Email us at:
pej@pejnron.com
ron@pejnron.com

Click the sun to see the
weather in Buenos Aires!

After we left the Twin Holy Mountain, we make a stop at the Orphanage Center of Kampong Cham Province. All the children gathered together and sang songs for us, and then they each took the hand of one of us and walked us to their school rooms, where they had on display many of the crafts they had produced, and offered us to purchase, in support of the orphanage of course. It was all very nice, and one could easily see how talented the students were.

Ut is holding up an apple, asking who would like to have it. When we ate our lunch on the bus, he suggested that we reserve a piece of fruit to give to the children at the orphanage. I thought that was a great idea.

The kids were amazing, and I’m glad that Viking takes part in sharing their experience with us. They were learning valuable skills, as well as getting an education at this orphanage. It was a far cry from the experience of Little Orphan Annie in the 1982 film Annie, with Carol Burnett. That movie was a riot as I remember.

Pete bought a very nice water color this boy had painted himself. The children were all very talented. The boy who led me, had created some very nice needle work pictures. Although they were very nice, I’m not much into needle work, so I came away empty handed. ;o(

From the orphanage we returned to our boat for lunch, and a little relaxation on the sun deck.

After lunch there was a demonstration of formal dress, a sort of fashion show in the salon, and we learned how the traditional dress was put on, both men’s and women’s fashion. It was a little complicated.

The men’s attire doesn’t look all that comfortable. The lady’s dress was however quite nice.

Don’t they make a stunning couple? The hands pressed together we saw a lot, especially in our hotels, whenever we passed thought the lobby on our way to dinner, or to our room, the person manning the door would always do this, and give a polite bow. It was kind of nice, their form of greeting.

Making a landing on the Mekong was always an experience to behold. I didn’t see how they got the planks to shore, but I did watch the rest of it. I’ve got to hand it to the crew, they have amazing balance. Once they had enough mud on the bank piled up around the end of the planks, they strung the rope handrails for us land lubbers, and it was ready for us to go ashore.

It was surprisingly stable, and there were no mishaps. This shore excursion was to the Udon Monastery, and also a visit to a local village.

The monastery was set back quite a ways from the main road, and appeared to be surrounded by a mote. We saw no monks.

A life size elephant stood on a pedestal and looked a little out of place with those multi-headed serpents all around.

The village appeared to be quite primitive. It seemed there was no shortage of cows.

Every home seemed to have a very primitive loom on which they created beautiful fabrics. The product of their craft was on display, and available for purchase. This woman at the loom was working with a distinct look of purpose and achievement, and she was creating a pretty impressive bolt of fabric, although I had no idea how many inches she could do in a day.

I had the strange desire to fly this humble woman off to a modern textile factory, where automation and computers were king.

It would be like taking an indian in the upper reaches of the Amazon, paddling his canoe, and putting him in the cockpit of a Boeing 777. I’m certain it would take his breath away. How much we in the modern world do take for granted.

The cows walked as freely down the streets as did the people. They seemed to know exactly where they were going.

They built their homes on stilts, and the stairs leading to the front door had a turn at the bottom, the purpose of which was to make it more difficult for evil spirits to enter their home.

The cows seemed to be well cared for, almost as well as a young teenager in North America would care for his first car.

In their gardens they grew their own fruit. Bananas, bread fruit, and even a cannabis plant (marijuana).

One of the strangest thing you’d ever want to see is a bamboo bridge. The top two photos are ours.

The bottom two photos are from the Internet. You can’t say that a bamboo bridge isn’t strong. Even so, I wouldn’t want to be walking across it during rush our. ;o) Our next stop will be Phnom Penh.