A Buddhist Temple visit and a unique Khmer Village

Our next adventure transitioned to visiting a Buddhist temple for a water blessing. Up 392 steps to get to the temple and much heat, revealed a wonderful temple with a couple of young monks aged 16 and 25. The younger monk entered the monastery at age 12 and the older monk when he was 18. The area was covered in wonderful frescoes and statues. 

The monks performed an amazing chanted water blessing ceremony in which for 15 minutes they chanted rhythmically in a language called "palo" that is reserved only for monks to use. There was intermittent water "flicking" with what appeared to be a sort of wicker bush. 

At the end of the ceremony they offered a red bracelet as a memento for a donation to the monastery. It is incredible to see how the Buddhist culture is fully supported by the local communities and the government. A truly culturally intensive way of life. 

We continued on our journey in the afternoon to visit one of two villages that were not completely destroyed by the Khmer Rouge to see how they live and visit their local English school for children of around 10-12 years old. It was a very different sight from many of the other villages - the Brahmin cattle were much fatter and healthier than many other cattle in other villages and they actually had electricity and some even had satellite dishes and televisions. Vegetables and chickens were abundant and we actually were able to meet several children along the way. But the highlight of the day was being able to sit and teach/practise children English in their classrooms with their teacher. Each visitor was allocated 2-3 children to "teach". The children were delightfully engaging and keen to practise and ask for advice on how to pronounce things correctly. Their reading and speaking skills were remarkably good for kids that had out of date books, no computer aided assistance and little ability to practise.