After a fun morning with the elephants and a swim and a rest, we decided to mix things up again and split up for Girls & Guys Night Out! As the dads headed in to town to explore Pub Street and the Riverside Night Market, the five ladies hopped in a remork and took off for the Phare Circus and food market!
Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPSA) was founded in 1994 by nine men who returned home from a refugee camp after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. While at the refugee camp, they took drawing classes and found art to be a powerful tool for healing. When they returned to Siem Reap, 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. (Taken from the circus website). What a great cause to support!
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| The Desserts! |
Before the show started, the venue opened to guests so that we could spend time in the beautiful gift shop with many ethically-made products, some from the art school students themselves. Then, we strolled over to the open-air food market courtyard and enjoyed several local Cambodian street food dishes, including vegetarian spring rolls, Cha Kreung Sach Ko (a lemongrass beef stir fry), a fried banana and potato combo dessert and palm fruit cakes.
Beth and Erin also savoured some delicious cocktails on the side like the Lemongrass Lemonade and Ginger Honey Mojito. There was even a cultural performance from students of the school with dancing and acting while we waited for the main event to start.
When the doors to the big top opened, we streamed in and found seats with popcorn in hand. The next hour was filled with incredible performances and feats of human strength that rivaled Cirque de Soleil.
The whole evening was incredible! The circus photos are courtesy of the talented Beth! Erin's hands were too sticky from eating the fried bananas to attempt photography. 🤣
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