history
St.Valentine’s bones are in Madrid. It’s funny that so many people consider the anniversary of the beheading of a man the most romantic day of the year.
Read MoreMadrid is home to hundreds, maybe thousands, of historical locations. One of the is Sobrino de Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world, certified by the Guiness Book of World Records. I know there are several other restaurants that claim to be the olders, dating back to even thousands of years. So what’s the differences? This one can prove that since 1725 it never closed its doors, never changed places and never changed its name.
Read MoreThe center of tourist attractions in Istanbul is Sultanahmet Square. On one side you have Hagia Sophia, on the other the Blue Mosque, and right beside that the Hippodrome, all a hop and skip away from the majestic Topkapi Palace. What you don’t see - and I walked past it on my first visit to Istanbul - is that right next to Hagia Sophia: an underground forest of Roman columns called Basilica Cisterna.
Read MoreSun rises behind Angkor Wat, which unusually faces west, on a hot and humid summer day during rainy season. I was very lucky to get a good sunset on that day, as it rained constantly.
Machu Picchu, Tenochtitlán, Heracleion. The list of lost cities found in jungles, deserts or under the sea by modern archaeologists goes on. Once myths, now part of history. El Dorado, Atlantis, Z and many others still fuel the imagination of dreamers who hope to one day stumble upon ruins.
The city of Angkor was never lost, per se, but so much of it's history has been forgotten that it's almost as it has. The Khmer Empire was the greatest on earth and to this day parts of it are still being unearthed.
Capital of the great Khmer Empire in the 12th century, Angkor must have been a magnificent place to be in it's time. With a population estimated at the time of more than a million people, it's total area was greater than today's Paris and has more stones than all structures in Egypt combined.
In Angkor (word that stands for capital in sanskrit) we find the symbol of Cambodia, pictured in the country's national flag, the Angkor Wat (Temple City or Pagoda City).
The Angkor Wat is surrounded by a 3km long moat, with a stone bridge taking to the central part.
The Angkor Wat was the first temple I visited during my stay in large complex. It's the largest religious monument in the world covering 162.6 hectares of land and was built by Suryavarman II in dedication to the Hindu god Vishnu, the guy that unified the empire.
Cambodia is HOT and HUMID. I can't stress more these two words more without waking up the neighbors. Go early and take tons of water. I mean at least 3 liters per person. There will be vendors selling you stuff everywhere. Water is one dollar.
Here is a map so you can better understand the place.
Millions of tourists per year, specially during dry season, becomes unsustainable and causes damage to the ruins, which are stepped on and touched indiscriminately. This picture was taken at the entrance of the Wat, to the west of the Cruciform Terrace off the limits of the above map.
From the Cruciform Terrace you start to get a better view of the towers, that disappear behind the walls as you get close.
Angkor Wat has a huge corridor surrounding the temple like a frame. Along the walls are inscriptions of great battles of the Khmer empire. View from inside the Gallery of 1000 Buddhas into the Battle of Lanka corridor.
Engraving in the outer corridor of the Wat with what seems to be a bullet hole, from the confrontations between the Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge.
Man takes a break from the hot and humid Cambodian summer outside a window at the Wat.
Angkor Wat was originally built as a Hindu temple later converted to Buddhist in the 14th or 15th century. Here a Buddha declared the base of a column.
Standing under doorways that seem to repeat into almost infinity gives the impression you are standing in between mirrors, but with no sign of your reflexion.
A butterfly rests on the centuries old engraving on the north side of the Angkor Wat.
Very similar to the view from the Cruciform Terrace is the entrance of the main temple. It's interesting to note that these temples were not built as a place for worship, but as a house for several gods, so they were never intended to be visited by masses of people.
Inside the main building is a dry pool. There is a similar one on the opposite side.
Columns full of inscriptions in Sanskrit decorate the interior of the main temple.
Finally I get to the main temple. Looking at the ruins, I can't help but imagine how this was in it's prime. A lot of the decoration was in gold and was looted, and in wood, which rotted away.
