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| Making a crossbow at Backstreet Academy |
In Siem Reap, and many other places, they basically have all these different fun things you can do/learn and you can sign up to do them. These things are all part of something called Backstreet Academy. We signed up for a few different lessons.
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| The stuff we made: Some baskets, a crossbow, a knife, and some newfound bokator skills |
This was actually 4 classes on sort of a day trip (that unfortunately Jen didn't go on) that included:
1. A Cambodian marshall art-type lesson called Bokator.
We learned some basic moves but nothing too complicated. Chris started bragging that he was a Bokator master, and I soon followed in his footsteps. We didn't take any pictures of Bokator, because we were too busy Bokatoring. Our teacher was the grandson of the man who rescued the art form after the fall of the Khmer Rouge.
BOKATOR Q&A: CHRIS
Q: What was the best move you learned?A: My father taught me this already, but it was a good reminder of how to punch someone in the schnoot, then give them a great big knuckle sandwich. (Ghostwritten by Otis).
Q: Why do you keep bragging to everyone that you are a Bokator master?A: I don't. I just think it's fun to talk about. I just brag more about the quality of my karate chops.
Q: Besides punching people in the schnoot, what was the best move you learned?A: The...the best move was the one where you block and attack at the same time and move your forearm into their face. It seemed very effective.
Q: How much water do you think you drank there (in tons)A: I don't think I drank that much. I was very sweaty, though.
Q: How much do you think you sweat (in gallons)A: 3.
2. Khmer Cooking: The next thing we did was a cooking class. We thought this was just a lunch, but it turned out it was a cooking class taught by a chef at a restaurant in town (although we ate what we made). Since we thought it was just lunch, we asked that it be made vegetarian for us, but actually, the chef helped us to prepare two vegetarian dishes for our own lunch.
The first was a Cambodian specialty called banana flower salad. The first thing to do was to quarter an actual banana flower, and then remove the baby bananas (which we were warned were very bitter) from the inside, and then slice the petals into small strips. We mixed the petals with other ingredients like peppers, cucumbers, a Cambodian green and Thai basil, and our instructor prepared a dressing.
To go with the salad, we made a green curry. The best part of this was crushing the curry ingredients in a mortar with a pestle, and then cooking the spices in oil. We had vegetables, mostly a yam, that he cooked very fast over high heat with our curry paste and coconut milk. Both our salad and our curry were delicious.
Cambodian Cooking Class Q&A: OTIS
Q: Did you think Banana flowers salad would taste like bananas?A: No, that's whats good about banana flower salad is that it didn't. I thought the ingredients went together very well and I thought the dressing was really good even if it was a little spicy.
Q: Do you remember what spices we put in the curry paste we made?A: Lemon grass, the stuff that turns your skin yellow (turmeric), curry leaf, kefir lime leaf and Kefir lime peel, coconut milk, galangal, and ginger.
Q: Which was your favorite dish to prepare?A: I personally liked cooking the banana flower salad more because preparing the banana flowers was interesting and it was more of my kind of thing because I didn't get to do that much with the cooking of the curry (other than chopping).
Q: Which was your favorite dish to eat?A: I liked the curry and the banana flower salad about equally, but I think if you take the yam out I liked the curry better, but with the yam in I preferred the salad.
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| preparing ingredients for banana flower salad |
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| the finished vegetable curry |
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| the finished banana flower salad |
3. Make your own crossbow.
After cooking, we went to a crossbow making station-type thing. We just got one little board, and the instructor gave us directions as best he could, although he didn't have very good English. We used a wide variety of tools, but most of the time was spent sanding. Otis had a breathing-too-much-sawdust-type injury, and didn't enjoy the full thing, but otherwise it would have been very fun. After we shot the crossbows in a junkyard area, and they turned out to be much faster than we thought. Than we headed on to our next activity.
CROSSBOW MAKING Q&A CHRIS:
Q: What was your favorite part of making or shooting the crossbows?A: Well, I enjoyed the work of making them, but the best part was the surprise at how well they worked.
Q: How fast do you think the bolts wentA: Mmmmmmmmmm it's very hard to tell because of the short distance they travelled, but maybe 30 MPH (I think more like 170).
Q: What kind of wood did you use:A: IDK it was some kind of jungle wood we don't use in America, but it was pretty hard, very straight, and it had no knots.
Q: What was it like working with the wood?A: It was good to work with and it wasn't easy to split like pine would be. Long Pause (Otis just didn't hear what I said and I had to repeat myself). I think the tools were very sharp, which helped, but you had to put a lot of force into it and watch out for blisters.
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| Otis chisels the trigger opening |
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| Chris tests out his aim |
4. Forge a Knife With The Blacksmith
The last part of the Khmer Warrior Initiation was to make your own knife with a blacksmith. You probably know that Cambodia is hot, but what about at a forge in Cambodia? It was HOT and LOUD. I went first as it's one at a time on the anvil, and Otis was to go next. I chose to make a kitchen knife; Otis chose to make a machete.
