{"id":1059,"date":"2014-05-30T17:40:44","date_gmt":"2014-05-31T03:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radcopter.com\/brianandmarisa\/worldtrip\/?p=1059"},"modified":"2014-05-30T17:40:44","modified_gmt":"2014-05-31T03:40:44","slug":"siem-reap-real-quick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/2014\/05\/30\/siem-reap-real-quick\/","title":{"rendered":"Siem Reap (real quick)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Siem Reap is the gateway to Angkor Park. Given the amount of money that flows through the Park, it’s not surprise that Siem Reap has seen a lot of development. We didn’t get to see a lot of Cambodia but it is hard to imagine a city that got more attention than Siem Reap. It is cleaner than Phnom Penh, cuter than Kampot, and has the Western restaurants of a tourist town in Thailand. It’s clear than the city has greatly benefited from its proximity to Cambodia’s biggest draw.<\/p>\n

Another thing that explains Siem Reap’s development is the APSARA Authority. The APSARA Authority is the organization that is responsible for managing the Angkor Park and<\/i> the Siem Reap area. The development of Siem Reap isn’t just a question of proximity to the Park. The entire region is administered by a single organization. The level of development in the town makes a lot more sense when you realize it’s all coordinated. It’s a very interesting situation from a planning\/policy perspective. I was hoping to do a more in-depth post on it but it’s hard to find any meaningful information online, and the few pieces of research I found are behind a paywall. It’s the kind of situation to which there are analogues in the US (large development authorities controlling a region) but with the added twist of corruption and opaque governance.<\/p>\n

Sadly, and mysteriously, my pictures of Siem Reap have all disappeared. Google is your friend if you are curious about what the place looks like. The photos that I do have are from a small circus that we went to called Phare<\/a>. The performers in the circus all learned their skills through a program called Phare Ponleu Selpak<\/a>, a nonprofit organization in Battambang. They take in kids from poor households and teach them performing arts skills, ranging from visual arts to gymnastics. They do a lot of good work and we were happy to support them by buying tickets.<\/p>\n

The show we saw was set in a nightclub in Phnom Penh. The owner has a couple kooky employees and some interesting customers who end up having some fun together. The show even surprised us, with one of the waiters seducing a male customer. SE Asia generally seems to have a lax attitude towards same-gender relationships and gender-bending. Dangerous to extrapolate an entire country from one circus show but it was interesting nonetheless. The circus was a good time, one of those fun surprises you come across when traveling.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_9376\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The show we saw was largely gymnastics. Lots of people flipping off of stuff.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSC_9356\"<\/a>
There was an impressive balancing act.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"I<\/a>
I have to say, as cool as all the tumbling was, it’s hard to beat a lady shooting a balloon with an arrow with her feet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Siem Reap is the gateway to Angkor Park. Given the amount of money that flows through the Park, it’s not surprise that Siem Reap has seen a lot of development. We didn’t get to see a lot of Cambodia but it is hard to imagine a city that got more attention than Siem Reap. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,14,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cambodia","category-places","category-seasia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1059"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1536,"href":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059\/revisions\/1536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texandtia.com\/worldtrip\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}