A couple chats and rests in the shade just outside the central part of the temple. Possibly the girl wasn't allowed to go the top of the temple. It won't matter how hot it is, you have to wear a shirt with sleaves, pants that go under the knee and no hat to enter the topmost bit of the temple.
From the highest point you have a clear view of what was a great city, now reclaimed by the jungle. With the exception of the temples, the houses of the gods worthy of stone, mortals built their houses with wood. That's why only the temples survived while everything else disappeared.
Inscriptions on the columns were added later and were written in either Sanskrit or ancient Khmer.
Two Chinese toursist pose for photos inside one of the long hallways of the Wat. Many Chinese and Korean tourists love to take pictures of themselves, it seems even more than enjoying the site.
Two young monks rested beside the empty pools at the base of the temple. Many people would stop and donate them money and pray.
A statue of Vishnu, the God with 4 pairs of arms is now in the southwest corner of the temple, but it is believed that this statue may have been originally placed in the very center of Angkor Wat, at the top.
It is truly a breathtaking experience to visit Angkor Wat. So much raw history right in front of your eyes and still so much to be uncovered.
What's next? Machu Picchu, Tenochtitlán, Heracleion? Maybe. If I'm lucky I might stumble upon Atlantis too.
Hidden in the Xicheng district of Beijing, right beside a huge factory chimney, is the ancient Tianning Temple. This structure was built in 1100, during the Liao Dynasty, making it 920 years old at the time of these photos, one of the oldest in town. The pagoda is solid and unlike many others of its kind it does not have stairs to take you to the top. After surviving centuries, many similar pagodas were torn down in the 20th century, like the older Qingshou Temple twin towers that were destroyed in 1954 so Chang An avenue could be expanded.
I observed many people would walk around the pagoda clockwise, while praying. Several would just walk while whispering, some would stop in front of each door and bow, and others would just be quiet in their worship.
Like many ancient and historical structures in Beijing, if you didn't know it was there, you'd miss it. The pagoda is right in the middle of a residential area and is not a very famous tourist spot.
After walking around the pagoda several times, this woman bowed a few times and finished her worship.
The octagonal pagoda, 57.8 meters tall, was erected on a square platform. The bottom of the pagoda is in the form of a huge Sumeru pedestal, decorated with carved arch patterns. At the corners there are relief sculptures of heavenly guardians accompanied by another level of carved arches. A veranda with banisters and brackets was built around the upper part of the pedestal.
The statues on the sides of the temple, although severely damaged, are believed to be original, having survived the great Tangshan earthquake of 1974 and the Cultural Revolution, when most relics of this and other temples around China were destroyed.
According to a local nun, in older times it was possible to go through the doors on the base of the pagoda, but now it's closed down because it's too dangerous. All the (not very extensive) research I have done online indicates that this structure has always been solid and the doors are decorative, but you never know.
In front of the pagoda, you can buy incense and light it as part of your worship. This one cost 15 yuan, but there are some for 25 and 35.
After lighting the incense, a woman bows facing the pagoda and prays before kneeling and bowing several more times, then heads to walk around the building.
Over the door, a statue of a Bodhisattvas survived.
Three layers of huge lotus petals carved on the pedestal support the first storey of the pagoda. On four sides of the first storey, facing the four directions, there are relief sculptures of heavenly guardians and arched gates. Above are thirteen levels of eaves, very close together, with no doors or windows. It is a typical pagoda of the Liao and Kin period. (text from china.org.cn)
Originally, in this same location there used to be another temple, built during the Sui Dynasty (589 - 618), and was considered at the time one of the most important of China. Legend says that he built 30 temples, one for each province of China, to keep relics of the Buddha. Some believe they still lie beneath the Tianning Temple to this day.
Near the entrance, there is a blocked out stair way to the underground. I wonder where that takes to. One day I will come back and have a better chat with the nuns.
