After a day of passing pastoral countryside along the river bank and boat rides through floating villages, we headed ashore on our second day aboard Ama Dara. First up - a spiritual experience at the Oudong Monastery.
After a short - 20 minute or so bus ride - from our docking location, we arrived at the Oudong Monastery. Oudong was Cambodia's capital from 1618 to 1865 and today, the Vipassan Dhura Monastery in Oudong is the largest in Cambodia.
Our highlight was the Buddhist Blessing which led off our visit. We were all seated in a large room on woven mats facing the monks who were preparing to bless us. Ensuring we kept our feet from facing our hosts, the chanting began. Led by the senior monk, the chanting was accomplished in perfect harmony - kind of in a challenge by the senior monk and a response by the junior monks. The sound, rhythm, and cadence was so calming and helped us relax, focusing on the chant. When, several minutes later we could feel flowers raining down on us, it was if we had been transported and hours instead of minutes had passed. When the chanting stopped and we opened our eyes again, we were surrounded by the sight and smell of Plumeria flowers which the monks had used to consecrate our blessing. We both took videos of the blessing ceremony -- playing them back later took us right back to the state of relaxation we'd experienced live.
 |
| This is the building where we received our blessing. |
 |
| After a hard morning of dedication and study, the monks gather and head to lunch |
 |
| Monk's luncheon hall |
 |
| The Monastery grounds are beautiful |
 |
| Add caption |
 |
If you're from Florida, you have to take all the 'Gater pictures
After our visit to the Monastery, it was back to our buses for a half hour ride to Kampong Tralach. Kampong Tralach is a small agricultural town surrounded by a number of new factories being set up by foreign manufacturers to take advantage of relatively cheap land and labor prices in Cambodia. The contrast -- between new factories springing up in former rice paddies -- and our next adventure couldn't have been sharper. Next up, an ox cart ride for about 60 Ama Dara passengers...
The ox carts and their drivers were lined up on the road along side small, neatly kept homes and rice paddies. Ox carts are the traditional means of agricultural transportation in this part of Cambodia; interestingly enough, small two wheeled tractors that to our eyes look like large roto-tillers with rubber tires -- and called by locals, "Japanese Buffaloes" -- are slowly replacing Oxen as the way to pull the farmers carts. Interestingly enough, this is the same transition I saw in South Korea back in the mid-70's. In one field, a farmer has an ox pulling the plow through the rice paddy, in the next, the other farmer is using one of these mechanical tools to pull his plow through the soil.
The ride itself was a really nice experience - Valerie and I were sitting in the back while our driver sat on a small seat and encouraged our ox along. While we were trotting along, small kids from the village came out to see us and talk with us while we moved along. One of the older kids gave us a hand drawn picture -- made us feel so special; like our being there had brought a little excitement to the kids of Kampong Tralach. After our ride, we had another 30 minute ride back to Ama Dara and another amazing lunch. While we were eating lunch, Ama Dara pulled away from the river bank and headed south to Phnom Penh.
|
 |
| Ornate Blessing Hall |
 |
| Monks preparing for blessing |
 |
| Getting ready to take off on Oxcart ride |
 |
| Newly planted rice paddy |
Our highlight was the Buddhist Blessing which led off our visit. We were all seated in a large room on woven mats facing the monks who were preparing to bless us. Ensuring we kept our feet from facing our hosts, the chanting began. Led by the senior monk, the chanting was accomplished in perfect harmony - kind of in a challenge by the senior monk and a response by the junior monks. The sound, rhythm, and cadence was so calming and helped us relax, focusing on the chant. When, several minutes later we could feel flowers raining down on us, it was if we had been transported and hours instead of minutes had passed. When the chanting stopped and we opened our eyes again, we were surrounded by the sight and smell of Plumeria flowers which the monks had used to consecrate our blessing. We both took videos of the blessing ceremony -- playing them back later took us right back to the state of relaxation we'd experienced live.
