Next stop was Siem Reap in Cambodia. This is where the famous Cambodian temples, including Angkor Wat.
On our first day out our tour guide pointed this out to us. Apparently it is the only carving of its kind, and it bears a striking resemblance to a stegosaurus:
This is a Nāga, a mystical 7 headed snake. They show up in many different asian cultures.
This is a view up a temple we went into:
This was a carving that had had a tree grow around it, leaving the face poking out. Many of the temples were overgrown with trees.
Here is another example of the trees. They often bust down walls and ceilings, and much of the renovation in the temple complex is to fix damage from the trees:
This picture and the following are from Ta Prohm or as it is also know, the Tomb Raider temple. Parts of Tomb Raider were filmed here.
This was someone who was working at cutting the grass in the area down resting.
Here is the first view of Angkor Wat that I had. We approached from the back of the temple, opposed to the traditional approach from the front.
You can see here how there is reconstructive repairs on the temple.
This is a view down one of the hallways that surround the temple. The wall on the right is covered in carvings of various Hindu myths.
This is a carving that was on the base of the pillars on the left of the hall. Many of them were damaged and worn.
Here is a carving from the right hand wall.
This is a carving of Aspara dancers.
These pillars were in all the windows:
A view from the front of Angkor Wat. There are pools of water infront of the temple, allowing you to get great reflection shots
These guys were out collecting vegetation from the water:
This is a shot from a balloon I went up in. It had a great view of Angkor Wat, but it was far to hazy to get any good pictures of the temples.
This was some carving on a temple wall:
Statues that have had their heads knocked off
Another Aspara dancer:
One of the faces of the Bayon temple. The temple has around 200 of these massive faces carved into its towers.
More faces:
We went out to a boat for dinner one night, and this was the view of the sunset:
Another carving, of some human bird hybrid:
A Cambodian lion. Supposedly the reason that the lions aren’t very life like is that the carvers had probably never seen a lion, and were going off what they had been told they looked like.
Another temple:
A macro shot of a beetle that had just shed its carapace:
This picture is a combination of 16 pictures that I took with my 50mm prime and I then stitched together:
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quickr pickr post
Feel free to comment or ask any questions. I would highly recommend travelling to Thailand or Cambodia is possible.
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