Wat Muang Sing, Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

                                                        Wat Muang Sing
                                                    Near
                                        Kanchanaburi

This is one of the many ancient Buildings in the area, it is around 45 kilometers from the city of Kanchanaburi. There is a very large park containing numerous structures and ruins, also there is the natural beauty consisting of trees flowers and various animals, a very peaceful place.

    Walkway leading up to the main structure, the walkway and buildings are constructed with Laterite stone.

Views of the outer walls .

Rear entrance and walls.

                                    Internal view of the walls complete with trees growing out of them.

                                                          Internal walls and buildings.

Viewing through doorways towards main Buddha image at the center of the complex.

Approaching the image and finding I'm still a long way away.

Discovering an inner courtyard is still separating me from the Buddha image.

Finally I'm standing before an image of  Bohisattva Avalokitesvara.

Approaching from the side.

View from the rear.

Looking out to the trees beyond.

Jack fruit tree growing in one of the courtyards.

                           

                                                        Some trees growing among the ruins.

Another temple building set to the rear of the first monument building.

Maybe ritual receptacles. 

A stand of  Unusual Bamboo at Ban Kao National park.

A few Kilometers from Wat Muang Sing there is the Ban Kao National museum near the Kwae Yai river. This has an ancient stone age site and a Neolithic site containing skeletal remains, tools and urns from the prehistoric age approximately 4000 years old. 

                        It's good to get lost and find all of this on the way of finding out where you are.

Stone dancers.

                            
                                 Gracefull Stone dancers
                                                 Apsara


A few years back I went to Angkor Wat, Cambodia where for me I first discovered the stone Apsara dancers. They were carved into the stone walls all over the Wat. I later found they were carved into many of the other Khmer Wats around the area and into Thailand as well, it was part of the Khmer culture, so where the Khmer went so to did the stone Apsara dancers.

After photographing the dancers and closer observance of them I found that they were individuals, In this I mean they were all different to each other, which made me wonder if they were carved in the likeness of real people and not as imaginary images created from an artist mind. I could be wrong in this but it's a nice thought that one could be looking upon an image of what once was a living human in the act of religious dance from long time ago.

                                                              Angkor Wat Cambodia

                       Photo taken from the central temple building facing towards the main gate.

                              Part of the external corridors at the rear of the main temple building.
                    The walls and columns are covered with carvings depicting various religious scenes.

                                              Detailed carving on one of the stone columns.

                                                 Part of one of the inner courtyard areas.

                              Detail of the Apsara dancers High above ones head in the courtyard area.

Beautifully graceful Stone dancers.

 

Some of these carvings are badly damaged but seeing how old they are and what troubled times they have been through we are lucky to be able to see them at all.

The dancer on the left is the only one I found to be depicted showing her teeth while smiling. 

These images were painted in beautiful colour, in some places one can still see some of that colour.

In one of the temple courtyards were these Dancers who posed for the tourists for a fee. One can see some stone dancers in the background. 

This group of dancers are situated on a corner wall where people are able to touch the figures as they pass by, the one on the far left now has a highly polished sheen. 

 This is one of the buildings outside the main complex, on it's walls are more of the stone dancers.

                                      Some different stone dancers from other temples in the area.

 I was very lucky to find these Apsara ladies doing a photo shoot near one of the main gates.

I stopped and asked the photographer if he minded if I took a few pics myself, which he didn't. They are the modern day version of what I had been looking at all day in the Temples. Definitely A place I will be revisiting in the near future, so much to see, cannot get enough of the place in one trip.