Silk Island (Koh Dach)

It didn't feel appropriate to combine this post in my "Phnom Penh Diary" with my experience at the Killing Fields. I felt that the Killing Fields deserved its own post and the total whiplash in tone between these two experiences - even though they did take place on the same day - just didn't feel right.

I had the day off, but it was still mid-morning when I left the Killing Fields. I wasn't ready to go back to my hotel just yet. I sat down for a Cambodia Beer at a local restaurant to figure out my next plan. The owner came and sat with me. We chatted for about an hour about Thailand and Cambodia, COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and more. Eventually, he suggested that I should ask my driver to take me to Koh Dach, or Silk Island, a little island in the Mekhong just upriver from Phnom Penh.

My driver and I set off via tuk-tuk along the dusty roads back through Phnom Penh and towards the riverside. The tuk-tuk actually broke down at one point, so we had to make a brief stop at a mechanic's shop. I stepped inside a nearby Cafe Amazon for a coffee, and 10 minutes later, we were back on the road.

My driver, Samai, acted as my fixer and guide. I paid him upfront, and he arranged everything, including a ticket on the big ferry which crossed the water to Koh Dach. It only cost a few hundred riel for both of us and the tuk-tuk to be ferried across the water. While we were crossing, Samai came and sat in the back of the tuk-tuk with me, and we chatted as we moved lazily over the wide, slow-moving waters of the Mekhong.

On the island, it was just a short drive on to the silk farm, also called "Silk Island". A ticket cost just 4000 riel (or $1). I bought my ticket, and a local guide led me around the silk farm, explaining the process of how this amazing material is produced.

First, she showed me thousands of tiny white silkworm eggs. These eggs will hatch into the inch-long silkworms that spend their entire adolescence eating mulberry leaves. In fact, silkworms only eat mulberry leaves. It is all they do from the moment they are born until they are ready to spin their cocoons and turn into flightless silk moths.

The silkworms are surprisingly cute for an insect! I even got to hold one.

I was surprised to learn that silkworms are actually one of 40 fully domesticates species of animal! Modern silkworms (Bombyx mori) were domesticated from the wild Chinese silk moth (Bombyx mandarina) some 5,000 years ago! The little creatures have been ingeniously bred and engineered for maximum silk output. As a matter of fact, the silkworm is so domesticated that it is no longer capable of surviving in the wild without humans and the species as a whole is entirely reliant on human care and intervention.

When the silkworms have eaten their fill, it's time for them to move on to their next stage of life. They spin their cocoons in the bundled branches that the silk farmers have arranged. These artificial branches are then hung from warm, dry shacks in rows.

After some time, the silk worms complete their transformation into silk moths, which lay eggs for the next generation. 

But how do you turn a cocoon into a silk scarf?

The cocoons are boiled, which breaks down the fibers, allowing them to be unraveled and spun into strings of silk. My guide handed me a raw empty cocoon. "Try to tear it apart", she told me. It was impossible. The cocoons are amazingly strong!

As the cocoons break down, you can pull out the fibers and spin them into strings on a sort of spinning wheel. Like the cocoons, silk is unbelievably strong. Even a single string of silk is difficult to break. 

In its natural form, silk is golden-yellow, but it is often dyed into many beautiful colors. After the dying process, bunches of silk are strung up to dry. At this point, the rough strands of silk have already become very soft to touch.

Finally, it's time for the weaving process. Learning to make silk takes many years, and the artisanal practice of producing handmade scarves is often passed down through families.

Silk scarves are woven into intricate patterns using a very complicated loom. The process has been done this way for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It's really amazing sometimes to see how ingenious and creative people were in the past. I honestly can't wrap my mind around how someone long ago figured out how to make beautiful fabric from worms.

Because of COVID and the lack of tourists, there was nobody working at the looms to demonstrate the weaving process, but my guide explained to me how it works. It takes a long time and lots of effort to produce even one scarf! Today, it's possible to use machines to make the traditional Cambodian scarves, or kramas, but hand-made silk is still produced, and can go for hundreds of dollars!

Many of Cambodia's traditional arts were stamped out during the brief but brutal years of the Khmer Rouge regime, but the government and communities of Cambodia have been working hard to resurrect many of these traditional crafts. Like the fantastic Phare circus in Siem Reap, Silk Island is an example of how the kingdom is working to rebuild its culture following the tragedies of the 20th century. It's a long process, but Cambodia is an incredibly resilient country. I think the future will be very bright.