Bantey Serai
Yes, another temple …there are over 250 of them around… this is supposed to be the one which has the most intricate carvings surviving…. the caretaker tells us it’s a Bhrama, Vishnu and then a word I have hear for the first time a Shiva Buddha in the main Centrum… though there is talk about Hindus, the local guy asks me the difference between Hindu and Buddha and i said that Buddha was part of Hindu… though it is something that is rarely talked about …but how about Shiva Buddha
About Bantey srei:
- Considered by many to be the jewel in the crown of Angkorian art, Banteay Srei is cut from stone of a pinkish hue and includes some of the finest stone carving anywhere on earth.
- Begun in AD 967, it is one of the smallest sites at Angkor, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in stature.
- The art gallery of Angkor, Banteay Srei, a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva, is wonderfully well preserved and many of its carvings are three-dimensional.
1000 Lingas
After a longish drive we reach the bottom of the first hill we have seen in Cambodia…there is lush forest all over and a pathway with big stones and roots of trees forming steps going up up up… a tough climb of about 2 kms till we reach the river where they are these small lings in the water and some sculptures carved onto the rocks… some monks are doing a small ceremony there…. there is this interesting combination of Buddhist and shaivite mixture
at the entrance there is a animal conservation and endangered species centre…. we go through and see animals which were kept as pets till the owners could no longer look after them…. 1000 of birds have been looked after here and then left out in the wild…
In most of Cambodia we see hardly any birds at all…even by the sea there are no birds at all…. asked some of the guides.. They say they have been asked this but no one knows why no birds…. did all the bombings kill them all????
Bayon… faces faces over 100 giant faces
The entrance has these figures pulling something it seems
the entrance to Bayon… these four faces on each side and i think one above… the all seeing…
The First look
Lot of Carvings
sleeping vishnu? buddha??
you climb up 3 floor to come to these big big heads…each tower with 4 and about 26 columns…guidebooks have all the figures but as you walk around you can feel faces looking down at you everywhere
at Bayon there is some worship going on… I burn an incense and sit next to this image for a long while….lovely the feeling of old stone all around, aroma of incense
About Bayon Temple:
- Bayon is known for its huge stone faces of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, with one facing outward and keeping watch at each compass point.
- The curious smiling image, thought by many to be a portrait of Jayavarman himself, has been dubbed by some the “Mona Lisa of Southeast Asia.”
- There are 51 smaller towers surrounding Bayon, each with four faces of its own.
- Bayon Temple is surrounded by two long walls bearing an extraordinary collection of bas-relief scenes of legendary and historical events.
- In all, there are are total of more than 11,000 carved figures over 1.2km of wall. They were probably originally painted and gilded, but this has long since faded.
Source: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/cambodia/angkor-thom-bayon-temple
Ta Prohm … or Lara’s Croft or trees and stone
Ta Prohm, or the place where Lara’s tomb or some such movie was shot is an amazing temple which has been left primarily as it was found…. with only some places being restored…as you enter we found out that the restoration of this site is being done by the Indian Archaeological Department, and we went into the enclosed office area where we met the 2 archaeological people in charge (one from Maharashtra one from Chennai) who were most thrilled to show us how restoration was done…
The entire area is covered by stones like this which have been numbered a b and then numbers to indicate where they go
The 2 showing us the various stages that the restoration goes through
The map which was developed after years of work to show the basic outlay of the temple
One of the sculptures being redone as the various stones are found
Cranes involved in the restoration work
Trees growing through the various stone walls … there are at least hundred of these ….. Some photos of some
The exit…… we have probably walked over 2 kms up and down big stones big steps…. tired, but we still have one more to go before we can end the first day…..
Sunrise at Angkor wat
Up and out at 5.00 am just before sunrise and there are only about half a million people there already…. and as the sky turns pink the towers get highlighted …. There are smaller towers surrounded by one large one in the centre…
Angkor wat is bigger, much much bigger than anything I have ever seen before…and walking to it makes one catch your breath…. everything in Cambodia is flat….. or at least everything that we have come across so far…flat flat flat ….. Angkor wat is like some height within this flatness….. that’s how it was conceived… as tiers and tiers that you climb up finally to reach the top where you can get a view of the surroundings….
This is at the entry and apparently was the library
The most frequent shape ….at almost all the horizontal pillar posts
Entering…. Ashi,Himani and Divya
Half, or is it quarter of one side
The entire wall has the story of the Ramayana… the next wall of the Mahabharata…Ramayana is still a popular story
All the way to the end the story goes
level one after climbing up steep stone stairs
the steps to the next level… you walk up one level…walk all the way around… windows around, small rooms…. and then another level
some of the sculptures on the way… not very many they have been eroded… all over Angkor wat there is work going on…. as will be seen later all the temples are in various stages of being restored
Steps up
One side you can walk around each level
The view from the top
Buddha on the top…. earlier it was Vishnu in an open space… which has been now closed 3 sides and has Buddha
Floating village Cambodia
Well, it’s been a year since I was on this blog, so will have to learn it all again…. so story is going backwards…. and we are starting at the end of day one …we had started by taking a long car ride and reaching a place on the river where we got onto a boat and went down the river which had these amazing houses up on three story stilts on the river… the entire village was up on stilts with boats tied below… it was low river, and during the monsoons it comes up to almost 10 feet below the floor of the house …entire life is spent on these houses above the river and all socialising bathing washing utensils happens from the boats tied below…. anyway you will see the houses lower down… from the villages we went into these forests which are totally submerged .. the houses goes on for at least a km, and then we took an hours ride through these absolutely amazing forests with flowing waters below……and from there into this huge huge lake which had such big waves and the boat was going up and down …. From there into a Buddhist temple on the lake … where there was this chanting of about 11 monks going on….. … But since have lost the knack of blogspot…or perhaps it has changed from the last time I used it….. Uploading videos has failed….will try again later when the net is faster
Cambodia is amazing!!!!!
Mira's Magical Mystical Tour 
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