We would have liked to linger and take more photos of the process. It was still really cool and I’m glad we took the time to go to the silk farm.

January 4 – 5, 2013

Well it was bound to happen. The god of the porcelain bowl came calling, demanding repentance. Chandler got attacked in the evening and spent the night in the bathroom. I thought I was in the clear until I got hit the next morning. It was not fun. We spent the next day resting and recovering our energy. Chandler did manage to get a few chores done and by the evening I was able to join him.

January 3, 2013

We couldn’t bring ourselves to wake up early enough to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. We had a leisurely breakfast instead and headed to the temples around 9am. Without Seyha’s guidance, we stuck to the main road.

A Japanese NGO team restoring Bayon set up an exhibit with all sorts of information and displays. The team is currently restoring the south library component of the Bayon complex, which should take 5 years. They are using mostly traditional methods, with the assistance of cranes and safety equipment. Originally, restoration methods relied on reinforced concrete and other “modern” technology to support the crumbling and sinking ruins. Now, the foundation is being restored using hand rammed sand to rebuild the core of the library foundation, which is then covered in laterite stone which protects the sand and provides structural strength. The laterite is overlaid with original carved sandstone mixed with sections of newly carved stone where the original stone was missing or destroyed.

Hand tools

Pulley system

Chandler the lion tamer

Sanctum sanctorum

Tree taking over

We spent part of the afternoon reading in a small, quiet area of a larger temple. Nobody but a guard walked through the area, and that was probably due to our bikes left out front. The area was covered in spider webs and had clearly not been visited much. The webs that the spiders made were fascinating. They made little tubes in the middle of their webs which they would crawl into when I came too close to them.

Tube spider

As we were leaving the temples, something darted across the road. Monkeys! They were being fed by someone with fruit, just hanging out and eating bugs off of each other.

They sit like people

Playboy monkey

I finally built up enough courage to do a fish pedicure. At first it felt like hundreds of little fingers tickling my feet, but after a few minutes it felt kind of nice. I took my feet out after 20 or so minutes and they felt very exfoliated. It was an fun experience, but I don’t think I would pay top dollar in the states to do it again.

Fish pedicure

January 2, 2013

We made arrangements to met up with Seyha, Henri, Isabelle and family at 6am to begin our bike tour of the Temples of Angkor. We were excited to be spending the day with other people. Also, Seyha knew routes to the temples that were off the main road.

Secret path

Faces of Bayon

Apsaras in ruins

While the incredible size of the temples is amazing, I found myself drawn more to the details of the carvings.

Garuda

Doorway

Bas-relief

The group we were with was a lot of fun. The kids range from 5 to 14 years old and have been riding around europe and asia on bikes for 8 months! Chandler and I were super impressed and definitely made us think about traveling as a family.

Kids goofing off

Haven't had a dam on here for a while, somewhere in the jungle

I think we did more walking than we have done the entire trip. We were both tired at the end of the long day. We decided to not join the group the next day, but spent the day exploring alone at a slower pace.

January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

We spent New Years Day relaxing and wandering. Siem Reap is a town clearly catering to tourists. There are many western restaurants, bars and massage chairs lining the streets. The sales people are much more aggressive than anywhere else we have been so far.

We found a decent little restaurant for lunch. As we were finishing, the french family rides up. They had connected with a local named Seyha through warmshowers.org. Warmshowers is a site for cycling tourists to find hospitality through local people, similar to couchsurfing.org. They invited us over to their table while they had lunch. We all agreed to meet up in the morning to tour the temples together.

Sunset

Scarves for sale

Touristy

Khmer band

We spent a few hours strolling the main streets as the sun was setting. Things got even crazier with music blasting out of bars and the night market opening. We made it an early night as we were meeting Seyha and company at 6am the next morning.