Cambodia Pic Spam - Sambor Prei Kuk
Picking up the slack.
We're still on the road to Siem Reap, but on that day we were visiting a special place. Sambor Prei Kuk is a group of Hinduistic temples from the Pre-Angkorean period. You could, from the general layout and architecture, kind of see what Angkor Wat was going to have in store for us.
The temple site was situated in midst of old-growth jungle, so this sheltered visit was something we really enjoyed.
The only thing we felt uncomfortable about was the flock of children who tried to sell us all sorts of things. They as well as a policeman accompanied us throughout the whole tour. Whenever Lok, our guide, explained something to us, they withdrew and in turn gathered around the policeman so as not to disturb us. As soon as lecture was over and we were moving on to the next complex, they swarmed. They distributed evenly over our group with each of us 'acquiring' two or three kids, continually proffering their stuff and asking us to buy something, postcards or a kramar or whatever else they had.
I know they were doing their part to support their families and they were not too pushy, but still - I could've done without that experience. It wasn't the first time we encountered this behaviour and certainly wasn't going to be the last, though. Sometimes you gave something and was wondering whether you'd gotten duped, sometimes you didn't give anything and felt horribly stingy. It didn't matter, you lost either way.
Now, pictures (ten of them under the cut)!
This is what they look like on the inside.
This is called 'yoni', part of a set consisting of 'lingam' (=penis-shaped pillar, representing Hindu deity Shiva and the male principle) and 'yoni' (square, grooved structure representing representing the deity Shakti and the female principle). They had a ceremonial function. The lingam got stolen, because it was said to consist of pure gold. Yeah. There were always scoundrels, no matter which time.
One of my 'minders'.
This used to be a swimming pool, used by the King to cleanse himself before performing ceremonies.
That's one of my favourite pictures from that day. Great, eh?
Yet again: Hank, the frog.
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..
We're still on the road to Siem Reap, but on that day we were visiting a special place. Sambor Prei Kuk is a group of Hinduistic temples from the Pre-Angkorean period. You could, from the general layout and architecture, kind of see what Angkor Wat was going to have in store for us.
The temple site was situated in midst of old-growth jungle, so this sheltered visit was something we really enjoyed.
The only thing we felt uncomfortable about was the flock of children who tried to sell us all sorts of things. They as well as a policeman accompanied us throughout the whole tour. Whenever Lok, our guide, explained something to us, they withdrew and in turn gathered around the policeman so as not to disturb us. As soon as lecture was over and we were moving on to the next complex, they swarmed. They distributed evenly over our group with each of us 'acquiring' two or three kids, continually proffering their stuff and asking us to buy something, postcards or a kramar or whatever else they had.
I know they were doing their part to support their families and they were not too pushy, but still - I could've done without that experience. It wasn't the first time we encountered this behaviour and certainly wasn't going to be the last, though. Sometimes you gave something and was wondering whether you'd gotten duped, sometimes you didn't give anything and felt horribly stingy. It didn't matter, you lost either way.
Now, pictures (ten of them under the cut)!
This is what they look like on the inside.
This is called 'yoni', part of a set consisting of 'lingam' (=penis-shaped pillar, representing Hindu deity Shiva and the male principle) and 'yoni' (square, grooved structure representing representing the deity Shakti and the female principle). They had a ceremonial function. The lingam got stolen, because it was said to consist of pure gold. Yeah. There were always scoundrels, no matter which time.
One of my 'minders'.
This used to be a swimming pool, used by the King to cleanse himself before performing ceremonies.
That's one of my favourite pictures from that day. Great, eh?
Yet again: Hank, the frog.
..
..