{"id":157,"date":"2010-01-31T02:04:30","date_gmt":"2010-01-31T10:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interspacedesign.wordpress.com\/?p=157"},"modified":"2021-06-25T12:55:56","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T19:55:56","slug":"ankor-wat-a-photo-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/ankor-wat-a-photo-journal","title":{"rendered":"Ankor Wat – A Photo Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a photo journal of my trip to Angkor Wat<\/a>.\u00a0You have to be\u00a0there to experience the mist shrouded ruins and the monumental scale of the temples to appreciate\u00a0the architectural achievements\u00a0of the Khmer empire<\/a>. New resorts and hotels are springing up on the road to Angkor Wat – so go before the ancient site is totally suffocated by the modern concrete jungle!<\/p>\n

\"Angkor<\/a>
Angkor Wat at sunrise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since our hotel was about 40 minutes from Angkor Wat, our guide came to pick us up at 5 am. Groan!! The serenity of the scene belies the hundreds of tourists jostling for a spot to capture the perfect sunrise.<\/p>\n

\"Angkor<\/a>
Angkor Wat sunrise thru the trees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s easy to get carried away by the photo ops, but at least with digital equipment, it’s a\u00a0lot\u00a0easier to prune the bounty. Here are some carvings depicting epic battles and dancing apsaras<\/a>, celestial dancing girls from Cambodia-Hindu mythology.\u00a0There are 2,000 apsaras in\u00a0Angkor Wat and no two are alike.<\/p>\n

\"Angkor<\/a>
Angkor Wat Carving Detail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Asparas<\/a>
Aspara at Angkor Wat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s important to know that Angkor Wat is not only a monument from the past but an integral\u00a0part of Cambodian\u00a0life: we\u00a0amazingly saw\u00a0a bride changing into an elaborate ceremonial dress with the help of her entourage\u00a0right in front of us, while some enterprising locals parked a beautiful\u00a0white horse in front of the temple\u00a0steps so tourists can\u00a0canter around the Wat.<\/p>\n

\"Bride<\/a>
A bride putting on an elaborate traditional attire for her wedding celebration in Angkor Wat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"White<\/a>
White horse in front of the temple in Angor Wat. We’re just missing the Prince!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We visited Preah\u00a0Khan<\/a>\u00a0(Sacred Sword), a complex that was originally a Buddhist monastery built in\u00a01191 AD.\u00a0It\u00a0was vandalized\u00a0during the\u00a0Hindu resurgence in later centuries. As the second largest temple after Angkor Wat, it remained largely unrestored. The temple’s architecture observes a linear progression that allows vistas down long alleys of doorways, passages, and chambers.<\/p>\n

\"Preah<\/a>
Preah Kahn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next stop was Ta Prohm<\/a>. This atmospheric jungle-shrouded,\u00a0photogenic ruin was\u00a0used\u00a0as a location\u00a0in the film\u00a0Tomb Raider.\u00a0Built in 1186 AD, the temple was abandoned\u00a0after the fall of the Khmer empire in the 15th century.\u00a0The towering trees\u00a0around the site provide some relief from the sun, allowing lichen and moss to\u00a0sprout from the stone carvings.<\/p>\n

\"Ta<\/a>
Ta Prohm with trees growing out of the crumbling structures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ta<\/a>
Ta Prohm – detail of the ruins melting into the jungle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We spent sunset at Phnom\u00a0Bakheng<\/a>. Fortunately (or unfortunately) our guide dropped us off at the site about an hour\u00a0early – guess he needed a nap from getting up before dawn… We were able to get a great vantage point before the hordes of tourists ascended the\u00a0mountain temple.\u00a0\u00a0Although not\u00a0visible in the picture, Angkor Wat sits\u00a0amidst the\u00a0jungles\u00a01.5 km to the southeast.<\/p>\n

\"Phnom<\/a>
Phnom\u00a0Bakheng at sunset.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The mass evacuation after the sunset was pretty scary: hundreds of people of all ages and abilities practically stampeded\u00a0down the steep mountainside in the dark over irregular steps to get out of the park. It was not pretty…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo journal of trip to Angkor Wat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,15],"tags":[40,250,277],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture","category-travel","tag-bas-relief-carvings","tag-temples","tag-world-heritage-site"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/angkor-wat-horse.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8760,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions\/8760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}