August 12 2009 – Santuk Silk Farm

Now in Kompong Thom at the Santuk Silk Farm among other locales.

Run by Bud Gibbons, an American expat and his Khmer wife Nevin, the Santuk Silk Farm has been open since 2006. They are quite popular with tourists transiting through Kompong Thom.
I didn’t get a chance to meet Bud as he was in Phnom Penh but got a great tour from Nevin as she showed me the inner workings of their farm.

Santuk Silk Farm

Fried crickets in Kompong Thom

UV lights dot the side of the road in Kompong Thom

On the bus back to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap, we stopped off in Kompong Chnnang for a lunch break. One of the stalls at the rest stop had crickets for sale. Deep fried and salted, they are a favored snack for many Cambodians.

Usually I am not interested in them but a few days ago, I hitched a ride with the car distributing the Phnom Penh Post to Siem Reap and saw the harvesting of the crickets in Kompong Thom. Hundreds of UV lights were set up along the road to catch the crickets.

Crickets waiting to be fried

A cricket vendor flavors the deep fried crickets with salt

An employee from the bus company picks up some crickets for the journey

UV lights dot the side of the road in Kompong Thom