So, we have been in Cambodia for a nearly 2 weeks. We have had the most amazing time!

When we got outside of the airport our air bnb host sent these death traps to pick us up (one for us and one for our luggage ba hahaha) . They are majorly fun but I’ve been using my arms as seatbelts to hold the children in when we go round the corners!

First thing we did was go to Ta phom, which is the temple filmed in the Lara Croft movie. This movie is responsible for Cambodia’s growth in the tourism industry and it has catapulted the country to a top destination for back packers and travellers alike. The trees joined with a beautiful historic building makes the most wonderful scene to look at and it’s preservation makes you feel like you’ve stepped back a thousand years in time.

The next thing we did was go to see an training centre for dogs that are trained to detect landmines and U.X.O’s The Belgium Shepherds are trained to detect the smell of T.N.T and since they opened in 2013 there has never been any fatalities to the dogs and they have helped to clear lots of minefields in Cambodia after the Vietnam war. The company is called NPA Explosive Detection Dogs if anyone would like to check them out. Using animals is an extremely efficient way of clearing mine fields. Both the dogs and the rats (see below) can smell the T.N.T. from one meter away whereas human efforts can only use a metal detector which is a long laborious job as there is lots of scrap metal buried in the ground as well as landmines.

Then we got caught in our first tropical rainstorm. This photo is picturing on their faces the most joy they’ve had since we’ve been out here. The best things in life are free!

We went to the famous Angkor Wat which is a spectacular building though in my oppinion Ta Phom is way better.

We went to a place called APOPO Humanitarian Demining where they train Giant African Pouched Rats to detect T.N.T. Similarly to the dogs there has never been a fatality to the rats on the field and from January-Agust 2018 29 rats have cleared a total of 130 landmines and U.X.O.’s from the mine fields.

When a mine field is being cleared of mines they start at the bottom and work their way up using poles placed on either side of the field. Once that area has been checked and cleared they move the post one meter along and repeat until the field is cleared. They use lots of different coloured, marked and lengthed poles that mean different things so everyone knows where they stand on the minefield!

The workers attach the rat to a harness that slides along a ropeline that goes the width of the minefield. If it picks up a scent, it scratches the floor. Then later on, a worker comes along to the spot where the rat has scratched with a metal detector. The rats are light enough to step on the mines without exploding them.

They are extremely cost effective as their diet consists of bananas which are plentiful out here.

These rats ARE enormous I would equate them to be the size and weight of a fat cat. Josh thought they were puppies lol.

We went to a silk factory which is a long drawn out process. There are so many steps involved starting from the caterpillars to the finished product. I can understand now why silk comes with such a hefty price tag! Also it’s all done by the work of the weavers at their stations. No factories.

The photo bellow is a picture of the caterpillars in their cocoon phase where they spin themselves into a yellow chrysalis.

This is an empty one.

Unfortunately, I did not know this before I went there, but the chrysalis’ that are used for silk are baked so the moth dies and the chrysalis is spun into silk and dyed ready for weaving.

Here is one of the workers weaving the silk. It’s amazing that they can produce something so beautiful with a loom that looks so clumsy.

The below picture does not do justice to the actual beauty of this scene. This is a picture of the mulberry trees that the caterpillars eat the leaves of. Pictures like this make my heart sing so I wanted to share it.