2014, Day 218 - Perception

It seems funny to see obvious signs of maintenance in such an ancient place.  While there are people who sweep and keep the temples clear of refuse it is these little signs of devotion that I find most touching.  They're not surprising given how many monk live within the complex and how many more travel from all over Asia to see the wonders of Angkor.  That's another sight I loved, the awestruck monks wandering through the temples getting their traveling companions to take their pictures.  It turns out that even the spiritual amongst us are susceptible the majesty of Cambodia's temples.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
31mm, f8, merged layers of 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 217 - Junction

I like to see how things work and these crumbling walls give a nice cross-section view of what the hallways looked like and how they were constructed.  It has taken hundreds of  years to fall into this state of disrepair which is remarkable considering that many of our cities would have long since crumbled to nothingness in four or five hundred years after they were abandoned.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f11, merged layers of 1/20, 1/10, 1/5, 0.4, and 0.8 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 214 - Playing favorites

Banteay Srei is often cited as one the favorite temples amongst visitors to Angkor.  The red sandstone is intricately carved and it is one of the best preserved and restored temples that you can find in Cambodia.  That being said the structures are small when compared to the other edifices in the area and that is where it falls short in my opinion.  Not that it isn't beautiful, it is amazing, but I don't feel either the sense of awe or antiquity that I felt at the other temples.  It is amazing but perhaps it is the perfection that I object to, I like my temples flawed, eaten by the jungle, a little more mysterious and dangerous.  Banteay Srei is just to serene for me.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f4, merged layers of 1/1250, 1/640, 1/320, 1/160, and 1/80 sec @ 125 ISO

2014, Day 209 - Gallery

I love that photography allows you to travel in time.  This picture will be two years old this fall and I just felt like Cambodia this evening and rediscovered it when looking through my folders of unprocessed photos.  Beng Mealea has been consumed by the jungle and it appears to be of a less robust construction than many of the other temples so it is in a more advanced state of digestion.  It is that ruined aspect that makes it interesting.  Trees have torn down walls and the delicately carves stonework has been carpeted in moss.  Frog, lizards, and insects about as do the occasional colonies of bats.  It really does feel like stepping back in time and the picture brings back that sense of wonder and adventure I felt when I was there.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
23mm, f8, merged layers of 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 56 - Elephant's eye

This photo was taken from the Elephant Terrance at Angkor Thom attached to the palace of Phimeanakas.  It was from this vantage point that King Jayavarman VII watched his armies assemble, held court, and conducted public ceremonies.  Named for the elephant carvings along the east side, we watched the sun rise over the jungle as a lone tuk-tuk proceeded at a leisurely pace along the road that parallels the terrace.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
20mm, f4, merged layers of 1/800 and 1/400 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 54 - Decisions

I will never forget our first glimpse of Angkor Thom.  We took a taxi from Battambang to Siem Reap where we dropped our bags off at the hotel, met up with the rest of our travel buddies, and headed out for our first look at the temples of Angkor.  It was afternoon and even though the sun was getting low we were eager to see one of the fabled temples so we stopped at Angkor Thom where the smiling faces carved into the stone greeted us.  It was beautiful and as we wound our way through the temple I stopped to take just one more photograph from a different angle.  There are so many amazing vantage points it is hard to decide which you like best.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f4, merged layers 1/100, 1/50, 1/25, and 1/13 sec @ 320 ISO

2014, Day 42 - Conquered

Today I decided to return to Cambodia and the awesome temple that is Beng Mealea.  There is something magical about this place, the jungle has returned and reduced a large portion of this once beautiful site to rubble.  But somehow it still manages to be enchanting.  Out of the ruins of the temple are giant trees with extensive root systems that have torn apart the heavy stone blocks.  I love this return to nature and today I wouldn't mind the balmy warmth of the jungle either.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
22mm, f2.8, merged layers of 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, and 1/30 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 107 - Dream job

This is Banteay Samre, built in the style of Angkor Wat by Suryavarman II, it lies a little farther afield than most of the temples.  When we arrived there were only a few other visitors there but, oddly, many stewards were working.  Most were chatting and passing the time but I was unable then, as now, to understand why so many people would be employed to work at a relatively small and remote temple.  It was beautiful to be sure but no more than so many others with fewer people serving them.  Curiouser and curiouser...

