Catching up to write about my scenic detour during the April trip to Southeast Asia - Angkor Wat. The spectacular archeological site and the exuberant mythology of Hindu Buddhism topped any anthropology lesson for me. Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Prohm unraveled such melancholy splendor of the Khmer civilization. What was once lost was found in the end.
近來終曲一齣接一齣, 先是MCU: Endgame, 後有GoT: The Iron Throne. 前者不離好萊塢式英雄主義, 頗同情Thanos, 他自有原則並不求利己, 鋼鐵人的選擇與滅族有何不同, 孰是孰非? 美國隊長通過時光機和舊愛白頭偕老倒是暖入心扉, GoT權力原慾的冷酷暴謔向來自成亂倫宇宙, 瀕臨尾聲竟高頌真愛萬歲?! 請看那位深愛孿生姐妹號稱君王殺手的金髪帥叔… 言歸正傳, 四月初赴柬埔寨開疆闢土, 乾脆起而行, 換一身考古探險隊制服: 寬邊帽, 亞麻長衫, 布鞋, 雙肩包 - 吳哥窟LK來也!!! 暹粒距胡志明市飛航約莫一個鐘頭, 小飛機搖搖晃晃有種懷舊感, 海關大廳光潔高效率, 櫛比鱗次的觀光飯店, 已難見血色高棉的苦痛記憶.
Built in the 12th century by Emperor Suryavarman II dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, Angkor Wat floated in the heat like a mirage. The steep and narrow stairways were difficult to mount but the vertigo when surmounted, brought a spiritual enlightenment. The geometry of five pagodas resembles the peaks of religious Mount Meru, the dwelling of the devas. The enchanting bas-relief adorned the gallery walls narrates epic legends. I was standing in front of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk where 92 devas tugging shoulder to shoulder with 88 asuras to extract the elixir of immortality. More important deities like Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva… were depicted in scale of grandeur and beautiful apsaras graced the corridors.
The Smile of Angkor, the nickname to Bayon, the heart of Angkor Thom is the magnificent temple with 216 gargantuan faces of Avalokiteshvara bearing remarkable resemblance to the temple's builder, Emperor Jayavarman VII according to my tour guide, Mr. Sokah. The omnipresent faces of serenity metamorphose into a phantasmagoric labyrinth. Every corner the visitor turns, you confront one, encounter an array of them in progression or be devoured and become part of the maze.
Then there was the eerie Ta Prohm, the ancient temple overgrown by strangulating Godswood… The velvety leaves formed a canopy and the venerable roots of the sky-scraping trees dislodged the sacred monastery into crumbling blocks of stone. It was where I breathed in the slowness and the stillness of time while shaken by the ferocity of nature.
Khmer cuisine reminded me part Vietnamese, part Thai and a tad of Taiwanese, too riding between the savory and the sweet. Each dish was beautifully decorated with fresh flowers. At dinner I declined the bread service for health reasons and the courteous staff brought me a slice of gluten free orange tart instead…. dessert before meal, anytime!
Neither Lyft nor Uber, tuk-tuk rules the road in Siem Reap. There were elephants outside Angkor Thom for tourist attraction but these majestic animals really should roam in their natural habitats instead :( I took a tuk-tuk to the Angkor National Museum for an afternoon well spent studying Khmer history.
Back to HCMC continuing on the business portion. Snapshots from the team building cooking class during our Sunday off. I finally learned wielding the rice wrapper and couldn't stop making fresh spring rolls since I returned home :)
Most of our traveling team prefers to dine in the hotel for 1st world comfort but I am a 'Glocal' so I search for the glorious local cuisine only a fraction of the 5 star hotel pricing with more delicious food.
My other off-duty theme was coffee, quintessentially black. These little cafes were like bat caves hidden behind unassuming facade or nestled on a quitter upper floor of a cramped shophouse.
Charmed by the cuppa aroma, there I was, began my dueling of relativity and existentialism.
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4 comments:
随着 Miss LK 神游吴哥窟 心嚮往之 此地雖一直在我的 short list 上 卻也一再錯過 你的一身裝扮再合適不過 讓我想起電影 L’amant 中的殖民地風情
看了8年的的權力遊戲 結局讓人悵然若失 其实也不知道什麼才該是合理合適的結局 看到群眾忿忿議論甚至要求重拍覺得也不必太認真 不也就是莎劇的另一種化身 上個月參加GoT主題 party 我穿上寶藍色絲綢長衫 別上三龍紅色胸針 一頭金冠 不屬於任何特定人物就當是 mad king 的遠親吧 😜
吳哥窟叢林中有寺廟 寺廟中有叢林 自然與人力拔河 very otherworldly... 值得一訪 下次我們喝茶給你看itinerary!
Echo好眼光 我近年少買市售成衣 皆因過份花俏或質感不合 數件常穿的衣衫裙裝全由LK改版擇色選料請裁縫量身訂製 極簡經典最適合自己風格 :)
你秀髮如雲身量高挑 GoT costume形容倒像劇中從未正式出場傾國傾城的美人Lyanna! L先生扮Prince Rhaegar還是兄長Ned Stark? 我最喜歡Brienne of Tarth和對死神說改天的Arya! 完結篇後幾天下班回家便猛與遠方老友分析finale 以下是LK不負責影評 :)
The finale certainly diluted if not contradicted the resonating savage irony throughout most GoT seasons(the beheaded Robb Stark swapping heads with his dire wolf after the Red Wedding... the ‘good’ actually has a high probability of getting themselves butchered for bound by morals). Triumphant from the bloodbath, Grey Worm still sailed for Naath(另類塞上牛羊空許約like蕭峰?) and Bran ruled with neither fear nor tear but virtual reality... There’s a rhetorical passage shared by Tyrion and Jon about love vs. duty plus death in the equation. This sums up my sentiments on the finale: it is not real in the 360 primal brutality(emotional, political, physical) that underpins GoT this far but it gives a sentimental viewer like me some sense of hope(poetic justice?). Hope is the death of reality; reality is the death of hope.
量身定制是個好主意 省了許多挑選檢點試裝的時間精力 潮流更迭也無需盲目追趕
我家老頑童是搞笑 他說他的裝扮是地中海域有三個女殺手的那個邪惡王子 名字也記不得了 一身紅色滾金繡 本還要加戴個 turban 被我阻止 幾個男士披了祖母的貂皮坎肩充當 Jon Snow 當然是不能相比了
L先生有意思 扮得可是Prince of Dorne, Oberyn Martell? 那角色玩世不恭亦正亦邪卻也有情有義 :)
張愛玲名言: 衣服是一種語言 隨身攜帶的袖珍戲劇.
藉此觀眾生觀己 頗有趣
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