Cu Chi Tunnels, Vietnam!

So I'm finally posting my 'Nam pics! Vietnam was my favorite country on my trip, i can't really explain why though. maybe it was that the group was great, the guide was great, the food was great, and everything we did was so fun! These photos are from my visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels, where the Viet Cong lived during the Vietnam War. The tunnels are tiny, maybe 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide! The hidden entrances were even smaller, I was the only one that could fit! We also saw all the different ways that they trapped American soldiers, everything looked pretty lethal.

More Beach Photos

Here are 2 more photos from the beach in Cambodia. The second one is for my parents, in case they were wondering!

The Beach

These photos are from Sihanoukville, Cambodia. We went there in the last few days of the Cambodia trip. I already talked about the beach in an earlier post, so these pictures are from the snorkeling trip we took. The boat in the photos is the same boat we took to get to the little island in the Gulf of Thailand, it's pretty legit. It took an hour to get there, and we stopped in the middle to snorkel and I took some photos of the boat. We got to the island and had a really good lunch on the beach. the boat ride back to the mainland took 3 HOURS and the waves were really intense so everyone was feeling sick. I was so happy to be back on solid ground by the end!

Banteay Srei

So these photos are of my favorite Angkor temple, Banteay Srei. It is the only temple in Angkor that wasn't built by a monarch. Yajnavaraha, a councillor/doctor to a king with an even longer name, Rajendravarman, built in 967 (pre-Angkor Wat) and dedicated it to Shiva. The temple is actually on the dividing line between the temples dedicated to Vishnu and those to Shiva.
The best part about Banteay Srei is that it's made of red sandstone (all the other Angkor temples are made of grey sandstone). Red sandstone is a lot harder than grey sandstone, so the intricate carvings all over the temple look gorgeous and brand new!

This photo is from the Bayon Temple in Angkor. This temple is an example of Baroque Angkor Architecture. it was built by Jayavarman VII in the middle of Angkor Thom, his capital city. He changed the main religion from Hinduism to Buddhism, which was a pretty big deal back then. This is a photo of one of many giant faces of Buddha all over the temple, it's at least 10 feet tall! Also, all the giant faces (there are at least 200) are different!

My Favorite Relief

This photo is of a wall right next to the Procession of Elephants relief wall. I was walking by and I didn't really notice this wall because it looked normal from a quick glance. When I was walking back I looked again and saw the most adorable little brick in the wall with a relief of 3 people carved into it.

(All of the stones have holes in them so the Khmer people could carry them to the building site with bamboo rods)

Angkor Info

I know a lot of these photos are from Angkor Wat, it was my favorite part of Cambodia! Roisin, another volunteer from MaD, and I decided to go one weekend. I volunteered to read the guidebook and point out all of the important facts as we visited.

First of all, Angkor is HUGE! There are so many temples, at least 100. The biggest one of course is Angkor Wat. it was built in 1135 by Suryavarman II. He was a usurper (he killed his uncle to become king) so he had to prove that he was legit. hence, he built Angkor Wat. It was dedicated to Vishnu, the top Hindu god. The reasoning was that Sury II was more legit if he had the the most important god representing him. It's made of laterite and sandstone. Laterite is a type of stone that's really malleable and easy to cut when it first comes out of the ground, but hardens as it ages and is exposed to oxygen.

Angkor is an example of classical Khmer architecture and is composed of 5 "pinecone towers" (I don't remember the Khmer name for them). The middle, and largest, represents Mt. Meru, which is like Mt. Olympus for Hindus. Mt. Meru is supposedly located north of the Himalayas. It has 7 rings circling it, 4 other mountains around it. It also sits on top of 3 pedestals. All of this is represented in Angkor Wat.

There are some cool things about its architecture and construction too. It faces west, unlike regular Hindu temples which face east. This is because Sury II wanted Angkor Wat as a temple as well as a mausoleum. In the Hindu religion, the land of the dead is to the west, so Sury II wanted easy access. Because Sury II needed it to buried in, it was finished in only 35 years! At the time in Europe, they were building cathedrals that were half the size of Angkor Wat and took more than 200 years to complete!

Angkor Wat floats! The area that it was built in is all swamp, so to solve the problem of the temple falling to peices and sinking, the architects decided to build a ginormous moat around it to stabilize the ground under Angkor Wat. So when it rains the water goes into the ground, but when the dry season comes, the ground doesn't dry up and destabilize Angkor. The architects wetre pretty much geniuses.

Anyways, here are some photos!

Churning of the Sea of Milk

This photo is of me on the eastern wall of Angkor Wat, next to the famous bas relief, "The Churning of the Sea of Milk". The story behind it is that the Gods wanted eternal life, Amrita, which was under the Sea of Milk. The Gods (Devas) told the Demons (Asuras) that they would get some of the Amrita if they helped them. The Devas and Asuras both took an end of a Naga (a snake) named Vasuki and wrapped it around Mount Mandara (which was in the middle of the Sea of Milk). This churned the sea so that the Devas could get to the bottom and reach the Amrita. When they got the Amrita, Apsaras, or celestial dancers, were born as well. But in the end, the Devas didn't share the Amrita with the Asuras anyways.

The 91 Asuras on the relief symbolize the 91 days between the winter solstice and spring equinox in March, while the 88 Devas represent the 88 days to the summer solstice after the equinox!

This is what I remember from the guidebook, so the story might be a little off.

I'm Back!

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the long wait! I know I haven't been very regular with my blog posting, but from now on I'm going to try to post a photo from my trip every day!



The first photo is of me in front of Angkor Wat. (the second time I went) We woke up at like 3 AM and went to see the sun rise behind the temple. The first time I went for sunrise, I forgot my camera and couldn't stay awake, so this time I made sure I went to bed early and remembered to bring my camera with a full charge!

Don't forget to double-click to see the photo in full quality!