MEN IN ORANGE

Posted on August 4, 2020

Buddhist monks have always fascinated me…their meditative and simple lifestyles require them to abandon a life of pleasure in order to reach Nirvana. Based on those basic requirements, I obviously am not going to become a monk. LOL! Their orange robes are also very eye catching and mystical at the same time. I saw a lot of them during my trip to Thailand and Cambodia and always wanted to photograph them. I was instructed not to come too close but it was okay to take their photos from a distance. I had so many opportunities to photograph them during the trip but decided not to until I photographed them by accident. I was in Angkor Wat taking photos from across the moat when these two monks walked past in front of me just as I was clicking on my camera. I photographed them by accident and the photo turned out perfectly. It sure was my lucky day. The other photos were taken after the one above during the tour around the Angkor Wat complex.

I call this photo the Orange Phantom…again I tried to keep my distance when taking their photos but this monk walked too fast and so I ended up with a photo of his back. I do like the mood of this photo with the all the shadows and spot lighting…very mysterious.

These last two photos were taken while driving out of the Angkor Wat complex. There was a brief traffic jam and these monks were patiently waiting for their tuk tuk to start moving.

Category: Adventure, ancient cities, Art, asia, Canon, Canon DSLR, Castle, City Skyline, Destinations, Engineering, Forest, Historical Site, lake, Landmarks, Landscapes, Monument, Museums, Nature, Panorama, People, Photography, Plants, Random, Religious Shrine, Rivers, Ruins, Sculpture, Seascapes, sky, Skylines, Street Photography, Temples, Tourist, Travel, Travel Photos, trees, Uncategorized, WATER, Weather Tagged: angkor, angkor wat, Archeology, Architecture, asia, buddha, buddhism, buddhist, cambodia, Canon, Canon DSLR, Canon photography, Canon Rebel, Canon Rebel T6s, destination, dslr, Forest, monk, monks, museum, orange robe, photo, photograph, photographer, Photography, religion, siem reap, southeast asia, temple, Tourist, travel, Travel Photography, Traveller, travelling, tuk tuk, vacation, WATER

ANGKOR WOW!

Posted on June 24, 2020

Angkor Wat is located in Siem Reap, Kingdom of Cambodia and is one of the most magnificent archeological sites in the world. The complex was built in the early part of the 12th century then neglected around the 16th century resulting to the jungle recapturing the complex. Visiting this architectural wonder, which is listed in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites, is both a breathtaking and fascinating experience. My jaw got sore saying “wow” multiple times while exploring this humongous temple complex. If ever you get the chance to visit this place, spare an entire day to explore it as there is so much to see. I took hundreds of photographs clicking on everything from panoramic views to close ups of the intricate carvings on the walls. Here are some of the photos I took during my visit a few months ago.

Category: Adventure, ancient cities, Archeology, Architecture, Art, asia, Canon, Canon DSLR, clouds, Destinations, Elements, Engineering, Forest, Historical Site, Landmarks, Landscapes, Monument, Museums, Nature, Panorama, People, Photography, Plants, Portrait, Random, Religious Shrine, Ruins, Sculpture, Statue, Street Photography, Temples, Tourist, Travel, Travel Photos, trees, Uncategorized, WATER, Weather Tagged: ancient ruins, angkor, angkor wat, Archeology, Architecture, Art, buddha, buddhism, buddhist, cambodia, cambodian, Canon, Canon DSLR, Canon photography, Canon Rebel, Canon Rebel T6s, clouds, destination, dslr, Forest, museum, nature, photo, photograph, photographer, Photography, photos, Ruins, siem reap, temple, Tourist, travel, Travel Photography, Traveller, travelling, USA, vacation, WATER, Weather

LADIES OF THE MOAT

Posted on May 28, 2020

I’ve always wondered what my initial reaction would be when I see Angkor Wat for the first time. Would it be a jaw dropping moment? Would it take my breath away? Or would it be a disappointing experience? My anticipation was further built up as the sunrise experience I signed up for was cancelled due to inclement weather. I was able to go later in the day, once the rain stopped, however the sun just made a very brief appearance that day. I was looking forward to photograph every nook and corner of the temple that day but the gloomy weather made photography a challenge resulting to less vibrant shots. The moment I stepped out of the van, my heart started to beat insanely, and got wilder the closer I was to the temple. For a moment, I thought my heart stopped beating when I stepped up to this flatform and saw the Angkor Wat complex rising majestically across this body of water, which I initially thought was a river but later found out was a moat. It was such a magical moment…an experience I would cherish for the rest of my life. In the moat I noticed this boat with four women scooping what looked like reeds out of the water. I got riveted to what they were doing including the pile of reeds on their boat, which I thought made an interesting shot. I immediately pulled out my camera to photograph them while at the same time captured a reflection of Angkor Wat in the water. I was there for less than 10 minutes and I already got myself these magical shots. Angkor Wat is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen and I made sure I took as many photographs as possible, all of which I would feature in my next few posts. For today, photos of these ladies cleaning the moat stole the show from Angkor Wat and will be the main feature of this post.

