Pottery and Palm Sugar

What a fascinating day! We left the Toum Teav early to explore two small family enterprises in Kampong Chhnang village – pottery and palm sugar “factories”.  The clay is dug out of the nearby mountain and we visited with a remarkable woman who creates beautiful pots and other items for sale from this clay. The only mechanical help is a fan. She shapes everything by hand – she is the potter’s wheel, circling the lump of clay and shaping it with a flat paddle and her skill. The pieces are dried by the sun and then in a fire, not a kiln. She sells a large pot for $1.15 to the wholesalers. She begins work about 4 AM every day and works until after dark, using a headlamp for light when needed while her husband mines the clay. They consider that they are doing well – there is a bathroom now, a good pump and electricity. The children can go to school She has a roof and ceiling fans in her work area, a beautiful smile and justifiable pride.

The palm sugar “factory” is a young man who harvests the palm liquid from a group of about 30 trees. Every day he climbs every tree 4 times, using a bamboo ladder, squeezes the stalks/fruit for the liquid and dumps the liquid into an enormous wok to be boiled down to palm sugar. His wife manages the sugar-making and packages the product. We met the young man’s mother and were given a glimpse into their home – very clean and tidy with large open areas, a separate kitchen shed, hammocks and a television for the nightly soap opera (extremely popular here). Another family proud of their accomplishments. Oh, and I can recommend palm sugar as absolutely delicious!

Afternoon – another barge. This one was MUCH smaller and we had to wear our life jackets while sitting on its floor. We motored through a floating village – all floating houses now, since it is the rainy season. Amazing to see tiny floating shops, restaurants, homes and even pharmacies! We could see the strips that will be roads again in the dry season but now are just part of the canals. Fascinating.

The day ended with the captain’s farewell dinner on our little ship and we said goodbye to the wonderful crew, packed our bags and tried to escape from the huge numbers of bugs here at the edge of the lake. Tomorrow morning we will cross this choppy sea to Siem Reap.