Tag: Photos

After getting dumbfounded in Angkor Wat, we headed to Angkor Thom and explored every temples within the complex. We stumbled in Bayon, ascened to the top of Baphuon, climbed the highest point of Phimeanakas, wondered around the Royal Palace, lingered the stretch of the Elephants Terrace, and roamed in the the channels of Leper King Terrace. It was an awesome temple run in Siem Reap. But hey, we weren’t done yet. Though Aaron already met his limit, we still headed to some amazing temples outside Angkor Thom. We left Angkor Thom through the Victory Gate and stopped in Thommanon. Thommanon was built ... Read more

The Victory gate is one of the two east exits of Angkor Thom – the other one is the East Gate which is just 500 meters south. It is nearly 1.3 kilometers away and is exactly opposite of the Terrace of the Elephants of the Royal Palace. The structure of the gate is similar to that of Bayon temple which is made of faced towers. We exited the gate when we headed to Thommanon and the neighboring Chau Say Tevoda temple. The Victory gate of Angkor Thom

The Elephants Terrace is part of the walled city within Angkor Thom. This 300-meter long terrace serves as the viewing stand for public ceremonies and as base of the king’s grand audience hall. Elephant carvings decorate the southern sections while garuda and lion designs can be found in the central section. The terrace of the elephants

Immediately after exiting Bayon temple, we moved to the Baphuon temple. It is only few hundreds of meters (350+) away from Bayon, including the 150-meter walkway from the main road. The surrounding of the temple is a swamp, which gets deeper on wet season. That was probably why its builders created an elevated pathway. The walkway to Baphuon Temple Pyramid-like Temple Baphuon temple is also located within the Angkor Thom complex like the Bayon. It is a three-tiered pyramidal or mountain-like temple that was built in the mid-11th century. This 150-meter by 100-meter monument has a height of roughly 50 meters, including ... Read more

I never thought that I would be crossing out one great entry in my bucket list this year. This 12th-century temple was always a dream and then, just this December, I finally laid a hand to the world’s largest religious- and well-preserved monument – the Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat forms part of Angkor, the seat of the Khmer Empire (9th – 14th century AD) and was built during the reign of King Suryavarman II. We arranged with our tour guide the day before to pick us up in our hotel at 5:00AM for us to witness the sunrise. Due to excitement, ... Read more

Ayutthaya Kingdom [1351 to 1767 AD] was once considered as Southeast Asia’s most formidable. But not until 1767 when it fell to Burma’s fury. At the present, all that remained were ruins and the reinforced chedis. These ruins were under the protectorate of Ayutthaya Historical Park and were listed to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. We visited the Wat Phra Si Sanphet and the Grand Palace ruins after our tour inside the nearby Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit, making it the second stop of our “temple run” in Ayutthaya – part of the day 2 of our Indochina Tour. The three main chedis of ... Read more

Also called as the Monastery of the Great Relic, the Wat Maha That was built during the reign of the Siamese medieval empire, the Ayutthaya Kingdom. Now, it is one of the most stunning historical artifacts in Thailand’s former capital. Wat Maha That was the third stop of our temple run in Ayutthaya during the day 2 of our Indochina tour. An admission fee of TH฿50 was collected which, I guess, was just a small amount to fund the restoration and maintenance of this important temple. In fact, the on-going restoration efforts made us skipped some of the temples on our list. A buddha head ... Read more

We walked a kilometer from the Royal Pavilion Mahajetsadabadin to see the Giant Swing. We never expected that we will see another holy stunner nearby, the Wat Suthat. Wat Suthat is one of the oldest and largest temples in Bangkok. It is known for its distinct roof line, 25-ft tall golden Buddha, elaborate mural paintings, and giant swing on its front. The main hall of Wat Suthat Immediately after our photo ops around the Giant Swing, we headed to the temple’s entrance to inquire if public access is allowed, and luckily, we were allowed to go in. However, we TH฿20 ... Read more

The Giant Swing (Thai: เสาชิงช้า, Sao Chingcha) is a religious structure in Bangkok, Thailand. It was originally built in 1784 for the annual Swing ceremony as part of the Brahmin thanksgiving ceremony. Three Thai men would ride a swing, suspended for up to 24 meters, to grab a bag of silver coins with their teeth. After some severe injuries and few deaths, the ceremony was discontinued in 1932. The giant swing underwent some renovations and was moved to its current location in 1920, after being gravely damage by lightning strikes. Then it was completely replaced in 2004. In the photo was ... Read more