Khmer Artisan Workshop, and the voyage home

Asia trip fall 2019

October 5th 2019

Finally slept a better sleep. Latrice awakened very early again but not quite as bad as yesterday. 8:30 in finally got up

Raining

Breakfast

Rain ends

Asked for a1pm checkout

Rain ended and headed out to artisan Angkor and visa photos

Water in the streets

Cool at first but quickly became another sauna day

Sweat

Busy day of tuk tuk and scooters

TT drivers were constantly offering services not that they don’t always do but more so today

Made it to Artisans Angkor

Saw workers carving elephants and budhha heads of wood. Next workshop was of stone - tried to use hammer and chisel on soapstone and was very difficult

Works / large elephant and even a stone panel with an ancient story that would be installed at Angkor Wat. There are 48 workshops so all forms of art and craft are pursued.

Across the street was a shop where the good from the workshops are sold.

The shop was beautifully laid out and differing types of products paired to showcase the connection. I saw come team spoons, a ladel, some lacquer art, and some carved fruit with silver details. In the end, my choice was a banana - carved from teak with a silver tip and stem

Latrice was in heaven, making many selections that spoke to her. I decided on a teak and burnished silver banana. Quite a work of art.

We had asked several people about a place for visa photos. This had produced only confusion. Finally someone gave us a landmark of-a bank. The GPS was successful with a 45 min walk we were there. The usual limited understanding of English but we got what we came for 4 visa photos each. The size was briefly in contention but the visa confirmed that size 4x6 cm.

Success!

Leaving, we decided to hop a tuk tuk to a market for a few souvenirs for Latrice. A guy outside had made us an offer of an hour for 2 dollars. We approached with acceptance with our itinerary of market and hotel. He said the night market on pub street was closed so he suggested another. We agreed and off e we went

We should have known this was a bad idea when the market was air conditioned. Latrice was looking for inexpensive gifts and that was not to be had here

While she was inside, he me a familiar story. If we went to a specific shop with him and stayed for 3-5 minutes, he would benefit with 1-2 liters of gas being paid. We agreed to one more stop but that quickly proved to be a junk shop.

We asked to be taken to the hotel and not any more shops. He complies.

We went in for an air conditioning break as we were sweating... dripping. It was disgusting

The cool air felt great and soon even a bit cold. I had a can of corn for a quick snack s we would eat a late lunch after our afternoon break

Cafe 9 - wine, zucchini, cheddar bread with salad, chocolate walnut cake and some red wine

Yum. Talk of people who bore us

Browsed the shops of Kandal Village. Latrice found some jewelry made from soda can tops. Truly creative works. Some silver jewelry caught her attention in another shop but some wooden beads and tassel earnings won her over at a different shop

We returned to Niko’s for an assessment of the possibility of another purchase. The one piece that I had in mind was a Buddha head with grayish wood and a dark grey blue head. She had sold it that morning. I considered others but they didn’t pair well with my white one. What I had was what I was meant to have. Latrice was satisfied with her previous selection also

We returned to Ananda’s to wait for the taxi. The guy at the desk has towels ready for us. He offered to let us take a shower in a bathroom just up stairs from the office. I took him up on that. I at least showered every thing but my head. It was great to get all of that sweat off of my body. Next opportunity for a shower would be 17 hours from now in Dubai

We talked to some Americans moving from San Francisco to Nashville. They had taken a few months off to travel before settling into Nashville, exploring this part of Asia

Tuk tuk ride to airport completes the Cambodian experience

At the airport, the check in required the letter of approval I’d obtained the night earlier. So stressful. They warned me that my letter not having my middle name was not good and to make sure it was on the next time. We’d gotten through but would I make it through Vietnam?

Latrice had to pick up the art that was left at the airport 3 days earlier.

Latrice artwork lost and found

Through immigration and security, we had secured passage out on Cambodia.

Next would come the challenge of Hanoi. I tried to think positive thoughts...

Landing in Hanoi - stress

Followed connection but asking at connection desk resulted in the norm for this trip - no clue

I went up to the visa desk and they handed me an application. I filled it out as complete as possible with “transit” on many lines

I returned the form, my approval letter, and photos to the immigration officer.

He pointed to the chairs abs said... wait.

I helped Latrice with hers and we sat down. Very shortly my name called and my passport photo was on the screen. My visa was ready and I needed to pay. I found an ATM for the 25$ needed. I had my visa. Soon Latrice would receive hers and we passed through immigration...huge sigh of relief. My quick thinking had paid off. I just wish I had done the work before we left. I plan better than this. It cost more than twice as much and at great cost to my sanity.

Now to lost and found for her suitcase that never made it. There was confusion but in short time we had her bag finally in her possession. We then took it to check in for our flight.

She gave her info and brief story of how we got to this point of needing to check a second bag. The supervisor was called over and ultimately she had no authority to help at all. Latrice crammed as much from the temp red bag into the large gray suitcase. This might allow her to squeeze by with the red bag as a carry on. She had two pieces of art in two separate tubes to transport also.

The supervisor did block off 3 seats for Latrice and then also the seat next to me in my row with extra leg room. That was something

We went through a check, immigration again, abs then security. This whole process was Just a bit too much We had a quick break to have ice cream at the great shop I’d stopped at when leaving Hanoi

Dinner consisted of vegetarian pho. It was nasty. The frozen mango smoothie was not frozen and not worth 6$ We talked about what we liked most on the trip and which treasure was most exciting to us. It has been an adventure. There was a large group of school age kids on board for some event/outing

Flight was not so comfortable but was able to sleep. My row has rigid full height rests so I moved. The flight wasn’t full do I moved to the seats begging me. I had two spaces. Some others had full 5 seat rows to lay down on. The girls were actually quiet

Arrival

Departure gate was very close to hotel and showers at the health club

Refreshing - what an awesome thing

Fruit and yoghurt, spinach and mushroom quiche, lemon juice with mint and a pics of chocolate cake for later

Accidentally sat at gate stated as near to gym, 1 gate off from my departure m. When they were calling for boarding for Kuwait City, we were shocked, assessed and then moved

Boarding had started but it was quick they the US destination process.