Category: Adventure, ancient cities, Archeology, Architecture, Art, asia, Canon, Canon DSLR, Castle, clouds, Destinations, Elements, Engineering, Forest, Historical Site, Landmarks, Landscapes, Monument, Museums, Nature, Panorama, People, Photography, Plants, Random, Religious Shrine, Rivers, Ruins, Sculpture, Skylines, Street Photography, Temples, Tourist, Travel, Travel Photos, trees, Uncategorized, WATER, Weather Tagged: ancient, angkor, angkor wat, Archeology, Architecture, Art, asia, buddha, buddhism, buddhist, cambodia, Canon, Canon DSLR, Canon photography, Canon Rebel, Canon Rebel T6s, city, clouds, destination, dslr, Engineering, Forest, Kingdom of Cambodia, ladies, moat, museum, nature, Palace, photo, photograph, photographer, Photography, photos, Ruins, siem reap, southeast asia, temple, Tourist, travel, Travel Photography, Traveller, travelling, vacation, WATER, Weather

THE CHEDIS OF WAT PHO

Posted on April 16, 2020

The Wat Photharam is one of the oldest and largest temple complexes in Bangkok, Thailand. It is more commonly known as Wat Pho and is one of the most visited sites in Bangkok. One of the temples inside the complex houses the world famous Reclining Buddha, which is the sites main attraction. However, what most people do not know is that Wat Pho is actually the birthplace of traditional Thai massage, which to this day is being taught inside the complex. After exploring around for hours I treated myself to some foot massage, which was quite a heavenly experience.

Around the complex are these pyramid-like structures called chedis, which remind me of the pawns on a chess board but much more colorful. These structures covered in beautiful mosaic tiles houses the ashes of members of the royal family. The larger chedis supposedly contain relics of Buddha. The main photo above was taken using my iPhone 7 Plus while the rest below were taken using my Canon Rebel T6s.

Category: ancient cities, Archeology, Architecture, Art, asia, Canon, Canon DSLR, City, City Skyline, Destinations, Engineering, Entertainment, Historical Site, iPhone, iPhone Pics, Landmarks, Monument, Museums, Panorama, Photography, Plants, Random, Religious Shrine, Ruins, Sculpture, Statue, Street Photography, Temples, Tourist, Travel, Travel Photos, trees, Uncategorized Tagged: asia, Bangkok, buddha, buddhism, buddhist, Canon, Canon DSLR, Canon photography, Canon Rebel, Canon Rebel T6s, chedi, city, destination, dslr, iPhone, iphone 7 plus, iphone photography, king phetracha, king rama I, museum, photo, photograph, photographer, Photography, photos, Siam, southeast asia, temple, thai, thai royal family, Thailand, Tourist, travel, Travel Photography, Traveller, travelling, USA, vacation, wat pho, wat po

TIAN TAN BUDDHA

Posted on March 23, 2020

I visited Hong Kong in the fall of 2019 and despite the protests occuring around the city, I went ahead with the trip and glad that I did. A friend who lives in Hong Kong told me I should be fine as I will be in the city during the week and most of the protests occur on weekends. True enough, I had a great time in this amazing city with no untoward incidents during my stay. One of the highlights of my visit was a trip to the Tian Tan Buddha, which is considered one of the largest statues of Buddha in the world. Located in Lantau Island, this famous landmark is best accessed through a cable car ride with amazing views of the HKG airport. This famous landmark sits on top of a hill and one has to climb almost three hundred steps to get close to it. At first I thought this was an ancient shrine but after a quick Google, I found out this was just built in the early 90’s. Still it is quite a magical experience climbing up the steps and coming face to face with Buddha. The photo above was taken inside the cable car as it was approaching the final station close to the statue. The photos below were taken at the steps during my climb as well as on the base of the statue at the top of the hill. By the way, I was told it was bad luck to look back during the climb so I didn’t. I’m not superstitious but I adhered to the instructions just to be safe…I didn’t want any protests/riots to spoil my vacation.

Category: Adventure, Amusement Park, Architecture, Art, asia, Canon, Canon DSLR, City, Destinations, Elements, Engineering, Forest, Historical Site, Islands, Landmarks, Landscapes, Monument, mountains, Museums, National Park, Nature, Panorama, Photography, Portrait, Religious Shrine, Sculpture, Seascapes, sky, Skylines, Statue, Street Photography, Temples, Tourist, Travel, Travel Photos, trees, Uncategorized, WATER, Weather Tagged: Architecture, Art, asia, buddha, buddhism, buddhist, Canon, Canon DSLR, Canon photography, Canon Rebel, Canon Rebel T6s, china, city, destination, dslr, HK, hong kong, Island, Landmark, lantau island, nature, photo, photograph, photographer, Photography, photos, religion, Statue, temple, tian tan buddha, Tourist, travel, Travel Photography, Traveller, travelling, USA, vacation

« 1 2 3 »