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
57mm, f11, 1/40 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 105 - Tumbling

I loved exploring Ta Nei.  It was early afternoon and it had been raining the whole way out to this remote temple so when we arrived it was completely deserted.  Because of its remote location Ta Nei has not received much attention in the way of restoration.  There are some small narrow paths through all the fallen stones but mostly the courtyard was filled with rubble.  Still, it was very pretty, the air was sweet with the scent damp earth and rustling of sleeping bats could be heard in the dark corners of the temple.  All it needed was an idol made of gold resting on a plinth illuminated by a single ray of light and it would have been a great set for an Indiana Jones movie.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f11, merged layers of 1/10, 1/5, 0.4, and 0.8 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 104 - Ominous elephants

This is the central tower of East Mebon, a temple that was once on an artificial island in the East Baray.  Built in the 10th century by King Rajendravarman to honor his parents, East Mebon is dedicated to Shiva.  On the corners of the first and second levels are carved elephants which serve to differentiate Eat Mebon from stylistically similar temples like Pre Rup.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f11, merged layers of 1/400, 1/100, and 1/50 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 101 - Death gate

This is the "death gate" of the Angkor complex; the gate by which the dead were removed and eventually laid to rest.  When we visited we saw no other people despite having to fight the afternoon crowds.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
24mm, f4, 1/320 sec @ 1600 ISO

2013, Day 20 - Luscious rain

This is the exterior wall of Ta Nei.  It is a small temple built in the Buddhist style in the 12th century and may have been used as a hospital.  What makes it remarkable is its lack of exceptional qualities; it isn't the best example of anything but the upshot is that Ta Nei is rarely visited.  When we went it was really quiet having just rained and I think there might have been two other people the whole time were explored.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
22mm, f11, merged layers of 1/5, 0.4, and 0.8 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 350 - Ruined

Beng Mealea was probably the most exciting temple that we visited in Cambodia.  The architecture is quite similar to Angkor Wat but the temple layout, a series of galleries on a single level, is vastly different.  Beng Mealea is probably the most significantly damaged of the jungle temples but the authorities are quite permissive in allowing exploration.  Tumbled stones create somewhat precarious steps to the top of walls along which visitors are free to walk.  It truly feels like exploration but I expect that in the relatively near future access is going to become more limited.  The stress of people climbing through the ruins is threatening the integrity of the site which leaves me with mixed emotions.  I am glad that I got to experience this magnificent temple the way that I did but there is a lingering guilt that I have contributed to the degradation of their amazing place.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
35mm, f8, merged layers of 1/13, 1/6, and 1/3 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 348 - Open and shut

Preah Khan was the temple we visited without Brian and Nicole.  They were feeling run down and Nicole had a book, now published, to review so Araceli and I were on our own for the morning adventure with Mr. Mony.  True to form we left early so we arrived before the crowds and had the temple to ourselves which made it ideal for photography.

Preah Khan does not have multiple levels like some of the other temples at Angkor, it is a series of successive galleries with a Buddhist temple at the center.  Because of the the transfer back and forth between Buddhism and Hinduism there are also small Hindu temples within the compound as well.  You cans see in this image where one tree was cut down because it was dangerously unstable and was a threat to the integrity of the temple and to the life and limb of those visiting.  Otherwise Preah Khan is largely unrestored and trees have, with only some success, tried to reclaim the site as part of the larger jungle.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f5.6, merged layers of 1/200, 1/50, and 1/25 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 343 - Victorious

Preah Khan was not just a temple, it was also an institution of learning as well as the center of a city.  Historians believe that there may have been as many as one hundred thousand people who lived and worked to support the temple complex.  It is one of the many temples known for the aggressive advance of the jungle.  Trees have torn many walls apart leaving rubble behind.  The aptly named strangler figs have such a tenacious grip that it would cause more damage to remove them than to manage future growth.

