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Top 10 Ruins of Southeast Asia
One of my most favorite things in the world would be ruins. I just love them. There’s such a sense of mystery to ancient structures that makes them so incredibly fascinating. What did they actually look like when they were first built? What did they look like all decked out for the rituals and ceremonies that were held there? How long did the ancient inhabitants plan the structures before building them? Why did they stop using these structures? What would they say now, if they could see the hundreds of thousands of people who come to gawk at the ruins now? With all of the amazing ruins around Asia, I…
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She Myet Hna
She Myet Hna is one of the 2,200 Buddhist temples, stupas, payas and pagodas that still remain of the 10,000+ that were built in Bagan, Myanmar. While most have are in ruins or disrepair, this one has been preserved and restored. We actually found this temple by accident. One of the modes of transportation in Bagan is the bicycle. We rented our bikes from our hotel, Thante Nyaung U, and rode off in search of some of the temples. As you can see, our hotel wasn’t too far from Old Bagan. Old Bagan is the section inside the blue lines on the left side of the picture. It took us…
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Wat Wora Chet Tha Ram
Wat Wora Chet Tha Ram is one of the many temple ruins that dot Ayutthaya, the ancient seat of power in Thailand. This region was once a thriving metropolis at the heart of the Thai civilization, boasting over 1 million inhabitants in 1700. Traders and merchants from all over Asia, the Middle East and parts of Europe came here to peddle their wares and broker trade agreements. But all of that came to an end in 1767. In 1767,King Tong-U of Burma invaded Ayutthaya and decimated the kingdom. Very few buildings were spared as they razed the capital. After the invasion Ayutthaya was all but abandoned and the few remaining…
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Visiting the Great Wall of China
I’ll tell you now, before I get into my post, that this post has a LOT of pictures. I hope you enjoy my journey along the top of the Great Wall of China! To pick up where my last post left off, after we hung up with Kevin we wandered around the Beijing Olympic Stadium for a while. The tour company called us several times, asking if we wanted them to come get us, where we were, what had upset us (haha, that one was funny) and if we could work out a deal. We weren’t about to tell them where we were and we definitely didn’t want to attempt another…
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The Ruins of Pre Rup
Pre Rup is an ancient Khmer temple in Angkor, Cambodia, just outside Siem Reap. It was built about 961 AD and dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Not much is known about this temple, but the common belief is that this temple was used for funeral ceremonies. “Pre Rup” translates to “turn the body”, which coincides with ancient Khmer funerary practices of rotating a person’s ashes during the funeral ceremony. When you first arrive at Pre Rup, this is what greets you. From a distance is just looks like a pile of disordered rubble, but as you get closer you can see the detail and precision that went into creating the…
