Hi guys, how do. Just a quick update with a couple of important themes.
Firstly family. Jack, hey look, useless Uncle Charlie here, a belated Happy Birthday to you. Hope all is well at home there. Also to Kate, brilliant exam results, the Vav family have done very well! Bet Mum and Dad are really pleased. See you all soonish...
Sorry about that but I am conscious that I am not perhaps the most reliable of Uncles, as it said on my school reports, could do better.
But here is a place that can do no better, it is quite simply one of the most, if not the most, magnificent places I have seen in over 20 years of travelling the world looking for and looking at magnificent places. I am talking about Angkor Wat or city temple as it translates. This is a place that just blows the mind both in terms of scale and grandeur. Its hey day was between the 900s and 1400s AD when quite literally millions of people lived and worshipped here. Depending on who was king it swung between Hindu and Buddhist. Temples were either built, trashed or changed accordingly. Rock was carried 63 kms from the mountains to construct this place....I cannot really describe the scale of it but think of not just one temple but of a huge area with different temples, cities, reservoirs etc all dotted around. Make these out of sandstone and volcanic rock then top off with wooden interiors and painted gem filled walls and halls and you are starting to hint at a glimpse of a tiny fraction of a smidgen of what it would have looked like. Sublime.
I will not bore you too much with the details because it really is hard to grasp the brilliance of this place so I will let the photos try and start to explain, then as I collect photos off the guys you will hopefully get more to grips with this colossus of brilliant artistic endeavour. Suffice it to say we had a brilliant morning tour and I for one feel a deep sense of joy at having seen this place.
Ok CJ for crying out loud, enough! On a more domestic note, great curry last night, the Irish bar should not advertise Guinness when it does not have it and the steaks and lasagne here in Siem Reap are oh so tasty....yep I did not come all this way to eat foreign food as Marky used to say. Well not stricktly speaking true. On the way up here I had a delicious pork and ginger noodle dish, Cambodia really is punching above its weight. Then as if that is not enough you should have seen the bus we got here, a private hire 45 seater with AC...oh so snooze-comfy...not of course Calypso but not bad....speaking of which we will be reunited next week, bring that on...
Laters CJ
Firstly family. Jack, hey look, useless Uncle Charlie here, a belated Happy Birthday to you. Hope all is well at home there. Also to Kate, brilliant exam results, the Vav family have done very well! Bet Mum and Dad are really pleased. See you all soonish...
Sorry about that but I am conscious that I am not perhaps the most reliable of Uncles, as it said on my school reports, could do better.
But here is a place that can do no better, it is quite simply one of the most, if not the most, magnificent places I have seen in over 20 years of travelling the world looking for and looking at magnificent places. I am talking about Angkor Wat or city temple as it translates. This is a place that just blows the mind both in terms of scale and grandeur. Its hey day was between the 900s and 1400s AD when quite literally millions of people lived and worshipped here. Depending on who was king it swung between Hindu and Buddhist. Temples were either built, trashed or changed accordingly. Rock was carried 63 kms from the mountains to construct this place....I cannot really describe the scale of it but think of not just one temple but of a huge area with different temples, cities, reservoirs etc all dotted around. Make these out of sandstone and volcanic rock then top off with wooden interiors and painted gem filled walls and halls and you are starting to hint at a glimpse of a tiny fraction of a smidgen of what it would have looked like. Sublime.
I will not bore you too much with the details because it really is hard to grasp the brilliance of this place so I will let the photos try and start to explain, then as I collect photos off the guys you will hopefully get more to grips with this colossus of brilliant artistic endeavour. Suffice it to say we had a brilliant morning tour and I for one feel a deep sense of joy at having seen this place.
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| Beautiful |
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| Buddha |
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| City ruins consumed by jungle |
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| Classic portal |
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| 8-handed Vishnu, Hindu god, still worshipped today at Angkor |
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| A contemplative Steve |
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| Angkor Wat tour |
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| Another step, another temple |
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| East gate, Ta Prohm (as seen in Tomb Raider) |
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| Eastern entrance to the largest settlement |
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| Emily, pensive |
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| Every view is just fab |
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| Faded glory |
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| Glorious remains |
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| Great architecture |
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| Great sights |
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| Group exploration |
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| Jim, arty shot |
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| Looking out over the jungle from the top of Angkor Wat |
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| Jim, demonstrating the pool |
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| Natural and man made beauty, fused |
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| Nature returns |
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| Odyssey Overland explores |
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| Oldest, unluckiest and unfinished |
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| Photographing us, photographing it |
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| Portal Denis |
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| Nature returns |
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| View from the top |
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| Wat you lookin at? |
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| Yep, this works for me, good luck CJ |
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| You really have to see it to believe it |
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| Reflective glory |
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| Steep steps to redemption |
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| Steve contemplates life |
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| Temple of delights, delightful temple |
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| The big people |
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| The Odyssey perspective |
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| The only way to travel |
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| The photos just don't do it justice |
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| Tip top |
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| Tomb raider |
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| Top group outing, Angkor Wat |
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| CJ the tourist |
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| Portal to another world |
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| Our very own heart-stealing beauty |
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| Peaceful days |
Ok CJ for crying out loud, enough! On a more domestic note, great curry last night, the Irish bar should not advertise Guinness when it does not have it and the steaks and lasagne here in Siem Reap are oh so tasty....yep I did not come all this way to eat foreign food as Marky used to say. Well not stricktly speaking true. On the way up here I had a delicious pork and ginger noodle dish, Cambodia really is punching above its weight. Then as if that is not enough you should have seen the bus we got here, a private hire 45 seater with AC...oh so snooze-comfy...not of course Calypso but not bad....speaking of which we will be reunited next week, bring that on...
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| In a bar in Cambodia there is a sign to Ben's village in Ireland! |
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| Comfy coach action... plenty of room with 45 seats to share! |
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| The Palace |
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| I do believe they are yet to go to bed and I have just had breakfast... |
Laters CJ
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