Overnight the ship cruised toward Oknhatey where we docked. After another morning class of tai chi (mainly ShiBaShi Set 1) we again went ashore and boarded a convoy of tuk tuks to be taken into the village for a walking tour.
Our first stop was the local temple, while not large was quite ornate and had a number of differently coloured "stupas" - family mausoleums.
The village is apparently renowned for its silk manufacturing traditions, and we were introduced to the traditional silk weaving process.
Again, this is not really my scene, but it was interesting seeing women working hand looms to create silk fabric containing intricate patterns.
They have to remember the complex sequence of selecting, raising and lowering the various frames to create the pattern, and only talk during breaks because the level of concentration required is so high. Their income is low, but still higher than in farming.
Something I found particularly interesting was that each of the Tuk-Tuks had a large plastic bottle filled with water and a small tube running down to the top of the engine with an adjuster (hospital grade) to control the drip.A driver explained that the small motor scooters with mainly 90cc engines would overheat while towing the trailer with up to four heavy passengers, so the purpose was to cool the motor.
We have free afternoon with a towel-folding demonstration (!) and will cruise upriver to dock at Angkor Ban for the night.
This evening, the Amalotus crew delivered it's "RV AMALOTUS GOT TALENT SHOW" hosted by Hotel Manager Johnny. The staff wore traditional dress and performed routines with the ubiquitous conical straw hats.
