October 26 was awhile ago, but I never posted the beautiful pictures of Siem Riep! We were there for three days (really only one day because of travel) & it was a nice detour leaving Cambodia to start our month of ministry in Thailand. Since we were so close to Ankor Wat–the largest temple in the world–we figured we should definately see it if we were so close! This magnificant temple was first dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu, & then became a significant temple for Buddhist followers. We arrived to the site early in the morning & spent the entire day there seeing the ruins & learning the historical significance of Angkor Wat.
Below, is a picture taken just to the right of the walkway over the mote you see above.
This is one of my favorite pictures (on top).
The name Angkor Wat literally means City Temple.
A favorite quote of mine comes from one of the first Westerners to visit Angkor & said that this, “is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of.”
Built in the early 12th Century, these temples are a source of great pride to the Cambodian people.
The ruins are even more gorgeous when you see them with your own eyes. The tree roots grow over everything!
Another famous quote I found comes from the French explorer, Henri Mouhot who wrote in his travel notes, “One of these temples-a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo-might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged.”
From Cranes camera…if I remember correctly?
That’s are photographer!
That purse was a birthday present from my team! I loved it! It broke in 6 days =/
After two hours, I was spent.
Surprisingly, Angkor has survived thru the ages with little damage (some theft & destruction occurred during the Khmer Rouge).
Above is me with my dear Kara! & aside from Angkor Wat, we also made the most of the free time we had in Siem Riep.
They chose to play in the water with my camera…
…I chose to take a nap =)
Johnny (picture above) & his sister Tara (below) making a friend the morning we had to leave.
The day came when were we had to leave to dive into a months worth of work in Thailand. The picture under shows Melanie ready to start off the day of travel on the extremely over-packed bus.
Not even an hour into our trip did the bus break down. It was thankfully just a flat.
Kara took advantage of this free time by changing! Dre, Stacey, & Krystle made a wonderful shield for her.
By evening time we were still not yet in Bangkok, but we did not mind waiting for our next bus to arrive. Nurse Maithili took the time to help a little boy who was just wandering about the bus stop. He had a bloody toe.
As you already know, we did make it to Thailand & had a great time getting there! The month flew by! I’ll be sure to post some blogs soon about how that went & more on what it has been like here in London.
THE END.
THE END.
