“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Photos of Cambodia 6: The last few

So I'm back in Bangkok now, ensconsed in my regular Suk 11 Hostel room. The whole reason I came back (and didn't just camp out in an airport chair--shudder!) is because I left some food here last Friday that I didn't want to cart around with me. What a foolish person I am! Of course my bags are overweight and can't really handle any more stuff! I will manage somehow (I have on two flights already from Siem Reap and from KL). I hate this stress!!

Anyway, here are the last of the Cambodia photos.

On my last day I took a tuk tuk to a far off spot, called Banteay Srei. It wouldn't have been worth it for just that, but my true aim was a step further, when I took Chon, the female moto driver up to Kbal Spean, where I hiked up into the forest to see the most amazing river bed carvings. They must have carved it when it's dry, but at the moment it's monsoon, so they truly were surreal!

After that I came back to Banteay Srei (again at sunset!). Here are the monks leaving for the day. They have much more orange robes than the ones in Myanmar (which are more maroon).

Banteay Srei is famous for the details of its carvings, which are incredibly intricate. I also like the fact that Banteay Srei is dedicated to women.

Ah, Kuala Lumpur! I was there for just a short stopover on the way back, but managed to get up the Menara KL, to look at the Petronas twin towers, which sadly, from this angle, look like just one tower. KL's architecture was my favorite thing--they may be a modern city, but they take Islamic architecture to a modern level that I've seen nowhere else. They're so proud of their heritage, and they incorporate it in original ways. For example, the shape of these towers as two squares overlapping, like in Islamic design.

The last one is of the old city hall, designed by a British guy during the colonial era (but still copying Islamic design). In the background is a modern skyscraper, also in Islamic design. All of those window looking things are actually geometric lattices.

This will probably be my last post for a while as tomorrow when I get back I have to grade papers and finish my grades to hand in Monday morning. That along with typical Yangon life leaves me so little time that I always feel behind. I'm going to go now and put up the last of the Romania photos that are on this drive, and maybe one or two from Yangon. Enjoy!

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