Travel Photography | 53. Angkor What!? Photo Journal

Obviously one of the world wonders deserves a post of their own, loaded with photos. Seriously, everyone should go while it’s too late. Already packed with Japanese tourists, I found it hard to snap a photo without someone standing in it.

This is a story of what happened in my life 12-15.1.2012.

Angkor Wat was built around 1200 century and is now operated by a Japanese touring company (at the moment of writing), renovated by Indians and populated by a myriad of us tourists. Enjoy ?

Bang. The main shot of the main temple.

This time I was on my own because Antti had already been here two years ago and the tickets are quite expensive. 20$ for a day was still well worth it. Update: I went there again this year with my family and they had just raised the price to 38$ per ticket!

Still worth it, of course.

The area is huge! At least 20km by square and there was another area about 35km north. I heard that you would need at least three days to scope the whole thing and you would be in a hurry.

I decided to take my time and not even try to see everything. I just spent one day, circling around the most popular temple areas including Angor Wat (above), Bayon (below) and Ta Prohm (way below with all the roots). Of course, I also visited the temple that Tomb Raider was filmed in, Angkor Thom (just scroll down). ^^

Bayon.

Sorry, I already forgot where all these pictures are taken from ? You should go and check them out by yourself anyway!

Toilets are over there btw.

Just impossible to make a shot without pesky tourists… Hmm. Or is it?

Abracadabra, tourists begone! (thanks PSTouch for iPad)

The amount of detail everywhere in the temples was astonishing!

The circular holes you see everywhere, are left by archaeologists, who collected samples to determine the age and other interesting facts about the temples.

Some of the statues and structures were restored and you could clearly tell the difference between original and restored. I would have preferred the old, broken ones.

I guess they won’t last forever, what would.

Those faces could be intimidating if walking here alone in the night…

There were times I felt like Indiana Jones on an expedition. ?

The detail on the HUGE faces in Bayon was unreal!

Other times I felt like I was right there with Lara, raiding tombs…

Ok. Found two candidates for new Lara Croft. Would you let me know which one you prefer ?

As I was walking that long bridge there, I couldn’t help but wonder, how was the life here in the glory days? Must have been amazing. Even now the water, the trees and the temples create an atmosphere I just can’t find words to describe with.

One of these days it’s gonna fall…

Ta Prohm temple. Man. The pictures just won’t do justice. It is like a movie. Trees hundreds of years old have completely taken over the temple, decaying it bit by bit. My absolute favourite!

Mr. Destruction.

Can you hear the distant sound of a switch flipping? (Tomb Raider game reference)

The temple of Tomb Raider! (yes, I renamed it)

Blood on the walls?

The architecture and workmanship are simply amazing. These piles of rocks are still standing after 800 years!

After a full day walking in the temples, up and down countless stairs, I decided to rest a couple of days… Don’t want to wear out ?

Considered to get an “apina” haircut ? (apina = monkey in Finnish)

Oh, wow, the colours!

Next two-three days, it was eating, sleeping and fish massage, as per usual ? In case you have never tried this, it is a special kind of fish that just LOVES dead skin! So, in 20 minutes they will clean your feet of excess debris. Just what I needed after good 20km walk…

Thanks for reading!

Would you let me know what you thought about this type of a travel journal? I have hundreds of more posts coming from all around the world.

If you like my style, would you leave an upvote and maybe follow me? I will promise to check your page out too and if it is something I like, I will be sure to follow you back.

(First published 16/01/2012 at LiveJournal)

P R E V I O U S   P O S T

N E X T   P O S T