Monday, September 4th, 2023
This morning we moved upstream to Oknha Tey.
When we arrived we got off the riverboat and walked into town. As we walked along the road we passed many stupas. A stupa was a place of burial and there were many of various sizes and colors as we went by.
We also passed by a school and the students were interested in us just as much as we were with what they were doing.
In town we got on a tuk-tuk for a ride that was sometimes bumpy, to the Oknha Tey weaving village and it was also known as Silk Island.
We saw the silkworms and the process it took to raise cocoons and make silk by using traditional worms. It was a very interesting process.
The silkworms lay their eggs in the mulberry trees. The silkworms lived in man-made habitats.
The worms eat a lot of mulberry leaves for a little over a month.
Then they begin making a silk fiber to wrap around themselves making a cocoon.
The workers unwrapped the silk fibers from the cocoons by boiling them to loosen the thread.
The threads were then wrapped onto a large spindle. They used natural dyes for most of their silk threads.
Each family had their own foot pedal loom in their home. These villagers also were farmers and fishermen.
The weavers sat at handmade wooden looms. We watched them weave some intricate patterns.
Below was a quick video showing the process of weaving.
Also, we had time for shopping to help the local economy! I think our group did a great job helping their finances.
Back on the riverboat we watched a local take his horses into the river to cool them off and he also washed himself at the same time!
The road that just stopped!
Late this afternoon we attended a lecture and the topic was “Life at the Mekong River”.
Today wasn’t as busy so we enjoyed some time in the afternoon to sit up on the sky deck and read.
