Thread: Cambodia

Originally Posted by happyhour

Nice there.

Sure is mate, and ill go back soon to complete my photos.

These ones only scratch the surface.

We went to some out of the way temples and there was buddha images of all sizes lying around on the ground and absolutley no people. Easy pickings for the unscruptulus. But the blatent stelling of the heads as at the causeway into the Bayon temple in which they would have had to use croncrete cutting saws amazed me. Must have been the Pol Pot era and soliders to be able to get away with it.

Check out the steps. Gives you an idea of the size of the walls and monuments. All of the Angkor Wat complex and surrounding monuments are made of sand stone which was mined 50 kl'm away.

Did you go to Banteay Srei when you were there? It's a bit further out than the main temples, takes about an hour to get there by tuk tuk. Anyway, it has the most impressive, intricate carvings of all the temples, such as these examples:











Well worth the extra effort to get out there, the journey offers some very spectacular scenery on the way too.

Originally Posted by terry57

All of the Angkor Wat complex and surrounding monuments are made of sand stone which was mined 50 kl'm away.

There's also quite a bit of laterite as can be seen in your photos of Ta Phrom.

From wiki:

Most of the third generation Khmer temples at Angkor are built with laterite and have survived for over 1000 years.

The climb is tragic and more than one tourist has fallen to there death. Makes one wonder how they built this 600 years ago by hand.

This is on my list of things to do.
Thanks Terrence!

^^^

Yes mate, we did go there as well and you are right about the drive as we had to pay our man an extra sling to get us there.

Got some piccys coming up later.

By the way, yours are brilliant and a nice piece of photography there.

adds to this thread.

cheers.

Originally Posted by buad hai

Originally Posted by terry57

All of the Angkor Wat complex and surrounding monuments are made of sand stone which was mined 50 kl'm away.

There's also quite a bit of laterite as can be seen in your photos of Ta Phrom.

From wiki:

Most of the third generation Khmer temples at Angkor are built with laterite and have survived for over 1000 years.

laterite = noun : A reddish clayey topsoil, hard when dry, found in tropical areas , sometimes used to build roads and temples, common name = sandstone.

latin = brick

Anyway,

Its half time and i'm off to have tea.

Ill be back to finish of this thread.

cheers.

I don't know what your source is, but laterite is very different from sandstone. Laterite is a very coarse grained stone while sandstone is very fine grained. Sandstone is a sedimentary rock while laterite is formed by the weathering of igneous rock.

Here's a couple of photos of laterite:

Originally Posted by buad hai

I don't know what your source is, but laterite is very different from sandstone. Laterite is a very coarse grained stone while sandstone is very fine grained. Sandstone is a sedimentary rock while laterite is formed by the weathering of igneous rock.

Here's a couple of photos of laterite:

I got the sandstone quote from a reference, the meaning of laterite from my thesaurus and added it together.

I believe you are correct and the reference was wrong.

Thanks for that, as i learn't something.

cheers.

This Hindu temple is dedicated to Shiva and is considered the best of Angkorian art, containing some of the finest stone carvings on the planet.
Construction began in 967 and almost every inch is covered in decoration.
Restoration began in 1930 and its situated 32 kl'm from Siem Reap.
Rewind back to Buda Hai's photos and have a good look at this amazing collection of stone carvings.

^
Sorry about that,

Rewind back to Dantilley's photos at the top of this page.

Compared to the other monuments of " Angkor, " Banteay Srei is small but is huge in intricate detail.