Exploring the temples of Angkor Wat in Black & White.

“IN PHOTOS” is a series I use to share many of the hundreds of photos I have taken during my travels. It is a series I started after visiting Chefchaouen, Morocco and thought the best way to share my experience there was “IN PHOTOS”. This series will not have a set schedule like my “MUSIC MONDAY” or “PHOTO ROUND UP”. “IN PHOTOS” will be a post with several photos with no limit. The only restriction this series will have is that it must be about a certain subject or theme. I will write a brief description of the subject or theme of the photos and then post the photos. I will not caption the photos like I do on my “PHOTO ROUND UP” with my thoughts. I want to use “IN PHOTOS” to share my photos and let you come up with your own thoughts about the images and hope you share them with me. I have also numbered them in case you want to leave a comment about a specific photo.

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Finally visiting Angkor Wat was bitter sweet for me because it is a set of ruins I have been wanting to visit from the moment I learned about them (years ago) and just so happened to be the last set of ruins I would see on my two year trip around the world. I didn’t plan it that way, but ironically that’s how it happened. I had spent longer than intended in Vietnam and because of that was searching for cheap flights to Cambodia, but in the end decided it’d be better on my budget to take the bus. Since I was short on time  my main focus in Siem Reap was the ruins of Angkor Wat and only Angkor wat. I was excited to learn that most hotels in Siem Reap offer bike rentals for $1 a day and for those in a bit of rush could also hire a tuk tuk for the day. The good thing about the ruins of Angkor Wat is you have three ticket options a 1 day pass for $20, 3 day pass for $40 or 7 day pass for $60. I purchased the 3 day pass and spent the 1st day exploring by bicycle and then the 2nd day by tuk tuk to be sure to be there bright and early for the famous sunrise and also be able to see more of the ruins that were a bit further away. The 3rd day was spent exploring another set of ruins 2 hours away by tuk tuk (I will share photos of those ruins in the future).

Angkor Wat is the pride of Cambodia and can be found on their flag, their beer and many other things; it also clames thrown to being the biggest tourist attraction in the country. I don’t blame them for having so much pride in it, after all Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world.  Angkor Wat is a collection of temples that were constructed during the rise of the Khmer Empire in the 12th century until the fall of the Khmer Empire in the 15th Century.  With so many temples to explore during my time there I took over 400 photos. I couldn’t help it… I loved all the detail that could be found at every corner and coincidently fell in love with the 3 most popular temples there Temple of Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Bayon. The three temples are very distinct from each other and all popular for that reason. The main temple of Angkor Wat is obviously the most famous for being the 1st one built and the only one of all the temples that been continuously used from the date of construction. It is also famous for it’s amazing architecture and the amazing reflections that can be seen on the moat during the sunrise or during the day. The Temple of Ta Prohm is often known as the “Tree Temple” because of all the trees that have been left pretty much untouched since they found the temple in ruins. The temple was left this way by the archeologist because the jungle did a good job at preserving the temple and it looked very picturesque. My favorite temple of all of them though was the Temple of Bayon also known as the “Face Temple”. This temple is decorated with 216 enormous faces of “Avalokiteshvara” that is said to resemble the face of the king himself. The faces are the size of a child and are staring at you from every direction as you walk through the Temple of Bayon.

I can go on in great detail about the three temples, but would honestly need to do a seperate  post for each of them. In the end I decided to make a collection of my best photos from my time exploring the Temples of Angkor Wat, turn them into Black and White (I feel like that is the best way to show you the great detail that has gone into the Temples) and share them with you. I will also write a brief sentence below each photo because I think in this case is more necessary than a number like I usually do. I hope you enjoy the following photos and share your thoughts with me in the comments.

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—The west wing of the main temple Angkor Wat.—

—A shadow cast through one of the many windows found in Angkor Wat.—

—One of the gates found around the Temple of Bayon.—

—Aside from the 3 temples I described above you can also find a Pyramid among the ruins of Angkor Wat. This is something I plan on writing more about since I have an obsession with Pyramids and had no clue one could be found in Cambodia. —

—The iconic Sunrise over Angkor Wat. Normally it’s horizontally, but for some reason like this shot of the sunrise vertically better.—

—The main Temple of Bayon. It was a cloudy day so couldn’t get much detail but look closely you can see some of the enormous faces.—

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—One of the enormous faces of Bayon. These faces are insanely amazing.—

—The Temple of Ta Prohm left as found with roots from a tree gorwing over the structure.—

 

—One of the entrances to Ta Prohm with a huge tree growing over the door way.—

—A detailed looked at some of the carvings found along the edge of the Temple.—

—One of the most famous doorways in the world. The door to the interior of the Temple of Ta Prohm.—

—Some of the Devatas that can be found through out the Temple of Angkor Wat.—

—A random tree that I loved that was growing out of the Temple of Ta Prohm.—

—Hieroglyphics found in some of the temples.—

—A bas-relief found in the Temples. —

—My favorite photo of all the photos I took. This is one of the enormous heads found at the Temple of Bayon. I so wanna frame this photo. I can’t get over the detail and try and figure out how they made them with so many individual rocks.—

—A women sitting in the middle of one the temples offering prayers for the tourist.—

Hope you enjoyed the photos & I hope you share your thoughts below.

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PREVIOUS IN PHOTOS

• A day in Hue, Vietnam in photos.
• The bright colors of the Minority People of Vietnam in photos.
• A stroll through Orchard Road (the Ritziest street in Singapore) in photos.
• The Petronas Twin Towers in photos.
• Majestic El Nido in photos.