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. 

Flower Fun

March 11, 2014

 

We headed back to Bangkok for another two days of fun before settling in on our new island home of Koh Phangan.  (I will let Omar post photos of our new home.)  I can’t tell you about how most of our time in Bangkok was spent - it’s a secret - but here was our trip to the flower market.  This is for you mom.

 

Thailand’s biggest flower market.

These are mostly for offerings.

Roses - less than $10 a bunch

Orchids - $5 a bunch

Leaves - practically free

The flower market had an inside vendor area and all sorts of store front florists.

Not to mention it spilled out onto the street.

 

I think a whole post on flowers officially makes me old and boring.  No offense to old and boring people.  Or to my mom who I think I just indirectly called old and boring.  Although in comparison to me you are old.  And maybe a little boring.  But I love you.

Cambodia Deux

March 12, 2014

And the fun continues!  We hired another tour guide for day two of temple touring.  And thank goodness we did as without him, we would have just been looking at a big pile of rocks most of the time.  He wasn’t as informative as our first guide, but by the end of our second 10 hour day and extreme heat - we didn’t care. 

We splurged on a Mexican dinner one night for Omar.  He was thrilled for refried beans and rice - it’s the little things in life sometimes.

Another interesting foreign product - clearly not vegan friendly.

A bridge over a moat to Phnom Bakheng Temple.

A well preserved relief on Angkor Thom the only city with any remains.   Temples were built with stone and the cities with wood, henceforth no town remains.  Angkor Thom was the King’s city so there are areas with stone remnants still.   The city is 3km by 3km square with 5 entrances and exits, over moats, to visit the royal grounds.  

Bayon Temple, or smiling face temple, there are 216 smiling faces, 4 faces on each tower representing the 4 Buddhist ideals of love, kindness, compassion, and neutralities.

Baphuon Temple, built in 1066 AD at the height of Cambodian power, with an estimated 2 million people living in the vicinity (outside Angkor Thom's walls.)

The view from Baphuon Temple.  Hope you’re not afraid of heights!

The three headed elephant on the elephant terrace - all still inside the town of Angkor Thom!

The kings use to watch elephants with riders battle it out for sport.  Look closely.

My favorite temple as it was being reclaimed by trees - Ta Prohm.

Look familiar?  Tomb Raider was filmed here!

Group love.

Ta Prohm had several buildings where trees had either taken over or completely collapsed the temple.

The main temple of Angkor Wat - it was spectacular!

We were all templed out by day 3 so we decided to rent bikes and bicycle all morning around the temple complex.  It was great - mountain biking on beach cruisers, past completely run down temples, off the beaten path, and getting back on a bike!

No idea where this temple was - we were just biking by and stopped for a look.

We had lunch at the Siem Reap Butterfly Garden - a nonprofit that supports various local and community projects.  This one is for you Laura V.!