On Silk Island








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Home Stay in the Village

By Sydney Molaver As we left Phnom Penh and drove into the countryside there were fewer buildings and more and more farmland. There were huge palm trees and rice fields located on the sides of the road. I also noticed less tuk tuks and motorcycles, in addition to cars that are common in the United States. Most of the housing we saw on the side of the road was on stilts. After our fun stops at the market place to try some tarantulas, we continued on the main road for another 45 minutes. We finally turned onto the dirt road in Kampong Cham and immediately you could see significant differences between the infrastructure. In the city there were large buildings and it was very populated, whereas in the village the houses are on stilts, and very spread apart. We learned this is because of the flooding during the wet season and to keep wild animals away and out of their house. Many people keep animals under the house such as cows and chickens. As we passed some of the rice fields I noticed...
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Visiting the Royal Palace

By: Jenisa Rodriguez The Royal Palace was definitely a sight to see. When entering the Royal Palace you are greeted with a corridor with beautiful greenery, and walls filled with intricate designs. The main courtyard area consists of a beautifully, well kept garden that stands right in front of the main palace. We weren’t able to take pictures of the main palace but a peak inside revealed the vast, almost simplistic room that encompassed only a large gold throne, and was adorned with chandeliers and more intricate designs. Besides the main palace and the beautiful architecture surrounding it, was the praying room. The floor is covered in more than five thousand pieces of silver. Inside of the praying room stood two main attractions, an emerald buddha, along with a solid gold buddha filled with 15-25 karat diamonds. Despite all of the large, over powering architecture, I felt a sense of humility in some of the things I looked at. For example, the large painting of the story of the Hin...
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An Unexpected Encounter After Dinner One Evening

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By Shelby Oak We got out of the van and approached our dinner at the Friends restaurant. Behind the outdoor section of the restaurant was a stage with lights, multiple LGBT flags, and microphones for people singing and dancing on stage. During our delicious dinner at the sister restaurant of our first outing we got to watch an LGBT activist show complete with Khmer poetry, singing, dancing and ending with a drag show. This sparked many questions among the group as to what human rights were like in Cambodia and really made us think about how they were able to put on a show like that. In bigger cities in Cambodia, the LGBT community is commonly accepted and celebrated, but in more rural areas it’s not to the same extent. Within villages, LGBT is less of an open topic and more something private that isn’t celebrated but isn’t prosecuted. After our dinner and the show, we approached the two queens for a conversation. They told us about how there’s a drag bar in Phnom Penh where they ...
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