Our last days in Cambodia

As we wrapped up our last days in Cambodia, we had lots of fun exploring, cycling, and spending time with the Musik family.

Our third day in Angkor Wat we spent cycling around. We got some old beach cruisers for a couple of bucks and ended up taking them off road. Not the best idea we ever had! For two dollars more we could have had proper mountain bikes with working brakes. Oh well. It made for an adventure and an exciting day. We cruised over 35 km in the jungle that day.

With the freedom of bicycles we went to explore on our own and found unrestored temples free of crowds and guides.

Some temples are no longer structurally sound and probably should be roped off. But In Cambodia you explore like Indiana Jones - at your own risk.

We also found itty bitty spiders...

And itty bitty girlfriends in itty bitty door frames.

Apsara dancer reliefs are prevalent throughout all the temples as well as down town Siam Reap. While I have yet to see a Cambodian girl topless, or with those endowments, we went in search of modern apsara dancers.

After picking through several comercial dances with terrible reviews we found a school that fundraises with apsara dance performances. This dance was about fishermen and their wives. Those baskets are used to catch and store fish.

This is the classic apsara dance that kings might have enjoyed thousands of years ago in the temples of Angkor Wat. It was a great experience!

PHARE - The Cambodian Circus

Welcome to PHARE, the circus in Siem Reap. Phare is a nonprofit organization and all performers in Phare, The Cambodian Circus, learn their skills through Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS), an NGO providing arts education in Battambang, Cambodia. Young people from the streets, orphanages and struggling families in the community, come to PPS and learn, express and heal themselves through the arts.

 So not only do we get a great show, we get to contribute to a good cause where it is needed the most. Best of all they let you take pictures. Here is some shots from the show for you to enjoy. The first show we watched is called "Khmer Metal."

  

How about some extreme balancing!

Some great acrobatics.

Amazing feats of strength and balance.

When was the last time you did a one handed handstand on top of someone that was on top of someone?

We liked the show so much we came to a second performance. This one is called “Eclipse."

Yep, more crazy balancing and feats of strength.

Sometimes just a beautiful scene.

How about a back flip over a flaming rope?

Note that Ali will have that kind of strength and flexibility after finishing her yoga course.

Here is the crew jumping on a see saw. Note the two guys jump together from the elevated platform.

Right at launch time, as the two jumpers land on the see saw, the target is getting launched. Look how much the board bends! That is energy getting stored on the board right before launching the target.

Cambodia we have liftoff. Hope they catch him with the giant pillow!

Overall, the shows are high energy fun and I highly recommend seeing them if you ever visit Siem Reap. If you want to learn more about Phare, check them out on the web at http://www.pharecambodiancircus.org/circus/

Further explorations of Angkor Wat

We continued our guided exploration. Temples went from a pretty good shape to barely a jumble of rocks. A lot of work has gone into preserving some of the sites.

This was a religious pond where people came to make offerings and ask for healing.

Some of the sites fare relatively well. Most have been restored by french archeologists.

Others not so well!

In some places nature is reclaiming the place.

The Apsaras stand guard at the temples.

This is the symbolic god that they prayed for at the temples. Yes it is supposed to be phallic, and you are lucky to see one. Most have gone missing.

Water and nature slowly claim what its theirs.

Ali is always up for a pose with beheaded demons and gods.

There is one of those missing heads. Once again not many left. Notice the long ears. That is typical of Cambodians at the time.

Some parts of the site are really really busy. I guess some people come just for one day and this is where they want to go. 

This is the smiling face atop of the gate from the picture preceding this one. The faces are on the four cardinal points and bring good fortune to the kingdom. And hopefully to us as well. More temples to come in the next post!

Cambodia and Angkor Wat

We left Bangkok and took a bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Siem Reap is a major tourist destination because it is close to Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the location of a magnificent kingdom long gone. However the temples built by ancient kings still stand and make for an amazing archaeological site. 

 The Tuk-tuk is the official transport of the Angkor Wat archaeological site. It is a rickshaw hitched to a 90cc scooter. Not going anywhere in a hurry.

Our first glimpse of Angkor Wat. We arrived around sunset to get our tickets for the following three days.

We explored the site with the Musik family. We had a lot of fun exploring the place for the next three days.

Upon entering the temple I was astonished at the magnitude of the site and the amazing architecture.

There are statues and reliefs that have survived thousands of years of use, war, neglect and abuse. 

Yet some are well preserved. Here are the Apsara dancers that are ubiquitous over Cambodia. They are the spirit of the clouds and water.

Not only do tourists from all over the world come over to explore but so do local monks. Too bad Wendy wasn’t around to chase them into the moat ;)

Ali looked good at Angkor Wat!

The temples have magnificent carved doors that appear to go to nowhere adding to the mystical quality of this place.

The next day our guide would take us to a temple with some of the best preserved carvings on the site.

The detail on the stone is amazing. I have never seen stone carvings with so much depth and detail anywhere in the world.

Of course the carvings are religious in nature and all tell stories of Hinduism in this temple.

Eyes are always watching you! 

Will Ali escape from her stone prison? You can find out on the next post. Cambodia will continue as our guides takes us to other sites.