Cambodia Day 11: Lovely Lotuses

We had most of the day left in Siem Reap before our flight to Vietnam. The girls took the opportunity to do one last excursion to the nearby lotus farm. 

Here, we learned how the stalk of the lotus plant used to be thrown away. Now, the whole plant is used to produce fantastic creations, such as scarves, purses, tea, and baked goods. 

Our guide took us through the steps of harvesting the lotus plant with a hands-on tour. We broke stalks to see the long threads of fiber on the inside. We ate fresh lotus seeds; their taste was similar to a pea. We unfolded the petals of a flower bud to feel the spongy inside that can be used as a body scrub. We even tasted tea brewed from its petals and leaves.

Next, we took part in crafting our own souvenirs: a lotus seed bracelet, a bracelet made from the plant fibers, and paper we decorated with leaves and petals from their garden. 

It was an incredible experience, both formative and enjoyable, for all five of us. 

On our way back home, we stopped at the Satcha Handicraft Incubation Centre. Here, Cambodian artists work on ethically and environmentally sustainable pieces of artwork in the disciplines of wood working, painting, leather works, fibre arts, and more. The serene setting adds to the ambience, full of creativity and peacefulness. 

We finished the afternoon off with a swim in the pool and lots of organizing. It was a smooth but late-night trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. 

One last temple...
at the pristine Siem Reap Airport

Cambodia Day 10: Temple Time

The kids were feeling a bit templed-out so we took advantage of being a big group and on Day 10 split up yet again, this time as couples. Alex and Beth spent the morning visiting the "Pink Temple", while Craig and Erin spent the time with the kids around our place doing some swimming and schoolwork. Then, we traded for the late afternoon. Alex and Beth took the kids to see the flying fox bats in the park and the original High Fivers appreciated the chance to visit Ta Prohn without complaining children in tow...

Craig and Erin enjoyed wandering the gorgeous ruin at a leisurely pace and were surprised by how quiet it was at four in the afternoon. Despite having been there before, it still felt like a complete maze of toppled walls, bat-filled doorways, and towering trees. It was magical!

From there, we stopped at two smaller, less-visited temples evident from the sweeping cobwebs in the corners of the entrance ways, and the fluttering butterflies prancing around the vines. 

We took some time by the water to watch the sunset, a cheeky cormorant diving for dinner, and some birds of prey who insisted on flying directly toward the setting sun so it was impossible to identify them. 

On our way back, we noticed the rising moon over Bayon. Our driver let us hop out to take in the moment: the smoke filling the air from a nearby brushfire, the local music, and the darkening sky. 

We finished off the evening with some tasty braised pork ribs, and an evening dip in the pool. We really enjoyed the rare opportunity to have a date night while travelling!

Cambodia Day 9 Part 2: Delicious and Deathdefying Entertainment

After a fun morning with the elephants and a swim and a rest, we decided to mix things up again and split up for Girls & Guys Night Out! As the dads headed in to town to explore Pub Street and the Riverside Night Market, the five ladies hopped in a remork and took off for the Phare Circus and food market!

Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPSA) was founded in 1994 by nine men who returned home from a refugee camp after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. While at the refugee camp, they took drawing classes and found art to be a powerful tool for healing. When they returned to Siem Reap, they began offering free drawing classes to street children. Soon they opened a school, eventually offering formal K-12 education and professional arts training in the areas of visual arts (illustration, painting, graphic design, and animation), theater, music, dance, and circus. Today more than 1,200 pupils attend the public school daily and 500 attend the vocational arts training programs. All programs are offered for free. (Taken from the circus website). What a great cause to support!

The Desserts!

Before the show started, the venue opened to guests so that we could spend time in the beautiful gift shop with many ethically-made products, some from the art school students themselves. Then, we strolled over to the open-air food market courtyard and enjoyed several local Cambodian street food dishes, including vegetarian spring rolls, Cha Kreung Sach Ko (a lemongrass beef stir fry), a fried banana and potato combo dessert and palm fruit cakes. 

Beth and Erin also savoured some delicious cocktails on the side like the Lemongrass Lemonade and Ginger Honey Mojito. There was even a cultural performance from students of the school with dancing and acting while we waited for the main event to start. 

When the doors to the big top opened, we streamed in and found seats with popcorn in hand. The next hour was filled with incredible performances and feats of human strength that rivaled Cirque de Soleil. 

The whole evening was incredible! The circus photos are courtesy of the talented Beth! Erin's hands were too sticky from eating the fried bananas to attempt photography. 🤣 

Cambodia Day 9 Part 1: Beyond the Temples

After two days of exploring temples, we were ready to see what else Siem Reap had to offer. Adventure Girl was really excited about the possibility of seeing her first real-life elephant. We did some research and felt good about the work that the Cambodia Elephant Sanctuary does. So the families split up and the three of us hit the road to meet Gigi, Boom Boom, and Hommie.

The sanctuary is home to three female elephants, all of whom used to be owned by Cambodian families. Many people are finding it too expensive to keep elephants because of how much food they eat, or their younger generations are moving to the city and use conveniences like motor vehicles instead of elephants. So the elephants come to live at the sanctuary instead. They often have trauma from their past like Boom Boom who had children taunt and abuse her. We learned the stories of the three elephants at CES and all about their own personalities. 

Once we've been briefed on safety around the elephants, we proceeded down to the outdoor elephant kitchen where we each prepared an elephant snack. We mashed by hand bananas, cooked rice, and rice bran and rolled the dough into balls. They taught us how to feed the elephants; the balls are too mushy to give to their trunks so we put them right on to their tongues! Then we also gave them fruit, like pieces of watermelon, bananas in the peel, and pineapple rinds, via their trunks.

When all the snacks were done, we followed the ladies as they sauntered over to their piles of banana plants. They each basically had an entire banana tree to eat. We got to pose with them while they snacked.

From there, the elephants moved to a mud bath area where they enjoyed splashing mud on themselves and even drinking water right from the hose! It was so neat to see their intelligence, differences in play, and personalities. When they were ready, they moved from the mud bath down to the river to bathe. 

We finished off by having a snack of our own back up in the briefing area. Hommie, and later Gigi, decided to come over and join us to see if she could charm any pieces out of us!

We loved our time with these gentle giants and appreciate the care the staff give them. Ultimately, it would be great to see them living in a natural setting without human interaction, where they could just roam freely. The facilitator admitted that they tried this but humans won't provide enough donations to sustain them that way. Experiences like this rake in the dough that's needed to feed them. Something for us all to think about.