Tuk-tuk – Dave and Kay's Travel Adventures

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.

Our tuk-tuk and our adorable driver! She didn’t realize we could hear her singing as she drove along!

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.

Minea showing us mulberry leaves and its fruit.

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.

Sunday, September 3rd, 2023

This morning we were awake at 4:30 AM and watched ESPN’s game cast of the Ohio State VS Indiana football game. It was their first game of the season. Ohio State won 23-3.

This morning we tried another tropical fruit, longan. The fruit was similar to the lychee. It was native to Asia.

Today we had about an hour drive to the Udon Monastery. We passed the fish market which was busiest at 3:00 AM and 4 PM but we still saw individuals doing business. As we drove along it was so interesting watching the sites.

The Vipassana Dhurak Buddhist Center or Udon Monastery complex was huge. The main purpose of the center was to teach Vipassana meditation techniques. Vipassana meant to see things as they really are and came from India’s ancient teachings for meditation. Proper temple dress was required and no hats on the grounds at all so many of our group used umbrellas because the sun was intense today.

The architecture of the buildings and gardens was beautiful.

We climbed the steps up to the temple and removed our shoes before going inside.

This was the temple we climbed up the stairs for our blessing with the Buddhist monks.

The inside walls and ceiling was covered with colorful panals that told of the Buddha’s life.

We went into the Pagoda for a blessing service from two Buddhist Monks. Instead of water being thrown the monks threw jasmine and lotus petals. When the monks started the blessing chant their voices were so calming even though we had no idea what they were saying.

Just some of the petals that landed on us.

Tony, our program director, took this picture during our blessing.

After the blessing we walked around the area. The monks and the laypeople were getting ready for their meal. The monks eat first in order of their age and then the laypeople.

In part of the wooded area were homes of the laypeople who live here. Below were just some of the homes we saw as we walked around. Our local guide told us her grandfather lived in a home like this at a different temple complex and when he passed the family left it for another family to have a place of shelter.

We left the Buddhist Center for a drive to a small village. On our way we crossed the Tonie Sap Lake which was part of the Mekong river system and were on a modern bridge.

Our next stop was Koh Chern which was famous for silver smith and jewelry and was an island in the Tonie Sap Lake. As you cross the bridge the first sight you see was a sitting Buddha!

Once we crossed the bridge our bus was too big to go into town so we transferred onto tuk-tuks for the rest of the ride.

The village of Koh Chern silver craft was passed from generation to generation. None of these artisans attended art schools, they learned from family members. Their craft was almost lost during the Khmer Rouge regime. We visited one of the many family-run workshops in the village. The workshop was also part of the family’s home. The family did a demonstration for us.

This afternoon we took a tuk-tuk to the Harvest Square shopping area to visit the Hard Rock Cafe to pick up a guitar pin for Cambodia.

The same tuk-tuk driver picked us up and on our way back to the riverboat our driver stopped and pointed out sights around the city and then a torrential rain fell and blew in on us. Our driver stopped and put down the clear plastic sides but he was drenched!