On board Quantas flight 2 from Bangkok to Sydney- seafood soup, green salad, fish and couscous, chocolate cake, red wine, time to close the chapter on Cambodia by assembling thoughts on Angkor Wat.
How to describe one of the top ten attractions in the world and one of the top five on my list. The remains of a civilization that dominated SE Asia from 800-1300, now partially restored ruins that were once covered with jungle vegetation. Why do we visit the remains of great civilizations? Egypt, Greece, Rome, Petra, Tikal and Angkor Wat. Who were these people? How did they live? What inspired them to build great cities, monuments, temples, shrines, tombs, water systems? How were they able to accomplish these feats, and why did they disappear? Thoughts run through your mind as you clamber over piles of stone, climb steep eroded stairways and photograph sculptures missing heads, limbs and other features. The ruins of Angkor Wat cover an area the size of Paris and was once a city of one million people. I won't attempt to remember the names of rulers or even specific names of temples. I will leave that to the history and guide books. Kings have always built monuments and religions have created great places of worship. Here in Angkor Wat, the statues represent Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and the bas relief murals portray both military campaigns and scenes of daily life. As you enter sacred areas you are greeted by nagas, the long 7 headed snake that traditionally protects the gods. Everywhere you are met by ferocious figures, graceful dancers, demons, gods, kings, elephants, lions, defending entrances and gracing terraces. From the top of crumbling temples, you look over a complex that is now in ruins and try to envision the site that was once part of a vibrant city. Climb through doorways that have lost their walls, head through rooms that have collapsed into piles of stone, walk along terraces that once separated pools or canals of water and gaze at giant trees whose roots have engulfed stone walls. Hiring a tuk tuk for transportation, I spent 4 days visiting the complex beginning with the inner most temples and ending with those more remote, the fourth day reserved for re-visiting my favorites after studying a guidebook that I had purchased from a Cambodian who had lost an arm to a landmine explosion.
A highlight of my visit was a late afternoon stop at Angkor Wat, the largest temple of the complex. The sky was dark and threatening, creating a dramatic backdrop for the scene that I wanted to photograph. A violent thunderstorm developed forcing me to seek shelter in the entrance to Angkor Wat, the perfect place to capture the scene, the silhouette of the temple outlined against a sky from which God could have appeared at any moment. Angkor Wat, an experience to savor for many years.
How to describe one of the top ten attractions in the world and one of the top five on my list. The remains of a civilization that dominated SE Asia from 800-1300, now partially restored ruins that were once covered with jungle vegetation. Why do we visit the remains of great civilizations? Egypt, Greece, Rome, Petra, Tikal and Angkor Wat. Who were these people? How did they live? What inspired them to build great cities, monuments, temples, shrines, tombs, water systems? How were they able to accomplish these feats, and why did they disappear? Thoughts run through your mind as you clamber over piles of stone, climb steep eroded stairways and photograph sculptures missing heads, limbs and other features. The ruins of Angkor Wat cover an area the size of Paris and was once a city of one million people. I won't attempt to remember the names of rulers or even specific names of temples. I will leave that to the history and guide books. Kings have always built monuments and religions have created great places of worship. Here in Angkor Wat, the statues represent Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and the bas relief murals portray both military campaigns and scenes of daily life. As you enter sacred areas you are greeted by nagas, the long 7 headed snake that traditionally protects the gods. Everywhere you are met by ferocious figures, graceful dancers, demons, gods, kings, elephants, lions, defending entrances and gracing terraces. From the top of crumbling temples, you look over a complex that is now in ruins and try to envision the site that was once part of a vibrant city. Climb through doorways that have lost their walls, head through rooms that have collapsed into piles of stone, walk along terraces that once separated pools or canals of water and gaze at giant trees whose roots have engulfed stone walls. Hiring a tuk tuk for transportation, I spent 4 days visiting the complex beginning with the inner most temples and ending with those more remote, the fourth day reserved for re-visiting my favorites after studying a guidebook that I had purchased from a Cambodian who had lost an arm to a landmine explosion.
A highlight of my visit was a late afternoon stop at Angkor Wat, the largest temple of the complex. The sky was dark and threatening, creating a dramatic backdrop for the scene that I wanted to photograph. A violent thunderstorm developed forcing me to seek shelter in the entrance to Angkor Wat, the perfect place to capture the scene, the silhouette of the temple outlined against a sky from which God could have appeared at any moment. Angkor Wat, an experience to savor for many years.
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