Crashing the Party on Silk Island

From the east side of the city, there's constant activity on the Tonle Sap and Mekong River. Several days of a leisurely northern cruise would bring you to Tonle Sap Lake, along which you'd find nearby Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor. Much closer by are a number of small islands and a peninsula from which people often commute into the Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.  If you want to do some exploring, there are numerous ferries laden with people and cars or captained wooden power boats for hire that depart from one of several small ports. 

                           

A short mile up the Tonle Sap,  you pass floating fishing villages. The fishermen and their families live on long thin boats with a single arched covering that can be easily hoisted off and set on stilts, or left on land, if there's need for full access to the deck. Netting attached to the arch, acts as closet and pantry as it secures family possessions. There's constant activity as fishing nets are mended, children hop off for a bath, wash is done and hung on land. Small motors are dropped as fisherman make their way to their section of the river. Colored bobbing bottles are reminiscent of the lobster and crab pots used in the US. 

Silk Island is a short one-hour boat ride up the Tonle Sap, yet light years away from Phnom Penh. Only a few miles long, the island is primarily agricultural, raising "small corn",  banana, morning glories and a bit of sugar cane on small family farms using a minimum of technology. Papaya, mango and the ever popular jackfruit trees appear everywhere. The majority of these crops are sold in the city. But handwoven silk is what  the island is best know for. These beautiful pieces are created on typical wooden floor looms that seem ubiquitous under the stilted homes along the mostly unpaved roads.  

       

We stumbled on a local wedding. Everyone is welcome so we stand, as inconspicuously as a couple of foreigners can, at the back of the tented area. We learned that the hired comedians are dramatically acting out feigned resistance to the traditional "hair cutting ceremony" as the wedding couple dressed in bright saffron look on. There's lots of laughter intermingled with solemn moments, to be followed by an evening of food being prepared at the outdoor kitchen and music. Maybe we could have joined the festivities, but there's more to explore in our tut tut. 

         

Further up the mostly unpaved road, we arrive at acres of palm covered huts along the river. Dozens of young people and families are gathering on this national holiday.  Independence Day, on January 7, commemorates the 1979 defeat of the Khmer Rouge, with the help of the Vietnamese. The water is delightful! The sand silky.  Large truck-tire inner tubes are used to float in the river by modestly clothed adults and often naked smiling children. People bring picnics, supplemented by the local fishing community and farmers supply of a wide selection of snacks. No one seems to mind our joining in this most welcome reprieve from the heat! 

Silk Island - a delightful sampling of how diverse life can be in Cambodia. You really must make the trip!