They press their hands together in the praying position. It resembles a 'lotus bud'. They are giving their respect to Buddha. They are the followers of Buddha. Some Buddha images have robes that fall in folds to the ground to resemble lotus leaves. Many Buddhist homes have a heavy-set image representing an infant Buddha with a lotus shaped hairline. He loves to frolic among the lotuses. Today I will travel into the mountains to see the lotus growing.

I was walking back to the hotel one night after eating . A young man sitting on a motorcycle yelled 'Hello' to me. This happens all the time here in Battambang, especially with the young crowd. I answered back and asked him how he was. He said fine and I continued my walk. He caught up to me about halfway down the block on his moto and asked if I had a few minutes to talk English with him. He was in his last year at the University and would take his finals in a couple of weeks to graduate. English writing and speaking would be a big part of the testing. This is how I met my new Cambodian friend, Alex.

We stood on the street talking for a while, then he asked if I would like to go back to the restaurant where he spoke to me and eat or drink something and talk a while. I just finished eating and so suggested he come to the hotel lobby and we could talk there instead. 

He asked me about sentence structure in English and all sorts of things I haven't thought much about in years. By the end of the night he asked if I would like to take a trip with him the next day to the mountains .

On the way out of town, we passed a pagoda and I asked Alex to stop long enough for me to get some pictures. There were Chinese graves around the pagoda and lots of statues that I am sure represented some war or something. All these images have meaning to the Buddhist people.

An hour or so later we arrived at the dam where Antonio and Analee and I went with Villa and Samnang when we first got to Battambang. That day we swam in the spillway of the dam. Today, though, because of the dry season, the lake is too low for the water to flow through the spillway. The spillway where we swam a few weeks ago is dry.

I wrote about this dam in an earlier post. It's the Kamping Puoy Resevoir. Tens of thousands of people died building it, mostly from malnutrition, disease, overwork and mistreatment. Many bodies are still buried in the dam. It's about 25 miles from Battambang and the Khmer Rouge engineered this gigantic project as an irrigation scheme for the goal of making Cambodia an agricultural society .  
 
Alex and I walked along the small river used for irrigation where some small boys were swimming. On the other side of the dam we walked down to the waters edge and saw some plants growing. Alex did not know the English name for them. An enterprising Cambodian with a longtail boat offered us a tour of the lake to see the plants growing (for a few dollars).

The boat tour lasted an hour and we got out on a couple of islands created by the low waters and walked among the plants. There are men in small boats drawing fish nets up all over the lake. One time a net got wrapped around the propeller. The flowers on these plants are beautiful pink and white and are sacred in parts of Asia. Inside is a yellow fruit that will turn green when it is ripe.

Our guide breaks a stem and shows us the threads inside. These threads are used in making high-quality garments and the fruit inside can be eaten.

After our tour, Alex and I start to leave on the moto when we spot a "Lotus Center" . So, that's what these are called in English!

We stop and go in the little bamboo hut where 3 or 4 women sit on the floor with a small wooden table over their laps. They are weaving the lotus fiber that we just saw in the stems. I am not allowed to take photos. (I'm not sure why. There are just 3 or 4 women stretching the fibers and weaving them together). But, I found two photos on the web and added them to this entry for you.

It turns the out the Burmese discovered this technique of hand-weaving the lotus fibers in 2009. It creates an exclusive fabric that is sold in high-end shops. It is a real skill to be able to weave these fibers and these women are trained to be able to do this. It looks like tiring work to me.

The women take 5 or 6 stems a few inches long in their hand and make a shallow knife cut in them. The stems are snapped at the cuts and there are 20-30 fine white filaments inside These are pulled out and rolled into a single thread on the small tables over the women's laps . It takes approximately 25 women making thread to keep one weaver busy. 

In order to get the longest lengths, the lotus stems are harvested during the rainy season from June to November. The lake level is highest during this time. About a week prior to harvesting, popped rice is scattered on the water and offerings are made to pacify the spirits to seek their permission and to ensure a good harvest.

On the day of the harvest, prayers are offered to Buddha for a bountiful harvest.

It was interesting to learn about this plant. I think Alex learned some things, too. Just by accident (seeing the little Lotus Center hut), I found out what this fruit was that I had been eating. You break off a portion of the green fruit and there is a seed inside that you eat. It doesn't have a lot of taste. Sort of reminds me of eating raw green beans. But, it seems to be popular with Asian people.

I told Alex I needed to be back to my hotel by 1 in the afternoon because Samnang was picking me up to go somewhere . I didn't know where Samnang was taking me. I often don't. They just say they will come at a certain time and I just go. Today he will be there around 2 p.m.

Samnang took me to the now closed airport. The runways are free for people to ride on. I had mentioned I would like to learn to drive the moto sometime and Samnang decided this was the day. We rode around on the airport runways, making turns and hearing Samnang say to me, "slow, slow" before turning.

On the way home he stopped by a Wat I had not seen. It was a beautiful thing and a good way to end a busy day.

If I had an apartment  in the U.S., what would I have done today?