Posts Tagged With: temple

H-Bomb’s Sunday photo, week 59: people taking selfies at Angkor Wat

Posted on February 8, 2015 by H-Bomb

During the past week, I participated in a personality interview via Skype which served as the third round of the audition process for a nationally televised quiz show. I’ll let you know if things go any further with that. (And yes, during that interview, I name-checked this blog, as well as mentioning my World Karaoke Tour.) 🙂

Anyway, this week’s featured image comes from my recent visit to the Angkor archaeological site near Siem Reap, Cambodia — and, specifically, from the Angkor Wat temple that is so identified with Cambodia that it appears on the national flag. The temple’s towers — one central tower, rising to a height of 213 feet, surrounded by four shorter towers — form a distinctive and recognizable profile. Visitors enjoy documenting their pilgrimages to the site:

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(And yes, I realize that the photos being taken as depicted above aren’t true “selfies,” as they’re being taken by persons other than the subjects. But I did see plenty of people using the now-ubiquitous selfie sticks in front of the temple.)

The temple was built in the 12th century. The city of Angkor of which it was a part was the capital of the Khmer empire and at its peak may have boasted more than a million inhabitants; indeed, it is claimed that Angkor was the largest city in the world prior to the Industrial Revolution. Today, that former megalopolis, and the copious ruins that it contains, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Is Angkor Wat on your bucket list?

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Categories: Asia, H-Bomb's Sunday photo, travel, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

H-Bomb’s Sunday photo, week 57: trees bursting through temples in Cambodia

Posted on January 18, 2015 by H-Bomb

My rib injury continues to heal, leaving in doubt whether I’ll be in condition to embark on my already-delayed trip to Rome in mid-February. In the meantime, I’d like to reminisce about my recently-concluded jaunt to southeast Asia. One place I got to in that region was Ta Prohm, a temple complex in Angkor, Cambodia. Celebrated for having trees bursting through the temple buildings, Ta Prohm is a case study in what happens when you abandon a site of human settlement for 400 or so years. (The complex was abandoned in the 17th century.)

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Ta Prohm is a poster child for the “life after people” effect: nature gradually takes over and reasserts her primacy over the works of us puny humans.

And here’s a bonus image showing another of my favourite scenes from Ta Prohm. In the foreground, you can see the destruction wrought by the tree as its roots worked their way through the structure.

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All of the Angkor archaeological region, which is best-known for the Angkor Wat Temple, is collectively a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Do you like visiting the ruins of once-great structures?

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Categories: Asia, H-Bomb's Sunday photo, travel, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

H-Bomb’s Sunday photo, week 47: a temple carved into a cave in India

Posted on September 21, 2014 by H-Bomb

Hello on the last full day of summer in the northern hemisphere! This week’s featured image comes from India. From the city of Mumbai you can take a ferry to Elephanta Island. That island’s big attraction is a series of five temples that are chiseled into caves. Dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, the rock carvings date back well over one thousand years. The caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here’s a glimpse inside one of them:

cave temple in Elephanta

Despite the name of the island on which these temples are found, there are no elephants; but as with seemingly every other temple site that I visited in India, I saw abundant cows, goats, monkeys, and dogs hanging out on the island.

This photo was taken during my trip to India and Sri Lanka in March and April, 2014.

Would you like to explore these caves?

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Categories: Asia, H-Bomb's Friday Photo, travel | Tags: , , , , , | 5 Comments

H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 43: magnificent columns in an Egyptian temple

Posted on March 7, 2014 by H-Bomb

I hope you’re all having a great Friday. Earlier this week I celebrated my birthday, and I’m looking forward to another year filled with adventure!

This week’s featured image comes from a country that’s synonymous with adventure: Egypt. Specifically, it’s a photograph taken at the Temple of Hathor — a Greco-Roman temple complex in Dendera. The portion of that temple known as the Large Hypostyle Hall contains columns that are approximately 50 feet high:

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Although parts of the temple date back to the third century B.C., the Large Hypostyle Hall was added during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, who ruled from 14 A.D. to 37 A.D. (It’s believed that earlier temples also dedicated to Hathor were built on the same site as early as 4,000 years ago.) Hathor was a deity worshipped by the ancient Egyptians who was typically depicted with bovine features. She was the goddess of love, joy, and motherhood.

This photo was taken during my trip to Egypt in September 2012. Dendera, the location of the temple, is about 50 miles from Luxor.

Are you awed by grand structures like this that were built thousands of years ago?

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 35: a gilded temple in Kyoto

Posted on October 11, 2013 by H-Bomb

Happy Friday, friends. I was preoccupied this week, as I was preparing for my latest game show audition, which took place yesterday evening. But now I can turn my attention back to this blog — and just in time for a new Friday photo!

This week’s featured image comes from Kyoto, a former imperial capital of Japan. It’s a temple called Kinkaku-ji, also known as the Gold Pavilion.

gilded temple

The two upper stories of this magnificent structure are covered in pure gold leaf. The temple is situated on the Kyoko-Chi, meaning “Mirror Pond.”

This photo was taken during my visit to Japan in April 2008.

Incidentally, the game show I was trying out for last night was “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”. I was told that I’ll find out within a week or two whether I’ve been chosen for the pool of potential contestants for the show. The tryout was a lot of fun, and the producer who interviewed me seemed to like me, but there are never any guarantees in this situation. So I need to keep my fingers crossed; and while I’m waiting to hear back, I will distract myself with thoughts of future destinations on my World Karaoke Tour. 🙂

Would you like to visit Japan?

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Categories: Asia, H-Bomb's Friday Photo, travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 30: a transported temple in Egypt

Posted on September 6, 2013 by H-Bomb

Greetings. It’s Friday, my favourite day of the week! And as we approach the beginning of autumn here in New York City, we’ve been enjoying spectacular weather. I hope it’s nice where you are, too.

Today we have a new weekly photo. Our latest featured image comes from Abu Simbel in the southern part of Egypt. In that town you can find a pair of temples. Here’s a glimpse at the façade of the larger of the two, known as the Great Temple:

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The two temples at the site were constructed in the 13th century B.C. under the direction of the pharaoh Ramses II, also known as Ramses the great; four statues of him sit in front of the façade. Each of the statues is some 66 feet in height.

The temples were originally built on the shore of the Nile; but after standing there for over 3,000 years, they had to be moved when the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s, in order to avoid being submerged. (The construction of the dam resulted in the creation of Lake Nasser, the largest man-made lake in the world, which inundated the area where the temples had stood). The temples were broken down into blocks and reassembled on higher ground; the relocation, a truly amazing feat of engineering, took about four years.

This photo was taken during my visit to Egypt in September 2012. At that time — 19 months after the revolution that deposed President Hosni Mubarak — conditions in Egypt were relatively stable, and it was safe for tourists such as me to visit most areas of the country. But in July 2013, Mubarak’s democratically elected successor, Mohamed Morsi, was himself ousted, and much turmoil and strife have ensued. For the sake of the Egyptian people — a people that I found to be friendly and hospitable — I hope that peace and stability will soon return to their land.

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Categories: Africa, H-Bomb's Friday Photo, travel | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

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