exploring eating capturing
On to the final post from Shwedagon Pagoda. So far we have looked at people and architecture for this one I will focus on the detail and show you some of the wonderful patterns and colours that cover every available surface. Each space has a …
Less than a mile away from Angkor Thom is Ta Prohm or ‘the tomb raider temple’ as it is more commonly known since featuring the likes of Lara Croft running through it. It was constructed in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries as a monastery …
Angkor Wat is apparently the biggest religious structure in the world. It was first constructed in the early part of the 12th century as a Hindu temple but by the end of the 12th century it had become a Buddhist place of worship.
It is clearly an amazing feet of engineering and one could spend hours musing over how these enormous blocks of stone were moved around and constructed nine hundred years ago. Clearly they did an excellent job too as it is still standing today.
It is a large site and you need to put aside at least a day to explore. There are places to eat on site and toilets so you can enjoy your visit. I could have easily spent an extra day there just to sit and draw around the site but on this occasion time didn’t allow so a second visit will have to be scheduled at some point in the future.
There are a number of grand entrances to the main building that take you to the first level and several grand corridors that surround the edge of the building entirely covered with carvings in the stone walls. Out to one side of these are verandas with pillars and more decorative carvings.
From this area you climb up some stairs to the second level smaller in area but similar structure. And then finally the third level is up some very steep stairs and into the highest part of the temple. Only one hundred people at a time are allowed up there for safety reasons I’m guessing so you will need to queue but its well worth it, and the views are great (unless you suffer from vertigo!).
I have so very many photos of Angkor Wat it will have to be covered by at least a couple of posts or else if anyone is actually reading this you may well loose the will to live! First up sunrise. I had to get …
If you are heading to Siem Reap another place to stop off for a visit would be the Floating Villages of Kompong Phluk. You can hire a boat for half a day to explore the remoter corners of these villages. Depending on the time of …
Maybe because of its world heritage status Hoi An is very organised for tourist. You can buy one ticket to cover the six main attractions in town all walkable from each other and its not expensive costing four whole British pounds!
I managed three of the six attractions starting with an old traditional Vietnamese house. It is quite small and you are only able to walk around some of the downstairs which is fair enough as I think it is actually someones home.
Next was the Assembly halls and temple. A very crowded visit as the heavens had opened and everyone in town was trying to find rainy day activities, including very large groups of Chinese tourists who wanted photos of themselves standing next to everything in there. Cultural differences are so interesting to observe. I don’t like my photo taken most of the time and frankly would consider an image of an ornate temple ruined if my face was in the middle of it where as the Chinese seem to not be very interested in a picture of anything without themselves in it! This made me sharpen my photography skills and learn extreme patience for that afternoon.
Something that amused me slightly (I hope that is not to irreverent) was the range of cakes that had been left as offerings…I think there might be a project in that somewhere.
Finally some floor patterns…by the way I am happy to see my feet in photos for some reason…I’m a little odd I know.
Finally on to the Japanese covered bridge from the early 17th century in the area that used to be the Japanese quarter. This too was incredibly crowded… The thing I liked the best here was some really old photographs showing the bridge in the past they were exquisite. And looking back at my photos now I see there isn’t actually one from outside I think it was because the rain was so very heavy at the time.
