Ta Prohm - Tomb Raider Temple

We have been to the Angkor temple complex which houses around a 1000s temples (some tiny so small you wouldn't notice them, others are huge religious monuments still in use today). For our stay in Siem reap we will be visiting the temple park spread over miles of countryside a number of times and we will be sharing some of the many photos we have taken at the more impressive temple sites. By the way according to this Wikipedia list the Angkor temples are the 4th "8th Wonder of the World" we have visited so far on our trip, the others being , the Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Army and the 3 Gorges Dam. I think you could create a very extensive and excellent round the world tour visiting all the places that try to claim they are the 8th Wonder of the world.

On the way to and from the temple we meet bands playing
local music. Michelle bought a CD All of the band is made
up from land mine victims. Due to its violent past their are
hundreds of fresh victims every year. This is one way
they can earn money without begging.

Today we are posting pictures of Ta Prohm, nicknamed the Tomb Raider temple as they filmed some shots for the Angelina Jolie film her. Unlike most temples in the Angkor site they have decided to not remove the tree from in and around the temple. The trees have become a key draw for visitors adding to the atmosphere of this ancient structure. The ruins and sculptures merging with the jungle all around it. Out of all the temples we have seen so far this temple had the most atmospheric.

Trees both hold up and knock down walls and buildings

At the edge of the temple the ruins start to merge with the jungle

Amazing root structures

Local Children collect plastic bottles to get some money at recycling centres

I loved how the jungle and temple combined to create this

The temple still has some high towers standing

Comments

Fishkeeping in a Cambodian Rice Field

Improving subsistence farmers diet with fish husbandry in Cambodia How can a bunch of fish ponds make a real difference? This summer I am travelling around South-East Asia, including Cambodia. In Cambodia I will be visiting some NGOs and voluntary aid projects . I meet with our main contact this week and most of the work is focused on people projects, teaching English, prison visits , drug addiction etc but they mentioned one project where they help rice farmers start fish husbandry projects. These projects are designed to help the local subsistence farmers grow on fish to adult size for increasing the protein component of their diet. Being interested in all forms of fish keeping I hope that when we travel to Cambodia I can visit the project or at least meet up with the team managing the project. It sounds like a fascinating and practical way to help some of the worlds poorest improve their diet and economic situation. It was mentioned that the project specifically look

Fish growing in an elephants footprint

Killifish are beautiful and fascinating After watching this video they have now moved up to the top of my Fish wish list . Next time I get to set up a new tank these will be in it! Currently I am not sure if I would want to start with an annual or a non-annual variety but I am very attracted to the colouration of the Blue Lyretail . These small fish seem both tough and clever at avoiding predators (see the water scorpion in video), catching prey and breeding. The video shows some annual Killifish displaying there amazing ability to have eggs laid in damp mud wait for water to return and then hatch. This curious ability allows these fish to thrive in areas with varying water levels. Their annual breeding ability also allows their eggs to be swapped, traded and sent by post between breeder and collectors both across a country and internationally. Their annual nature greatly appeals to me as a project that allows me to view a complete life cycle of a beautiful fast growing fish s

<b>Full to the top or a ghost town</b> For the first time in my professional career I ran an open community youth club on Halloween. Normally Halloween falls during school half term and as we follow school opening it has never happened before. We opened knowing that Halloween may have unusual impacts on numbers. We didn't know if the festival would encourage lots of people out of houses and therefore increase numbers or would people all have parties to attend and trick or treating to do and therefore decrease numbers? We opened the club not knowing what to expect in attendance or behaviour. After being open for 30 minutes we had our answer. No one was coming. Not a single young person walked through our door. Our club was empty so we went out and did some detached youth work. We learnt a lesson about working on Halloween. But this night got me thinking is it better to have too few or too many young people in a youth club? When you have too many young people in a youth

BlindFish Ideas

Search This Blog