"Craftistic" Afternoon in Siem Reap

I went back to the hotel after I visited Bayon that morning. I felt tired having had difficulty sleeping the night before and then had to wake up real early for the sunrise watching over at Angkor.

I only had the "buttered" baguette for breakfast. I was looking forward to eating a heavier meal. When I arrived at my hotel room, I looked at the 2 pieces of fried vegetable spring rolls left over from my dinner last night. They still looked good to me and still crisp. With sleep weighing down on me, I made do with the spring rolls, gulped some water and took a nap.

When I woke up, I asked myself if I was up to going to the artisan place I read in one of the guidebooks. As I was due for some "pasalubong" (souvenirs/ token for loved ones back home) shopping anyway, I decided it wouldn't hurt if I'd take a peek.

I was glad I made the decision because Artisans D' Angkor is definitely a must-see. The hotel I stayed in while in Siem Reap was located near the "Old Market" as they call it. The artisan shop is just a block away from me. Once there, I remembered the reason for my hesitation in visiting the place. There were several tourists there but all of them are always part of some tour group or another. Being on my own kind of made me feel a bit out of place. It was the first time I'd gone solo and overseas at that, so I wasn't that confident yet.

A guide (they have assigned guides in the place) immediately approached me and offered to show me around. It helped ease my uneasiness about being there on my own. The guide was funny. He thought I was Thai. Imagine that. Me and my saucer-like eyes, a Thai :) He laughed when I told him I am Filipino. He then told me I could pass off as Cambodian. He then took me to the various shops. There were different shops for different crafts: carving, silver plating, painting.

Each time we enter one, he would ask the Cambodian trainees there to guess what my nationality is. I felt like rolling my eyes each time he did that. In the five or so shops we visited, there were two who guessed right that I am Filipino. Others thought I'm either Thai or Cambodian. One mentioned I'm Indian.

The work they showed were very impressive. Apparently, Khmer skills extend far beyond temple architecture. I was informed that most of the workers there are trainees.

After the workshops, the last stop was the souvenir shop. There, I spent the longest time browsing, simply because there were a handful I wanted to buy but did not have enough money to buy all of them. The funny thing was there was also this Caucasian guy with me who spent a long time picking the right silver piece. I hardly think though that his indecision was brought about by the lack of cash but more likely he was eyeing the details of the craftsmanship.

In the end, I settled with a small circle-shaped silver jewelry box that had an elephant engraving on its top cover. I wanted it for myself but I knew that giving it as pasalubong to Mama would give me the greater satisfaction. There were those in elephant shape but I knew we would have a hard time prying it from Rod once he took a liking to it thus the simpler design.

I also took a fancy to some of the silk crafts found at the boutique

shop -- bags, shawls, full dresses. I'm always fond of shawls and would have wanted to buy one. I had cash with me but I knew I had to be wary about spending them as there was still a hotel to book in Bangkok and the tours to spend money on.

What had me look longingly at, for a long time though, were the Buddah bust sculptures. I always wanted to have one at home. But it was priced at least $ 100 US each and they're heavy too. I lingered quite a bit at the shelves displaying these. I repeatedly picked up one and turned it over to look at the price. It's as if by doing so, they would decrease in value each time :P