Day 46 - Kompong Channg Day 2

The rain stopped and by the time we returned to the village, after noodles for breakfast and a deep fried pastry treat, it was dry and they had lit the kiln and had been doing a firing for sometime. The kiln was donated by a previous Australian volunteer and they do firing for many in the village. We saw some of the 'wastage' (tech term) including those terracotta pigs you see everywhere. I did see anothe villager making these over the road later.

I got a chance to try a prettier pot design and we decorated our pots. I included the Khmer inscription for Kampuchea. Because it is so humid here we could wait till today to do this. When I did pottery in London, the decoration, including handles etc, all had to be done immediately.

 I also had a go at the traditional method of making the traditional pot with the neighbour which I quite enjoyed. I was the only one to make a pot here. It involves making a baseless cylinder of clay and expanding it gradually by slapping the clay btween your hands, inside and out, pushing the clay outwards. Once at an appropriate size (mine never reached it) the proper shape, squatter than a cylinder (see in the background in the photos) and the base are slapped into being with a wooden paddle. I think it is then fired and the rim is added after the first firing, though this seems unusual. It is then fired again. 

My pot is on the right!

We then went for a walk through the village which was lovely. 

This lady will move round and round the pedestal continually in what is almost a dance before finishing. I got a video of the neighbour doing this. She was tiny!

The whole village is dependent or geared towards pot making, which they send to the markets in Phnom Penh and further. However, otherwise, they farm. During the Khmer Rouge they were forbidden to make pots. 

 

I saw several butterflies, plenty of vetch and we examined the bamboo cane ladders used to pick the palm fruit. We also took some classic shots of the palms and paddies.  It was a glorious day and I was reminded of Dartmoor (in a heatwave).

Local toy making. The little boy on the right made this. He must be about four years old.

We went for a tuk-tuk ride through Kompong Channg itself after lunch and saw one of the oldest pagodas in Cambodia, traditional fishing and the ex-colonial dock, which has views across to the one of the two distant 'mountains' that make this area into a valley and this port into an advantageous site for commerce and trade for centuries.