APAD 208: The Western Baray
A beautiful sunny weather. Skies covered with thin clouds. Plus the boy who tagged along on a short cruise of the Western Baray.
The Western Baray, or West Baray, is an old, old, old water reservoir and the largest found inside the Angkor Wat complex. Its waters are contained by tall earthen dikes. In the center of the baray is the West Mebon, a Hindu temple built on an artificial island.
Early French experts believed the West Baray to have functioned as a vast holding tank for water that fed irrigation canals in dry times, allowing multiple crops of rice each year. Many later studies, however, theorize that the baray had mainly symbolic functions, serving as a vast earthly depiction of the Hindu Sea of Creation, with the West Mebon temple at its center. (Source)
Up to now, the reservoir is still full of water and has become an attraction drawing mostly local crowd (and sometimes, foreign tourists, too) for swimming and boat rides.
For more SkyWatch photos worldwide, click this logo below.
APAD 207: The Royal Gendarmerie of Kampot
This is one of the notable landmarks as we enter the province of Kampot – the provincial headquarters of the Royal Gendarmerie of Cambodia, or the Military Police, one of the branches of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. The mighty Garuda, as you can see, is holding up what could be a symbolic key (or something to that effect) with the logo and words in Khmer and French translation at the bottom. Please excuse the low quality picture, it was shot using a mobile phone camera and on a moving vehicle.
Gendarmerie Royale de la Provence Kampot
Royal Gendarmerie of Kampot Province
Garudas are mythical creatures found at the stone carvings in the Angkor temples. This clearly shows the influence and importance of Hinduism in Cambodia brought by the Hindu traders long time ago. The Garuda is one of the most unique creatures in Hindu mythology. It is a creature comprised with a head, wings and talons of an eagle with a man’s body. One of the three principle animal deities in Hindu mythology, the Garuda is the king of the birds and enemy of the serpent. (Source)
More signs all over the world at Signs, Signs. Please do have a look.
APAD 206: Psah Touch (small market)
This is where I buy our stocks. It is a relatively small market with dry and wet sections. It does get really busy especially in the mornings when, perhaps, half of the population in our commune, prefer to shop.
It’s a bit dark and dingy but I enjoy the incredible sights, sounds, and smells that I encounter every time I come here. I love going to markets and that’s one thing I make sure I do whenever I’m in another country. If you want to see the culture and meet the locals, this is one of the places to visit!
More Wordless entries can be found here (please click the logo):
APAD 205: The War Museum in Siem Reap
My younger brother, who just came back from Siem Reap, gave me permission to use the photos he took there and have edited for my use (thank you, you’re an angel!). I am telling you this because I do not have time these days o take pictures myself as I’m quite occupied with a small consultancy gig.
This one’s taken at the War Museum in Siem Reap:
The place doesn’t really look much as a museum; it is basically a run-down field with overgrown shrubs and trees* that serve as graveyard of old tanks, guns, all sorts of heavy and light weapons. I was told that the place had been spruced up so it’s not as run-down as before. I’ve been there once, years ago, and I didn’t like it. It was crushing to see landmine victims greet you and take you around the place. The stories were horrific and to see with your own eyes the ugly reminders of war and atrocities that happened in this country was depressing, the same kind of feeling I had after visiting the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh.
Click on the logo for more pictures of our world.
APAD 204: Send in the clown!
For some reason, I don’t like clowns. I am afraid of them, I kid you not, especially in the “OMG, this crazy clown is going to kill me” kind of sense.I don’t even know how or when this started. Maybe this is due to the many popular horror movies I watched when I was younger – much more these days – where clowns are portrayed as scary, evil characters.
However, this one looked friendly enough and least scary, unlike those clowns I see in movies with ghastly make ups and exaggerated features that usually terrify me:
I met him during one of the Fun Fairs organised by a non-government NGO based in Phnom Penh. I don’t know his name but he was on stilts. Although he was smiling and trying to be pleasant, small kids were terrified of him…
More Mellow Yellow Monday entries here (please click logo):
APAD 203: Good morning, moon!
This has got to be one of my favourite photos. I took this using my old but ever-dependable point-and-shoot digital camera. Sometimes I am surprised at the pictures that come out of it. Like this; especially this.
I was walking my dog quietly when the sound of the plane jolted me back to my senses. I looked up the sky and was pleasantly surprised to see the moon very visible over the cloudless, blue Phnom Penh sky. It was already past 8am. I hurriedly went back to the house to get my other dog to walk and my camera vowing not to let this moment pass without a photo-memento.
There it was – the moon – what a beautiful sight! I set my digicam to a 2MB file size. There was an electric wire that got included but I cropped it so that I get this money-shot, lol. If not for my dog who was tugging the leash, I could’ve taken more. But this one is perfectly fine that I chose to post for this week’s SkyWatch.
For more SkyWatch photos worldwide, click this logo below.
A Silver Finish!
Certified!
Follow Us!