Our Treasures

Here are our treasures from our trip.  Note to self: be cautious of what you are buying even if it is a great deal... we had to buy an extra suitcase to get all of this home. Thankfully it was a good deal too. :)

A lacquer piece to go over our bed. 

The coolest bike helmets ever. 

Purses, bags, puppets, table runners, place mats, plates, coconut chopsticks, a silk pillow case, nick knacks, and wine holders. 

A table runner depicting Angkor Wat and a Vietnamese woman on a bike turning around looking for her husband. 

Hats, shirts, a scarf, and traditional Vietnamese clothing. 

The girls in their outfits.

Apparently I went a little crazy on the sizing.

A Little Fun Before We Go

We spotted a Swenson's Ice Cream Parlor when we arrived, so tonight we took a tuk-tuk into town to have a delicious dinner of ice cream.

And earlier in the day (before our artsy adventures) we hit the pool for one last time.

Our beautiful room. 

Enjoying a morning cup o joe. 

Looking for fish in the little pond next to our building. 

The guys went and got fish food for the kids to feed the fish. 

They're really going to wonder why they don't get any special treatment when we get back to the States... 

We have really enjoyed our vacation.  I'm definitely going to miss the fresh tropical fruit, sunshine, and warm temperatures!  But, all good things have to come to an end, so I guess we'll be putting on our jackets when we get back to Korea in the morning.

Silk Farm

Our next stop on our Artisan's tour was the silk farm.  We've been to a silk factory before in China, so we were somewhat familiar with how the silk is made, but here we were able to see it being dyed and formed into beautiful works of art.

The farm where they grow all the food for the silk worms.

Munchin' on lunch.

Mating. Gee dinner and a show, who knew?

Their cocoons.

Boiling them to release the silk strands. 

Comparing raw vs. fine silk. 

Spinning. 

Weaving.

These gals do some AMAZING work!

Artisans d' Angkor

Today was our "artsy" day.  We started off with a visit to Artisans d' Angkor, a Cambodian social business started in 1992 to create job opportunities for young people living in rural areas, while reviving at the same time traditional Khmer craftsmanship such as stone and wood carving, painting on statues and on silk, lacquering, and silver plating.

The different stages of the painting process. 

David trying his hand at carving stone.

Grace scraping away at a design. 

Tristan taking a whack at it.

But I think we'll leave it to the pros. 

The different stages of carving.

We could've spent a ton of money in the shop there it was all so beautiful.