Home / Joe Wise / Angkor / Angkor Wat 8
Angkor Wat is actually just one of the many many ruins sites in the Angkor area. It is famous for a reason though. Very well preserved and over a mile of amazingly detailed bas relief carvings.
- Angkor Wat
This is an HDR shot of the inner courtyard of Angkor Wat, taken from the northeast corner of said courtyard. - Shell Strike
What you are looking at is the 'door jamb' of the entrance wall to the Angkor Wat site. This is a clear shell strike on the doorway, a relic of the Cambodian civil war. The surface on the left edge of the image is what you would see if you stood in the doorway and looked to your right. The parallel surface on the right of the image is the adjacent wall of the 'Entry room' for this entrance. And the surface in the middle of the image is the wall through which the doorway passes. In the lower left, you can see that a large hunk of the corner edge of the Jamb/wall has been blown out, with a slight 'flower petal' pattern spreading outward. This is the impact site of the shell. On the wall surface on the right of the image, you can see how shrapnel from this strike sprayed out and impacted the adjacent wall, causing damage in the form of small holes. - Angkor Wat
This is a high distant shot of Angkor Wat, taken from atop Phnom Bakheng, the mountain temple in Angkor. The green tarp is where restoration work is being done on the main entrance and inner courtyard. It was this area that I had to precariously climb through for my impromptu 'VIP' tour (ask for details). OSHA would be proud. - Angkor Wat
This is the eastern side of Angkor Wat. Unlike most Buddhist Temples, the front faces west. - Naga
Just about every balustrade in the anchor area terminates in a 'Naga' such as this one. It's a seven headed serpent with cobra like hoods flared. - Bas Relief Hall
Another shot of 1 of the 4 extensive Bas Relief Galleries, showing the full length of the north gallery. - Bas Relief
The walls of the courtyard are actually galleries, housing over 1 mile of EXTREMELY Detailed Bas Relief carvings. The detail and volume of work is unfathomable. It's been described as "the greatest known linear arrangement of stone carving." This one, on the north wall depicts the Battle of Lanka (from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana) and the Battle of Kurukshetra (Hindu Myths). - Angkor Wat At Sunrise
This is Angkor Wat at sunrise. There are several things that are not captured in this picture. Firstly, the time. I had to get up at 4:30 in order to be there for sunrise. And I was a little disappointed to learn that I was still too late for a 'front row seat' on the water's edge! Second are the cicadas. During the darkness before sunrise, it's largely silent. As the light comes up so does the sound. There's this weird, electric hum that comes from the surrounding jungle and gets louder and louder. Later in the day, as you walk around, you find yourself very close to the source of this noise. Close up, it can only be described as 'jet engine like': high pitched, piercing, and persistent. Turns out these are the cambodian cicadas, which sound NOTHING like american Cicadas.