Phare - the Cambodian Circus

After a very hot night and still no electricity in the morning we decide to go to the Angkor National Museum, hoping they have a generator and, therefore, air con.  We're in luck so spend a few hours browsing there.  Its really interesting actually and gives lots of background to the temples.  We probably should have done the museum first and the temples afterwards but no matter.

After wandering into town again we return to the guest house at about 5.30pm where we are advised the power is back on ... but only in the last 30 minutes so they're hoping it will last ... hooray!  The poor lady running the place doesn't usually work there ... its her husband's thing and she has another job at the airport and is also pregnant.  Her husband is currently with his mother who is having an operation in Bangkok so she's been left to deal with everything in his absence.  She was even going to try to find us another guest house with a generator if it wasn't fixed when she got home from work.  She had a terrible night's sleep last night too as she was so hot and ended up sleeping in the lobby.

This evening we go to the Cambodian Circus, Phare.  There are some pretty good skills on show and its all for a good cause.  "All performers in Phare learn their skills through Phare Ponleu Selpak, an Association providing arts education in Battambang, Cambodia. Young people from the streets, orphanages and struggling families in the community come attend to learn, express and heal themselves through the arts.  PPS formed 20 years ago by 9 children and their art teacher when they returned home from a refugee camp after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. As survivors of the war, empowered by the creative self-expression learned through their art-making, the group wanted to share this gift of the arts with the underprivileged children of Battambang."