10/13: Artisans D'Angkor and Shopping at Psar Char

Finally made it to the Artisans D' Angkor shop today after reading about it long before our trip.  Nice change of pace to have a non-temple visiting day after visiting the temples in and around Siem Reap for several days straight.  The shop was all of a  few minutes' walk around the corner form our hotel so very convenient to get to.

We passed this man, every morning and afternoon just around the corner from our hotel, cutting massive blocks of ice into much smaller ones that the locals then bought.

We were able to walk unescorted through the Artisans workshop and see the workers carve both wood and clay sculptures.

All Artisan D'Angkor workers receive $7 per day; that seems dreadfully low to us but they are taken on knowing no skills and then apprentice for 2 years.  They then leave if they wish to start their own business in their hometowns.

The shop had a free van to take us to their silk farm located about 30 minutes away so we could learn about the silk making process from beginning to end.  The sign in English says "National Silk Center."

Staff put live silk worms one by one in these baskets where they are fed mulberry leaves; they are left there for 26 days.

They are then placed in these round baskets for 5 days.  The cocoon's life cycle is 47 days; each cocoon produces 400 meters in length of thread.  20 tons of silk thread = 1200 cocoons = 1 kilo of silk.

The cocoons are then put in boiling water to kill the silkworms.

They are then put in the sun for 3 days to dry out the cocoon; if it's the rainy season, they are put in a heated room.

It takes 3 days to weave one meter of silk.  No wonder silk is such an expensive material to buy considering all the steps in the process!

Steven is holding a skein of "fine"silk; silk's natural color is the bright canary yellow of the cocoon.

20% of Artisans D'Angkor's silk colors come from natural dyes; the remaining 80% comes from synthetics.  Many steps are taken to ensure that the colors do not bleach out

Nice going back to the hotel to relax in the pool.  I remember so well how we sat and reminisced about our trip thus far - we chatted about what markets each of had liked best, which meals, which sights, which cities, which day trips, etc.

I still had a list of things I wanted to buy at Psar Char, i.e. the Old Market, so we walked over before dinner.

Loved seeing the different colored eggs; it reminded me of the Muslim Quarter in Xian, China where we had also seen so many different eggs.

Rather than our going from stall to stall in an effort to get the best price and see a great assortment of what we were looking for which is what we had done every other time, I told this seller what I was looking for.  She was happy as she was able to trade her items for items I wanted that another seller had and it saved me/us time hunting things down all over the market.  I was looking for and ended up buying place mats for lots of people, a table runner for us, a specific purse, etc.

Pub St. was always the "happening" place at night in Siem Reap; it's closed off then as you can see from cars and motorized traffic.

The sign at the restaurant we ate at in Pub St. - cheap place to drink your troubles away!

Interesting seeing all the lights at night as there are NO traffic lights in the whole town; sometimes a tad scary walking across major intersections.