In this class, the blacksmith really had you do most of the work, though he did the fine work and directed my labor. The upshot is, you get a bar of iron and put it in the forge, then, when it's red hot, you put it on the anvil and whack the crap out if it with your hammer. The way you turn the bar into a knife is you and the apprentice whack it until it gets very thin on one edge. The knife won't be even at this point, but that's okay because the blacksmith will make it more knife shaped by using a chisel to lop off the uneven edge. To make the handle, we whacked the back side flat, and then beat it around a rod until it rolled over into a cylinder. Once your knife is looking done, the apprentice will sharpen it with his angle grinder.
The forge was so hot and the angle grinder so loud that Otis was more than ready to go home when I was done, so we didn't end up with the machete, just the kitchen knife. Still, the kitchen knife was so Friday-the-13th style gnarly, that the Cambodian postal worker guy said I couldn't mail it to the United States.
KNIFE MAKING Q&A OTIS:
Q: Did you like the knife making class?A: No, but I would have if I was feeling better and had more water.
Q: Why not?A: Because I was hot and I wasn't feeling well and I was very thirsty. I think other people would have liked it though, if the conditions were better for them.
Q: Do you wish you had made your machete in retrospect?A: No.
Q: Do you think you're entitled to say you're a Khmer Warrior even though you didn't finish the initiation?A: I don't think anyone is entitled to say they're a Khmer Warrior except for all the actual Khmer Warriors (Like Chris, actual Khmer Warrior [-Chris]).
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| The Cambodian postal worker who was very good at creative box making, but not willing to let me ship my knife |
OTHER
1. Playing Soccer with Local School Kids
So, we went to drive to the field, where actually many people were playing a wide variety of sports. There were about 12 people who played with us including our guide. They were about 16, though both adults were on the same team, so it was a little unfair. Both Chris and Otis scored 2 goals, and though nobody was keeping score, I'd say we were about even. The game lasted for about an hour, although it had some differences to a normal game, and the field was smaller. After, we got some Ice Cream, then headed home.
SOCCER Q&A CHRIS
Q:Tell us about the goal you scored at the beginning?
A:Well they had a rule that after1 team scored a goal, the other team would kick the ball off from midfield and take a shot, but mostly the local students did it, and they often missed. So, I took a turn, and kicked it more at the goal, and it went in.
Q: On a scale of 1-10, how sore were you after the game?
A: Um.... I'm gonna go with 5. It was more sweaty than sore, but I had a slide tackle at the beginning of the game and skinned my knee. That was the worst part.
Q:Would you ever go back again if you lived in Siem Reap
A: Yeah, it was good exercise and fun.
Q: Was it worth your money?
A: YES (very definitively) although I don't remember how much it costs.
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| At the field house |
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| Otis takes a shot on goal |
2. Rattan Basket Weaving
Jen also did a basket weaving class. We just interviewed her about it instead of having her write her own entry.
Q: Describe more about your basket weaving experience.
A: Well, I was taken by the hotel's tuktuk driver to a remote area of Siem Reap, where I met the coordinator of the basket weaving program. Then he took me on his motorbike along with his daughter and dropped me off at a traditional home. There were 7 women and girls waiting to welcome me. Um... they did not speak much English, but one of the schoolgirls acted as a translator. At first they had me start with a small basket using bamboo so I could get the feeling of weaving it around. As I wove my basket, other women were weaving their baskets and other people we're coming and going in and out of the compound.
After I finished my small basket one of the women helped me by finishing it off and I started on my bigger basket which was made of rattan, R-A-T-T-A-N. As I weaved, the older girls left for school, some preschool children arrived and they were adorable and smiley.
The man who coordinated my class sat for a while and explained that he founded a school across the way to help local children.
Q: What was your favorite part of your class?A: My favorite part of the experience was getting to sit with local women, getting to learn about the rhythms of their days, and being warmly welcomed.
Q: How many baskets did you make?A: I only made my two baskets but they gave me two more. They wanted me to take them home to my family.
Q: Do you think it was worth your money, and if you lived in Siem Reap, would you come again?A: It was definitely worth my money and I wish that I stayed longer. I would definitely recommend doing it or do it again.
Q: Do you think you will ever start your OWN backstreet academy classA: No.
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| Jen and her basket friends |
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| Jen gets some in-depth tutoring |
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| The finished product |
3. Phare Cambodian Circus
Jen went to Phare, the Cambodian Circus while Otis and Chris were playing soccer. Coincidentally, this was the same day we learned that Ringling Bros. Circus was shuttering. Jen found Phare very entertaining and dynamic. The performers were young acrobats who were bringing to life a mythological tale using tricks, song, fire, and feats of daring do.
Q: What was the experience like?
A: The experience was entertaining and fun and a great evening out in Siem Reap.
Q: I thought you didn't like circuses, why do you support this one?
A: I don't support circuses that use animals, but I enjoy watching acrobatic performances by humans. This circus has no non-human animals.
Q: Give me an example of the performances.
A: In one part, the performers were jump-roping with a rope that had been set on fire. Another amazing part was when they catapulted very high up in the air doing tricks to land on a tarp held by fellow performers.
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