Bas Relief at Angor Wat, Cambodia

Today is one of those days that I don’t really feel like writing.

So this post will be a short one.

This shows their world at war, horses galloping, general and soldiers with weapons charging forward, chariots zooming along at high speed  . . . . . .

This is the only photo I have taken of this relief. I have been asking myself why I only took one photo – at least I should have taken an overview of the whole relief. Why haven’t I done that?

I was most fascinated by the base relief and rock carving at Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

In fact, I wouldn’t mind at all to revisit the place and trying to see it in a different light and a different angle.

What I am mainly concern is the hot climate, it makes me sweat while exposing to the direct and strong sunlight.

Maybe the winter months would be better. . . . . . . .  maybe, maybe next winter???

 

Kintai Bridge, Japan ( Three of a Kind)

The bridge, which has three arch central spans, is ranked as the third most beautiful bridge in Japan.

Incidentally, I have several pictures here some how associate the bridge with Three.

Three young ladies posing for photos by the bridge pier.

Three pedestrian crossing the bridge.

Three locals, fishing on the bank (to say nothing of the one who waded out in the water to fish).

Actually, while there, I did not see them being successful in catching any fishes!

But maybe, the real joy is participating in the activity and enjoying the view 🙂

5400 Miles in the USA ( Impression of Grand Canyon 1)

There is no other place on earth like the Grand Canyon.

This is my impression of the Grand Canyon.

This is how it looks like in my dreams!

One day, I would also like to see the canyon filled with fogs too!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Summer Lovin’

Where we live, Summer is long, especially so with the global warming.

It seems we only have two seasons, Summer and Winter!

From where I live, it overviews a green slope with many banana and longan tress – a place where animals like monkeys would like to visit.

This morning, I was amazed to see some monkeys coming out for their Summer outing. There is an electric wire stretching from pole to pole.

This is the favorite place where the big and small monkeys would like doing their acrobat. They would like to walk on the wire from one end to the other.

They have a good sense of balance. Sometimes they just dangle off from the wire, playing around with the other small monkeys.

This morning the mother monkey sat on the longan tress for over 10 minutes , eating the longan – the fruit is ripe and sweet at this time of the year.

She just sat there, eating and eating while the smaller monkeys would walk to and fro on the wire.

Performing their acrobatic act, dangle off the wire with one hand and somersault  down onto the trees below.

One photo here shows a baby monkey dangling off the wire, playing around with another baby monkey who offered its hand, gripping on the other’s leg.

So, it is Summer.

A season for playing around and eating for the monkeys!

Well, they never seem to have any worries for not having enough food.

So, it is a season of Summer lovin’ and having fun – monkeys love Summer too!

PS The photos are not particularly sharp, as they were taken with my compact camera which is the only camera I have with a zoom. The movements of the monkey and the vibration of the wire all add to the blur.

Rock Carving at Angkor Wat, Cambodia

This picture was taken in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Not sure what it tries to show, with the animals and men.

Is it just showing ordinary life at the time?

Needs more research . . . .  . . . . . . . .  .

Cafes in Japan

We were loitering on the bank of the waterway in Okayama. Japan.
This café looked particularly attractive, with its walls cladded in green leaves.
This instantly reminded me of another café I have come across in Hokkaido.
Again, the walls were covered with vines and leaves.
Pretty interesting!
Are there any other cafes in other parts of the world which look like these?

The Rain that Shattered the Lotus in Ritsurin Garden, Japan

This post contains 11 photos of beautiful lotus flowers.

We were travelling with the wind.

At the start of our trip, the hurricane Neoguri was ahead of us. We flew over and past the super typhoon.

When we landed at Shikoku, the hurricane has got up with us and was heading further north towards Osaka and Tokyo.

When the hurricane past us by, the weather was unsettled – we had some heavy down pours when we reached the Ritsurin Gardens.

The down pour continued as we walked into the garden. There were still people strolling the gardens while upholding their umbrellas.

I was thinking of taking some beautiful pictures of the lotus. The rain has shattered my dreams – many of the lotus flowers were deformed by the rain.

Many of the flowers have petals pointing downwards to the ground or fallen to the ground – so where have all the good flowers gone?

We could see rain drops trickling down the petals and the stalks.

There was no use of zooming in on the flowers as many of the flowers were not intact.

However, this did not deter me from taking pictures of the flowers – it was a sea of lotus which I have never seen before.

I like the mix of the pink flowers and the green leaves.

The extent of the lotus pads were so extensive that they just filled my lenses.

Yes, we may not have a bright day when flowers bloom and robins sing, but who cares, God has given me  another perspective – a totally different view of the lotus pond, battered lotus which still retained their beautiful colors and together with the buds and the leaves, they were just magnificent.

It was like a sea of flowers.

Who wouldn’t want to have sunny days when everything go smoothly, but I must be grateful that the Lord has allowed me another beautiful day.

The sky did clear up when I walked past the Monet’s Japanese bridge ( only I like to see it that way) and that I did take good photos of the bridge in the garden  which will remain in my mind forever!

Maybe, I will come back another time, another weather!

 

Kintai Bridge, Japan (Details)

( There are 5 photos in this post)

In my previous post, I have shown an overview of the footbridge which is ranked the third most beautiful bridge in Japan.

Here, I am going into a bit of details.

There wasn’t sunshine when we were at the bridge site – we were still under the influence of the typhoon Neoguri. The reflections of the bridge in the water prompted me taking this photo.

We bought entrance tickets and walked up and down the bridge to the other end of the bridge. Walking up and down do require quite a bit of effort, here is a close view of the hump in the bridge.

While at the other end, I noted there was a kiosk (guard house) and some pines.  Thought it was a good idea to take photo of the bridge with some pines the image.

I went down to the river bank and have a good look at the underside of the bridge. The whole bridge was of timber construction – the girders, the cross beams and the diagonal bracings etc.

The water below the bridge was running fast – I imagine that the speed will increase with torrential rain. A lot of armour rocks were laid underneath the bridge to protect the bridge pier and  foundations.

Hope this post is not too technical; I may post more on the aesthetic side of the bridge in due course!

 

Golden Gate and its Sister Seto Ohashi Bridge in Japan

The Frommers travel guide considers the Golden Gate Bridge “possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world”. It opened in 1937 and had, until 1964, the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet (1,300 m).

The photo below was taken at a lower level, where you can also see waves braking up when they reached the shore.

The Seto Ohashi group of bridges, totaling 9,368m, consist of a series of sea crossings – the longest in the group is a suspension bridge of 1723m span.

This groups of bridges took 10 years to build and was completed in 1988.

In the same year, it become a sister bridge of the Golden Gate.

There is no doubt in my mind that the elder sister looks more aesthetically attractive, despite the age!

 

Monet’s Japanese Footbridge?

I can tell you that this is not Monet’s Japanese footbridge , maybe not one that inspired Monet.

However, this was the first thing came to mind, when I saw this footbridge in the Ritsurin Gardens in ShikokThis footbridge, although offers a curve profile like the one in Monet’s painting, has quite a few intermittent column supports, whereas the Monet’s footbridge has a column free arch superstructure.

Unfortunately, there were also no water lilies near to the footbridge. However, there were a few big koi swimming around, which added to the atmosphere.

I llike arch bridges, especially arch footbridges. In fact, one main drive of this trip was to see this bridge and the Kintai (ribbon like) footbridge.

For comparison, I am also posting a sepia version of this footbridge.

It is my dream that one day, I will visit Giverny where Monet designed and built his Japanese footbridge. For a moment, I will live in the impressionist world of water, lilies, footbridge and to see this fusion of East and west in person!