Dinosaurs and Ancient Temples
From the lively puppet parade to the mystical temples, the weekend was a blend of joy, history, and cultural connections
The giant puppet parade
Last week, the students of Kulen Outreach, and their teachers, all worked together to make giant puppet dinosaurs. The dinos were made out of sticks, paper, tape, and glue. The giant puppet parade is an annual parade in the city of Siem Reap, the cultural capital of Cambodia.
Kiki and I taught online in the afternoon. At 5pm we hurried to the city center for a quick bite to eat before the parade started. Before we left, Kiki sent our favorite street food lady our order, but when we arrived she wasn't there! We had to wait until she got back and hurried to eat. Luckily, we were still on time. At 6 we arrived at the dinosaur. The parade would take off at 6.30pm. We walked from Wat Damnak to the Royal Gardens.
The whole city was standing along the riverside, to see the giant dinosaurs! I could tell on the faces of most of the Kulen Outreach students that this was initially a bit of a shock, seeing all these people. More than they've ever seen in their life, and they had to 'perform' for them. Luckily they got over their shock quite quickly. When the sun got low, the puppets had a surprise ready, they started to give light!
With the kids moving the neck of the dinosaur, he really came to life. It was a sight to behold and an amazing experience. All the members of the parade were dancing during the parade, music blasting out of cars and tuktuks, and people along the way were very excited and cheering. After the parade, we 'parked' the dinosaur, and sent the kids back to school on tuktuks.
The Giant Puppet Project is a community arts project that unites students, performers, and volunteers in a shared mission: to create gigantic, whimsical puppets that come alive during the parade. These puppets, several meters tall, dance through the streets of Siem Reap.
We walked back to Wat Damnak, where we parked our bicycle. Talking over the events that just happened. It truly gave another extra dimension to Siem Reap and the rich culture here. On our way back, talking about a cold beer and a snack, we passed by a temple on our way home. Something was going on, although nobody could explain to us what or why. People were sitting in prayer in the garden of the temple, with candles all around them. Monks were leading the ceremony with chants and songs. In front of the pagoda, you could receive blessings of the monks. We walked around a bit, and afterward, we enjoyed a cold Cambodian beer.
Angkor Temple Area
Angkor Pass
Sundays are for everything but work. We slept in, until 9 am, and went out to eat a healthy brunch. Our favorite smoothie bowl place, which we go to way too often lately: Brownie Temple. It is just too delicious to stay away!
We both ordered a smoothie bowl and a coffee. We went over the events the day before and made plans for today. We decided to buy our Ankor Pass and visit the temples for the first time since we got back to Siem Reap. But to go there, I needed long trousers, I was wearing shorts being that it was 35 degrees Celsius in the morning! Long story short, I am now a proud owner of elephant pants.
After making our plans, we read for a while, enjoyed our delicious smoothie bowls with fresh fruits and nuts, and went on our way. We bought a 6-month Pass since the area is only 6km from our apartment, and it is a world wonder! Also, there are a lot of visitors coming our way in the next months, so it makes more sense to buy a time-based pass, and not an entry-based one.
Anyway, after riding our bicycle for 9km to get our tickets, and changing into my amazing, hideous elephant pants (just like Christmas sweaters, the more hideous, ugly the pants, the better), we decided to continue to the Ankor Area and visit one temple. Of course, once you are there, one isn't enough. So we rode a bit further to the second one, and then a third, we ended up doing the small circle in the Angkor Area. It was amazing, back in nature, surrounded by these mysterious, mystical, ancient, and breathtaking temples. We drove past Bayon and Angkor Wat and stopped and visited Kravan Temple, Bantei Kdei Temple, and Ta Prohm. In the last temple, Ta Prohm were the scenes of Tomb Raider, with Angelina Jolie, shot. This is my favorite one at the moment because you can see how the trees and nature are overtaking the ancient temple, which makes beautiful sights to hold.
This weekend was filled with a lot of cultural and historical activities. Seeing the students from Kulen Outreach and Siem Reap bond together during the parade filled my heart with joy and appreciation. The temples let you feel so small and are so ancient, just magical. This made for another, successful, and very active weekend. Filled with exploring and play.