Although named for the holy sword of King Jayavarman VII and his conquests it is clear the victory is fleeting.  The accomplishments of man, though impressive, are yielding to the power of nature.  It is an incredible fight to witness and the result is breathtaking.  We were fortunate to arrive early enough that when you stood still all you could hear was the call of birds, the hum of cicadas, and the slight rustling of the trees signalling their advance...

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f8, merged layers of 1/40 and 1/10 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 335 - Benevolence

This is Bayon, the temple at the center of King Jayavarman VII's capital.  Built in the 12th century, Bayon is known for the serene smiling faces that adorn the towers.  Some scholars believe that the faces may be those of Jayavarman himself as it would not have been unusual for the king to be given a divine status; other scholars have suggested that the faces represent the Bodhisattva of compassion.  It was the last temple to be built in Angkor and was, when constructed, almost entirely Buddhist although it has since been modified by later Hindu and Buddhist monarchs.

This was the first temple we visited at the Angkor complex.  Araceli and I arrived in Siem Reap at about noon while Brian and Nicole had arrived the day prior.  Mr. Mony did not allow us to waste and he picked us up in the afternoon, took us to buy our temple passes, and then we went straight to Angkor Thom and this magnificent temple.  This is taken from one of the courtyards outside the temple proper and here you can see the entrance and the lichen covered faces looking benevolently out in the four cardinal directions.  Near the stairs to the main entrance you can see a member of the temple security staff walking away which may help to give you a sense of scale.  While Bayon is not a large temple it is still a huge structure composed of thousands of carefully laid stone blocks that have endured for almost nine centuries.

The smiling faces that adorn the towers really do give Bayon a warm inviting feeling.  It suggests that all are welcome and it was an amazing way to be initiated into the majesty of Angkor.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
24mm, f5.6, merged layers of 1/100, 1/25, and 1/13 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 334 - Just a facade

Tonight we return to Beng Mealea.  I can't get enough of this temple and the more I look at the images the more enchanted I become.  This is a small courtyard outside one of the large antechambers.  Tumbled stones are littered across the ground and trees have a death grip on the buildings but I still marvel that a structure built in the 12th century is still so intact.  Beng Mealea was abandoned to the jungle for hundreds of years and except where the trees have demolished sections the walls still stand straight and true.  There is no discernible settling even though it stands on silty soil and is surrounded by a lotus pond.  The architects and builders of these temples possessed a skill equal to our own the the kings that commissioned these holy sites possessed the patience required to ensure that they would last for centuries.

When I look at this photograph I can feel the humid around me, smell the damp earth that gives the trees and moss so much sustenance and the mellow scent of decaying wood, and hear the steady drone of the cicadas punctuated by the calls of birds.  If you have the opportunity to visit these temples I urge you to go, once you've been there the experience will be emblazoned on your mind forever.  These are living places with their own heart beat and if you listed carefully you can hear it but only if you allow yourself to be lost in the moment, to truly experience the place and not just see it.  To only see Beng Mealea or any of the temples is like that door, it is artificial, there is so much more than what you see, you need to allow yourself to take  in the whole experience otherwise it is just a facade.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f5.6, HDR of 1/50, 1/25, 1/13, 1/6, and 0.3 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 333 - Light at the end

Tonight I share an image from our tomb raiding at Beng Mealea.  At seventy seven kilometers from Siem Reap it may be one of the temples furthest from the heart of the Angkor complex but it is now well visited.  It is only second in size to Angkor Wat and combines Hindu and Buddhist iconography in the carvings.  The construction of this temple is a bit different from many of the others, the overbuilding that was so common is lacking here as was observed by Araceli, an engineer and one of my traveling companions.  The result is that the jungle's attack of this structure has been more devastating than at the other jungle temples.

Below you can see one of the few intact hallways.  We had to slither down through rubble and squeeze past an obstructed but intact doorway to get to this section.  A tree's roots have broken through at the corner of the hall but it hasn't yet demolished the structure.  In time it would no doubt reduce this area to match the rest of the grounds but with careful tending it will be allowed to thrive in harmony with what is left of the temple.

