Monkey business

In October 2005 Amrita Performing Arts, a dance/theatre company that are preserving and renewing Cambodia's ancient cultural heritage came to the Melbourne International Festival to perform "Weyreap's Battle". The show was a huge success and a handful of lucky Australians promptly booked a place to the FREE performance workshop held by members of Amrita. Lees learnt to dance like an apsara and I took to monkey moves like it was second nature!
Here we are learning to stretch our fingers in a particularly awkward gesture...

Take 2

Same same @Srah Srang

All the kids come to draw. One mum looks very young

...on the way to Banteay Kdei

Ta Prohm

As a kid, I always imagined Mowgli and friends hanging out in the temple environs like at Ta Prohm. Silk cotton trees and strangler fig roots weave through the temple remains, a tangled mass of thick roots support sanctuaries and displace ancient promenades.

The Bayon

We motor north across the moat and through the massive south gate. We stop to photograph the grimacing gods and ferocious demons (asuras) who line the bridge, like fiercesome maori warriors doing a haka and playing tug of war with a huge snake. It is in fact the naga, a giant seven headed serpent associated with water and fertility.

Our next stop is the Bayon, the state temple of Jayavarman VII, a massive mountain of stone rising out of the jungle. Whilst Sokry goes to eat breakfast Lees and I promptly lose ourselves (and each other!) climbing up into the maze of corridors and stairwells, guardian lions and naga balustrades, terraces and... these extraordinary towers depicting the smiling face of Jayavarman VII, eternally blissful and freckled in lichen. Soon I'm lost, marvelling at and interpreting galleries and galleries of stone bas-relief, illustrating myths and legends of the 12th and 13th centuries. Incredible! Better go find Sokry...

...postcards..

Most of the children stop selling postcards and join the table. They are all very dedicated to the task and none of them seem at a loss for inspiration. Lees and I hand out paper and some kids start experimenting with the aquarelles using their fingers as brushes to spread the colour. Afterwards they present the finished art to us. We insist they can keep their masterpieces but they don't want them. They grab their pack of postcards and are off to sell to the bus loads of tourists who are now sauntering through the stalls. Funnily enough after presenting their art, some of the younger kids start bargaining with me over postcards I don't want to buy!
And I thought we were friends!