By jacuzzi on Skatehive
A Weekend of Culture: From Kites to Giant Glowing Puppets Sometimes Siem Reap just decides to stack up the experiences and hand them to you back to back. The day before, I'd been at the Siem Reap Kite Festival getting humbled by local kids who could fly a $2.50 paper kite better than I ever will. Now, on Saturday evening, February 21st, the city had something even bigger in store — the Siem Reap Giant Puppet Parade. This annual event has been lighting up the streets of Siem Reap since 2007, when it started as a small community arts project. It's grown into Cambodia's largest children's community arts initiative, and this year's edition — themed "The Wild Parade!" — celebrated Cambodia's extraordinary wildlife through eight massive, glowing puppets crafted entirely by local kids. I'd been looking forward to this one ever since I heard about it, and when evening rolled around, I headed out to catch the start. Organized Chaos at the Starting Line The parade kicked off from Wat Damnak, one