Friday, January 27, 2006

adventure cambosky - day 3 (episode 1)

ok...here's the thing...i took too many pictures during the trip, so i was forced to screen a hell of a lot of photos...but even so, i've still got too many pictures to load up in one post...i like too many of them...so i'm gonna have to break up (i hate that phrase) day 3 into a few episodes...so this is the first. =)

day 3 started with the 3 of us waking up at the ungodly hour of 430am...just so that we could do what everyone MUST do when they visit the angkorian temples: watch the sunrise at angkor wat...the mother of all temples in cambodia.


ungodly hour

we reached angkor wat at 501am...and after all the hype and suspense, this was my virgin view of the great angkor wat...


virgin view of angkor wat

what a way to start the day huh? but of course, patience is a virtue, of which moby has a lot of...hahaha...virtuous moby...doesn't really sound right lah...but anyway...i'll shut up now and let the pictures take you away...

530am:


angkor wat sunrise 1

531am:


angkor wat sunrise 2

then i tried another mode on my camera...542am:


angkor wat sunrise 3

but i found the colours a bit fake when i used "dusk" mode, so i changed it back to the normal mode...551am:


angkor wat sunrise 4

559am:


angkor wat sunrise 5

check out the difference in colour when i use "dusk"...*bleah*...600am:


angkor wat sunrise 6

the place was really crowded, as expected...check out the high tech equipment all the jap people had...


crowded

everyone was checking how their pictures turned out...including jason and cambo jo...


checking pictures

but what's a trip to angkor wat without great company right? =)


josonsky angkor wat

and then i'm finally walking into the most famous temple of cambodia...after all these months of anticipation...


angkor wat entrance

cambo jo insisted that we had to do a real tour of angkor wat...which meant walking around the perimeter of the temple, counterclockwise (don't even ask), before heading for the good stuff inside...

there were a lot of bas-reliefs carved on the perimeter walls of angkor wat (as well as the other temples that we visited)...i guess this was how people back then communicated the traditions and stories through the years without having to worry about book worms or accidental fires...the times before the first apple computer came out i guess...haha. anyway, i found this particular bas-relief kinda interesting, which is why i wanna feature it a bit:

the pictures of the carvings below, depict asuras (devils) and devas (gods) "churning the sea" in order to extract the elixir of immortality...which obviously everyone wants...apparently, they were kinda playing tug-o-war in the ocean (hence the "churning" of the water), using this serpent as the rope...whoever got it would be immortal.

these are the demons holding the head of the serpent...


churning of the ocean of milk 1

this is the referee...actually he's ultra-ruler (mega-god) named vishnu...he's at the centre of the carvings...


churning of the ocean of milk 2

and these are the gods holding the tail of the serpent...


churning of the ocean of milk 3

(i actually thought it was the other way around...meaning the gods were holding the head and the devils holding the tail...cuz of the very menacing-looking guy holding the tail...but apparently, he's the monkey god known as hanuman...one of the good guys.)

very interesting stuff...this, in a way, is so much more fun than learning history in the classroom...i recommend field trips here to anyone studying the mighty angkorian era. it's great to read about it and look at pictures, but it's just tremendously magnificent to actually see it for yourself.

another part about the temple which attracted my attention were the grilles on the windows...i just couldn't stop taking pictures of them...they were so cool! haha.


designer grilles 1


designer grilles 2


designer grilles 3


angkor wat residents


designer grilles 4

but then there were parts of the angkorian temple that were missing...


headless buddha


headless buddhas

sad. tomb raiders should be shot. except angelina jolie of course. =)

anyway, here are some other photos that i randomly took around the perimeter of angkor wat...


library 1


library 2


angkor wat corridor 1


angkor wat corridor 2

and then...we came to the climax (no pun intended)...the climb up the stupendously steep and horrifyingly narrow steps to the top of angkor wat...


jason


cambo jo's ass


angkor wat summit

one tip though...when you're going up, just look at the steps...DON'T LOOK DOWN...it's freaking steep...i'm not afraid to admit that i have a minor fear of heights...so, it took a bit of effort for me to get up to the top...and let's not even talk about the trip down...haha.

anyway, i like the next picture cuz it reminds me of this scene in the movie "the shawshank redemption", when the black dude is standing in the sunlight talking to the white dude, who's standing in the shade...trying to give him hope of getting out of jail...brilliant cinematography. you gotta watch it to understand...but yeah, i like the shadow play in the picture...half half...dark bright... =)


angkor wat summit 2

i forced cambo jo and jason to take some pictures of me at angkor wat...so that i can show my kids next time what it's all about...


moby @ angkor wat 1


moby @ angkor wat 2


moby @ angkor wat 3

by the time we finished, the sun was already sky high. good stuff guys... =)


josonsky angkor wat 2

stay tuned for more of day 3! cheers. =)

8 comments:

Jo said...

good shit...

cool pics - it's as tho' i was there with u!

oh wait...i was there...

Anonymous said...

Breathtaking sunrise! Hey, that's the same grilles that I saw at the Angkor ruins in Phimai, Thailand!

furfur angel said...

sunrise so nice!

keekee.... Moby the lion roar

Anonymous said...

wah... wah...
nice pics u had taken.
nice sun view n everything, i simply love it.
make me want to go there again. haha...
waiting for more pics to upload..

blinkymummy said...

your lion pic is so cock!!!
=)))

Anonymous said...

nice photos, i like them. maybe some photos of people and faces and expression next time? :)

As The Deer said...

I was there too a few years back but it was raining and then had to leave coz our flight back was waiting... and was with parents who longed to be back in Phnom Penh too. Never travel with parents to such places. No fun leh.

When we were leaving, the frigging Sun casted a nice orange glow into our damn retro plane and i though "blardy hell. missed a kodak moment... argh.." (but incidentally, Fujifilm is better than Kodak.)

Nice pics. Really nice stuff. =) Makes me wanna go back there again. Aargh. No money.

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