Posts made in June, 2011

Looking at this again and again gives me the willies… I certainly wouldn’t want to be caught in the middle of that!

Took this photo long ago when my point-and-shoot digi-cam was brand new. I tried the macro-shot feature and could not believe how it turned out – an incredible extreme close up of bugs slugging it out. I love the depth of field here. I was just there, at the right place and at the right time, lucky me.(Poor fly though.) My husband said this would be an excellent and useful picture for teaching food chain.

For more Wordless/Wordful entries, please click here.

and here.

More photos at That’s My World.

Cambodia in celebration of its 55th anniversary of Independence from France.
I do not know which government ministry was this contingent from but judging from the hard-hats worn, they might be from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

An Apsara, in Khmer folklore, is a celestial being. Together with the devatas, they are “assigned” here on earth to fulfill their respective duties. The apsaras are celestial entertainers/dancers and they are always depicted as dancing (above) or poised ready to dance while the devatas are always standing still and facing forward in their role as temple guardians or watchers.

New apsaras and devatas come down to earth once a year, every Khmer New Year, to replace the ones that are already here. Images of these celestial beings are prominently found in Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, and Ta Prohm temples and most of them are of the apsaras. Archaeologists are still trying to uncover one of the mysteries surrounding Angkor Wat – why do women  dominate the largest religious structure on earth and who were these ancient Khmer women depicted in the temples?

I was at my younger brother’s apartment a week ago in Boeungkengkang district for a chitchat and snacks. I used to live in this area back in the mid-2000s and I kinda missed the neighbourhood – it was once touted as the NGO (non-governmental organisation) area. When I looked outside from his window – he lives on the 3rd floor unit – this view welcomed me. Amazing how the landscape has changed in that span of time. Before only the tall trees dominated the landscape and you can see rooftops and triangles as far as your eyes can see. But now, the trees had been cut and the old apartment buildings were torn down and replaced by these tall, ugly  (serviced) apartments that cater to mostly expats.

More Photo Hunters are found at tnchick’s site. Please click the link to go there.