Warning! Major photo day. Sorry if I'm slowing down your internet connection.
I spent the entire day in the Angkor region of Cambodia. Until recently, I thought that Angkor Wat (Cambodia's most famous landmark) was a lone building. Turns out, this area used to be the capital of the Cambodian people, around the 9th - 12th centuries, and it's full of ancient buildings. They even sell 7-day passes for people who want to see
everything. (I got a 3-day pass.) Any wood used in them is long gone, but unlike the ruins from the same era in Sri Lanka, most of these buildings were made completely of stone, so many of them are intact, or nearly so. I'd say out of 8 hours spent in the region, about 6.5 were spent actually exploring them, as opposed to getting around, because they are all pretty close together. Many people rent bicycles to tour the area.
I'll give only the briefest of intros to each group of photos. But I'll note that in many of the ruins, especially the two most important ones, Angkor Wat and Bayon, every stone surface is carved, usually in bas-relief or etched. And I mean
every surface, in great detail. So I included a lot of close-up shots as well. Some of these are primarily hindu, and some primarily buddist, but there is a lot of overlap in the two religions here, and in their architectural details (there are dancing girls, or are they goddesses?, everywhere, for example).
Angkor Wat, a hindu temple:
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| Some ancient graffiti I found carved on a step. |
Bayon, a buddist temple and center of the royal compound:
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| Bayon's main features are its 37 pillars, with 4 faces pointing in the cardinal directions. |
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| Some tourist who made me LOL. |
Random shots from several other temples in the area (Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei, Pravast Kravan):
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| Recognize this from Tomb Raider? |
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| I climbed to the top of this. The climb back down was harrowing. I had both hands on the walls the whole time. |
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| One of the few brick buildings in the area. |
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| This buddist shrine is tended by a lady buddist monk. They shave their heads like the men do. |
amazing photos- thanks for the details and the close-ups. Such incredible artistry and details.... it's mind-blowing to think about how splendid this must have looked "back in the day."
ReplyDeletePeter, I think about that every time I see something awe-inspiring like Angkor Wat or the Pyramids. And not just that they would have looked even more grand back in the day, but the people wouldn't have had other marvels to compare them to, and make them at least somewhat blase'. We've got skyscrapers and we've at least seen photos of other wonders. Imagine not being prepared to stumble across something like this. It might have been scary. Which might have been the point, now that I think about it.
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