On the road

Writing from Ayuthaya - via Bangkok - after an exhausting and very hot day. Have taken a tonne of photographs already - another 22 days to go.

Melaka Snapshots

Upcoming travels

I had mentioned earlier that I might be going to Chennai for - well that's not happening. Instead more interesting things are. I think I will be traveling a lot next month - well actually it's kicking off from this weekend itself - I am going here. Next weekend I am going to Thailand and from there Laos (though still working that out) and then after probably Vietnam and Indonesia, again.

Hapiness.

Speaking of Thailand, I never did put up very many pictures from my visit to Bangkok last year. Some here. And well, with some more to come hopefully.

Performance Art: Ramayana

Puppetry - Wayang Kulit.

Ballet - Rama and Sita (or Shinta in Indonesia) after the Agni Pareeksha.

Carved Stone

Compared to the temples at Angkor, the ones in Indonesia are practically undiscovered. It was surprising more people weren't exploring them, especially because the temples are so well preserved - again unlike Angkor which, lovely as the temples there are, are mostly ruins. The most amazingly striking thing at Borobudur, Prambanan and the other surrounding temples and shrines were the brilliant carvings that decorated the monuments. The carvings - the stories from the life of Buddha, from the Ramayana and of the Trimurti - Bramha, Vishnu, Mahesh - seemed almost as if someone had chiseled them in yesterday. It is truly amazing that these temples had survived the attacks of nature in Java - earthquakes, volcanoes, what have you - to still be standing and completely awe inspiring at that.

Horses