May 25th, Friday
Today I woke up at 5 in the morning to be on the bus by 6am. We had another bumpy bus ride heading back towards the city. We stopped at Women’s Development Center in Stung Treng. There was a kindergarten nearby that we visited there, where the kids there are the first of their generation to get an education. Most of the people in that village don’t speak Khmer; instead they speak Lao. At the Women’s Development Center, we saw how they produced raw silk into beautiful silk clothing. I thought it was cool to see the color of the cocoons be yellow because I’ve only seen them white. Then we saw how they dyed it and how they made cloth out of the silk threads. Afterwards, we ate lunch there and then arrived at our new hotel, the Golden River Hotel.
In the afternoon, we went to see a nursing school. It was a big one but it was kind of empty because the students had exams and so class did not start until the following week. I thought it was cool that they can provide housing for up to 100 students for free (because some of the students come from far away). But they have about 400 students.
Later, as we were looking for a place to eat dinner, we made a pit stop to take pictures of the setting sun over the Mekong River. It was quite a beautiful sight. It was a definitely a great way to end the night.
– Pamela Wong
PharmD Candidate 2013