Up and out at 5.00 am just before sunrise and there are only about half a milllion 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..... thats how it was conceived... as teirs and teirs that you climb up finally to reach the top where you can get a view of the surroundings....
this is at the entry and apparantly 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 Mahabharat...ramayan is still a popular story
all teh 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 sculpturs 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
given that i am not coming here.. this is interesting.... i always imagined the temples on a flat land.... that they rise vertically is new to me....
ReplyDeleteDear Mira,
ReplyDeleteHave read a lot about these sites but your photos and comments really bring out the essence. Hmmmm - maybe will make a trip soon. You are looking great and relaxed and so obviously enjoying yourself. God Bless. Love vikram