More views of the Cambodian Royal Palace Complex:
The Naploeon III Palace. It appears singularly unlovely amidst the traditional Cambodian architecture:
Weapons belonging to the Cambodian Royal House (Because it is me, and I will always take pictures of weapons):
For Leigh: A collection of clothing worn by the Cambodian Royals:
TB, thank you for that tidbit! I'm guessing the fabric is silk. The colors are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at how much of the complex has been paved. The winged figures on the buildings are also interesting. Angels? Demons? Lore is another fascinating cultural aspect.
You are welcome Leigh! Always looking out for my best customers!
DeleteI think the paving is partially practical - with monsoons, the dirt would become mud pretty quickly.
Buddhism has its own set of supernatural beings. Two of those most similar to Christian understanding would be demons and devas.
That French Palace wouldn't look out of place down in New Orleans TB but there........ugh. Wonder why the full dress mannequins weren't behind glass.
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - Yes, it is jarringly out of place.
DeleteNo real idea why they are not behind glass, unless perhaps they change them out frequently. Also in general, security seemed a little different there than other places.
In my recent relaxation of what I read in hopes to reinvigorate how much I read, I read a book by Stephen Hunter called "The 47th Samurai" about the sword that was used to behead the head guy by the forty seven samurai you have blogged about in the past. I learned a lot of new things about Japanese weapons to appreciate them a bit more.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Ed! Was it non-fiction?
DeleteHistorically there is are many reasons that Japanese swords are treated as both art and tool.
It was entirely fiction and not very realistic fiction at that as the protagonist learned how to sword fight in a week and saved the day with his skills. But I'm sure a lot of the terminology and even names of famous sword makers and such were all true facts. The book also did a lot of background on why swords of that age are revered and how they ended up still being discovered to this day. I don't regret reading it. It was a good escape from my non-fiction regiment of the last three decades. I just happened to pick it at random at the recent book sale I helped at not long ago.
DeleteI wish I could have learned to sword fight in a week!
DeleteI bet the facts are true - things like that are pretty quickly called out by the cognoscenti.