If you were able to look through the window on the left you would find a small courtyard.  Inside there are a couple of trees and surrounding those trees are large sandstone blocks that have been ripped from adjacent rooms and hallways.  A thin carpet of lush green moss covers the stones and small flowering plants have taken root in the meager accumulated soil.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f5.6, HDR layers of 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, and 4 sec @ 400 ISO

2012, Day 319 - Shades of pink

This morning we got up for a six o'clock departure, it was almost like sleeping in as we have been getting up so consistently early.  Mr. Mony picked us up and we made our way back to the Angkor complex again in the dark.  Brian and Nicole wanted to see Preah Khan and since Araceli and I had been there yesterday they asked to be dropped off so the two of us could go on with Mr. Mony to see more of the sights.

We started at the Terrace of the Elephants and their dawn view of Prasats Suor Prat, the towers of the tightrope dancers.  It is said that the king would watch as acrobats moved back and forth from tower to tower on tightropes.  The walls of the terrace bear carvings that show a three headed elephant and multiple five headed horses.

From the terrace we walked toward Baphuon, the Tower of Bronze.  It is a deceptively large temple as it is set a long way down an isolated walkway and you cannot really appreciate the massive scale until your approach.  According to archiologists the central tower that no longer exists may be the reason for its' name, a tower clad in bronze.  Unfortunately some of Baphuon collapsed under its' own weight.  On the back there is the remains of what was a relief of a huge reclining Buddha now almost indiscernible if you don't know where to look.

We moved through a side gate and came upon a long spider web.  Initially we thought there was a spider eating another insect but as we moved closer we discovered what looked to be a kind of crab spider.  It had two large spiny projections coming off the back of its abdomen and Mr. Mony happily poked at it with a stick so we could watch it clamber quickly away from the source of harassment.

Into the jungle we wandered until we can upon the the royal pools.  Two, one for men and one for women, were placed in what appeared to be isolation.  Sadly they are just adjacent to the royal palace of which almost nothing remains.  The larger of the pools is said to be intended for women as the king had many concubines so it needed to be bigger to accommodate all those women.  At about a third the size, the pool designated for men is large when you consider that it had only a few people who might use it.

We ended on the Terrace of the Leper King.  Apparently named in honor of the statute of Yama, the god of death and judgment, that is featured on the center of the terrace the terrace features reliefs that depict the many levels of hell.

That marked the end of our tour of the terrace area of Angkor Thom so we returned to the van and left to pick up our wayward companions.  I think Brian may have had a rough night so we decided to return to the hotel for a relaxing morning and early afternoon.  We all ate, relaxed, worked on our photos and wasted time.  It seemed like we hadn't been back for too long before we were packing up again to meet Mr. Mony.

First Mr. Mony took us to Banteay Srey, a temple outside of Angkor that gets few visitors because of the relative distance.  We arrived while the sun was beating down on us and were sweating almost as soon as we got out of the van's artificial climate.  Banteay Srey is also known as the Citadel of Women and although small is in remarkably good condition.  Made primarily of pink sandstone it has a much different look than most of the other temples we have visited but that may be due to what scholars describe as a heavy Indian influence in architecture and design.  The reliefs were in very good shape although, as is so common, most of the carvings depicting the Buddha have been defaced under the reign of subsequent Hindu kings.

After exploring the halls of Banteay Srey we moved on to Pre Rup, a temple used primarily for cremation ceremonies.  The color of this temple was great and amplified by our arrival as the afternoon was waning.  Made primarily from red brick the warmth was amplified thanks to the late afternoon sun.  Here we waited as the sun sank in the west throwing the last of its light onto the cloudy sky.  The longer we watched the more people arrived and eventually it became quite busy.  But we waited and waited and eventually descended from the highest terrace.  While waiting for Nicole the sky changed suddenly and most people were streaming out to their buses, tuk tuks, and vans.  Never ones to go with the flow we fought the tide of people and dashed through the temple again to try to find the best light.  Eventually I found myself back at the top as the last visitor was packing up to leave.  I had it all to myself and it was magical.

With the light almost gone we returned to our hotel.  Tomorrow Brian and Nicole return to Phnom Penh and Francene rejoins us in Siem Reap.  We all went out to dinner together one last time (at least for a couple of weeks) and then returned to our respective rooms to get cleaned up before another early morning.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f8, merged and HDR of 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15 sec @ 200 ISO