by Monday 31st July
Ra picked us up at 8.30am and we started our journey up the mountain.
First stop was Wat Preah Ang Thom, a sacred place, where there is a large reclining Buddha carved into the sandstone boulder upon which it is built.
Next stop was ‘Valley of 1000 Lingas’ features carvings of sacred lingas in sandstone formations on the river bed and banks. A linga is a stylized image of a phallus representing the essence of the God Shiva.
Third stop was to the waterfalls of Phnom Kulen, which are are a must-see sight as they are a perfect and much needed spot to cool off. Proported by the locals to be ‘crystal clear water’ – never the less it was worth the swim… just keep your mouth closed!!
Back to our hotel to relax a little, before taking a Tuk Tuk to the Phare Cambodian circus.
Originally founded in 1994 by nine young Cambodian men returning home from a refugee camp after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. At the camp they took drawing classes and found art to be a powerful tool for healing. When they returned home they began offering free drawing classes to street children. Soon they opened a school, eventually offering formal K-12 education and professional arts training in the areas of visual arts (illustration, painting, graphic design, and animation), theater, music, dance, and circus.
Today more than 1,200 pupils attend the public school daily and 500 attend the vocational arts training programs. All programs are offered for free.
In 2013, with the aim of financial self-sufficiency, PPSA created Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE) with three missions:
1. Create meaningful employment opportunities for Cambodian artists
2. Create financially sustainable social businesses that provide a reliable income streams for Phare Ponleu Selpak
3. Revitalise the arts sector in Cambodia and promote Cambodian art locally and internationally
The show was fantastic and they seemed to be loving every minute of it.
