Our last day touring before we head to the beach! We start our day with a fantastic tour of the Angkor Silk Farm. They provided an awesome tour of the fields of mulberry trees (worm food), silkworm farming, cocoon unwinding, preparation of the silk threads, ikat technique (tie-dyeing of the threads) and silk weaving. This co-operative is a social enterprise (reinvesting all profits into the opening of rural workshops and training of youth) and have over 48 workshops around Siem Reap and 1,000 artisans. Their mission is to offer youth employment opportunities in their home villages to allow families to stay together and continue farming. Silk purchases for all the girls!
On our way to the next stop, we saw large groups of students heading home at lunchtime . Education is provided free to all children in primary & secondary school. However, due to a lack of teachers and schools, children only attend school for a half day 6 days a week. The first wave start at 7:30am and the second start after lunch & end at 5pm.
Our sobering visit to Wat Thmey was next. It is one of the 40 Killing Fields sites around Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge & their leader Pol Pot were the Communist Party rulers of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Their social engineering policies (agricultural reform) led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the death of thousands from treatable diseases such as malaria. Arbitrary executions and torture against perceived subversive elements resulted in the Cambodian Genocide (2 million people were killed - nearly a quarter of the country's then population, during the "Killing Fields" era between 1975-1979). Sobering & disturbing history - one unknown to the girls. Our guide Sim is a survivor of the genocide.
We stopped for lunch in town then said farewell to our guide & driver. We packed up & spent some time by the pool until our evening flight to Danang (with a thunderstorm thrown in there). Finally got into Danang at 9:30pm. Long day but the reward was arriving at the spectacular Pullman Danang Resort. Incredible setting, luxurious rooms, heaven for our last 4 days.