Travel Bits: September 2015

By -
September 2015 has been a busy month at work for me. Because of this, I had not been writing much. Thus, I missed my self-set quota of publishing one travel article every two weeks on this blog. Now that things have cleared up a bit at work, I hope to be blogging more regularly.

In this month, I managed to find some time to travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The purpose of this trip is to visit the world famous archeological temple sites that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site listing of Angkor. As a keen student of history and archaeology in my free time, I had read and researched much on Angkorean history. However, no photographs or research can match the feeling of personally standing in the midst of these magnificent temples. While what remain today of these temples are but a shadow of the grandeur of the original buildings in their heydays; standing on what was and is still considered holy temple grounds and walking the hallways of the temples that were built and crafted manually hundreds of years ago literally bring history to life!

The most famous of these ancient temples is Angkor Wat. But visiting just Angkor Wat alone is not enough. To fully appreciate the history and culture of Angkor, one must also visit Angkor Thom which includes the magnificent Baphuon and the mysterious and awesome Bayon with its 216 faces of Avalokiteshvara that were carved on 54 towers, each tower bearing 4 faces of Avalokiteshvara. And there are also Ta Prohm and Banteay Srei. Little known but no less impressive Ta Keo is another important site to visit. Pre Rup, with its pyramid-shaped facade built to resemble a mountain should also be on any visitor's itinerary.

My recommendation for those visiting the Angkor temple sites for the first time is to first spend some time touring the Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap. This museum houses many Angkorean artefacts spread over 8 galleries. Learning a bit about the history and culture of the people who built the Angkor temples before visiting the sites would allow a much deeper appreciation of what you will see during your field trips.

The author, Timothy Tan at Pre Rup, Siem Reap, Cambodia (2015)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Japan, Takayama - Dining on Wasakana

By -
Image
The city of Takayama is also known as Hida-Takayama and is located in the mountainous Hida region of Gifu Prefecture in Japan. A popular dish in Takayama is Wasakana or river fish. There are many species of river fishes in Takayama but the ones that are regularly served as part of the local cuisines are Ayu ( Plecoglossus altivelis , ) a.k.a sweetfish and Iwana ( Salvelinus leucomaenis ), a species of river trout.  Wasakana (River Fish). This fish was pickled and then grilled. I am not sure of the species of this fish which was caught in the river behind the Ryokan where I resided during my stay in the mountains. Takayama, Gifu, Japan (2014) The fishes are usually marinated with sea salt and grilled. This method of cooking the river fishes is most popularly shown in pictures or on travel documentaries. During my visit to Takayama in October 2014, I finally got to savor the delicious tastes of the Wasakana prepared in authentic local styles by the locals....
Read more

Singapore, Horsburgh - Deep Sea Fishing

By -
Image
Horsburgh Lighthouse (or Horsburgh) is located on an outlying small island (a.k.a Pedra Branca meaning "White Rock" in Portuguese) near the entrance to the east of the Straits of Singapore. The lighthouse was named after Cpt James Horsburgh, who was a hydrographer with the then East India Company. Horsburgh is located about 54km (34 miles) east of Singapore. It was raining in the morning as we set off for the long anticipated trip which was planned as far back as 3 months ago in August 1998. There were four of us; YK, Kenneth, CC and myself.  
 Soon, we were on our way to the suppossedly rich fishing grounds near Horsburgh Lighthouse. This locale is considered a good fishing ground for recreational fishing because commercial trawling is supposedly not permitted.  
 We reached our first fishing spot at exactly 5.00 pm local time. Looking around, we couldn't see actually any lighthouse but who cares, it was the fishing that we were coming for, not a visit to so...
Read more

Estonia, Tallinn - Palace of Ungern-Sternberg

By -
Image
I was awestruck by the grandness and magnificence of this building during my walking tour of the Old Town of Tallinn. While there, I had no opportunity to enter the building itself. Thus, admiring its facade and photographing its structure as I walked around its perimeter had to suffice.  The  Palace of Ungern-Sternberg, Tallinn, Estonia (2017) Without knowing what this building was, its history and its name, the photographs I took allowed me to conduct basic research on it after the trip.  Based on my rudimentary research into the building long after my trip to Tallinn, I was to discover that it was built in the year 1865 by the German architect, Martin Gropius. Also known as the Palace of Ungern-Sternberg, the building is today the home of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. The Academy is a group of scientists whose aim is to promote research & development and scientific cooperation as well as knowledge dissemination.  The main build...
Read more