For the past two months or so, Kinyei has been developing a social enterprise to help bring in funding for Kinyei's projects. The enterprise, called SoksaBike (a play on the traditional Khmer greeting of 'Soksabai' which roughly translates to 'Are you happy and healthy?' or, more prosaically, 'How are you?') is an educational bicycle tour of the beautiful Battambang countryside. Along a shaded route lined with banana palms, fruit orchards, and traditional wooden houses, the tour stops at several family-run cottage industries, such as rice paper, fish paste (prohoc), Khmer noodles, and rice wine. At each stop, the tourists are shown the traditional method of production, and have the opportunity to ask questions and sample the products.
The goals of SoksaBike extend beyond simply running a tour for Battambang. The tour provides employment for Battambang's underutilized but highly capable and motivated youths, contributes to the local families visited, and supports community-led social projects in the area. In addition, we offer visitors an insight into the realities of tourism and development work in Cambodia, and try to provide them with opportunities to make meaningful connections with the local Battambang community.
The Kinyei team developing this project have been Sarah, our bicycle and travel enthusiast, and Racky Thy, Kinyei's local Renaissance man. The guide crew includes five local guides from universities around Battambang and our local manager Sothea. While SoksaBike is still looking for remote or local volunteers to help with marketing and graphic design and further development of the enterprise, the tour itself is ready to launch this weekend!
Local Food, Fabulous Guides, and a little exercise!
The tour was so interesting. The guides were quite well-versed, eager, and enthusiastic. I learned all about how rice paper is made, how rice goop is pressed to make noodles, how mushrooms are grown, and more. I even tasted prahok! and saw huge vats of the fermenting fish paste.
Hands down the best activity to try in Battambang!
SoksaBike sounds like a great
SoksaBike sounds like a great idea...it's a pity I left three months to early to try it out.
Does the trip portfolio also include a "Sarah's lazy day tour" (a relaxed 100+ km round trip on occasionally paved roads that should be taken on a hot April day with >10 kg of luggage for maximum authenticity)? ;)