Month: October 2012

Categories
Photography Travels

[2616] Reward and punishment in the afterlife, at Angkor Wat

A friend of mine will be spending a number of days in Cambodia later this month. Upon learning her travel plans, I began to reminisced my long hot lazy Cambodian days. I began to imagine going through the temple ruins all over again, and the walks I walked, the rides I rode, the conversations I engaged in, the drinks I drank, even the diarrhea I suffered.

So at the end of my work day, I drove home and the first thing I did was to switch on my laptop and went through my Cambodia album all over again. Sigh…

You know this entry will be about Cambodia.

Angkor Wat has a number of impressive bass reliefs along its outer corridors. The famous one is the Churning of the Milky Ocean. The myth of the Churning of the Milky Ocean is an important narrative in Hinduism. I also learned a lot of Hindu mythology from Angkor Wat and its reliefs.

Below is a bas relief telling the story of reward and punishment in the afterlife from Hindu perspective.

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There are some graphic representations of hell but this particular section of the relief is about the righteous being brought to judgment, if I remember correctly. This is also another significance to the relief: Angkor Wat was built in the honor of death unlike other temples. The king—Suryavarman—ordered the construction of the temple to prepare for his death.

Some parts of the relief appear polished. It is only so because visitors have the habit of touching the relief with their hands.

Categories
Photography Travels

[2615] Life on Tonle Sap

I spent some time near the northern part of Tonle Sap, close to Siem Reap. While I did enjoy the temples and I did wish that I spent more time exploring more temples, the change in view was not that bad.

Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. I read about the lake when I was a teenager and it was an awesome feeling to have finally been there.

There are multiple interesting facts about the lake. One is that its size during the dry and wet season differs remarkably. So does its depth. At some places during the wet season, the water level can reach the canopy level of the forest. Two, the lake is connected to the mighty Mekong at Phnom Penh some hundreds of kilometers to the south east and that river flows upstream during the wet season and the Mekong overflows and downstream during the dry season. It is the overflowing of the Mekong that contributes to the size of the lake during the wet season.

Both Cambodians and Vietnamese live on the Tonle Sap lake. The Vietnamese would come to Tonle Sap when the lake swells the size. In the dry season, they would return to Vietnam. I find the transnational nature of the Vietnamese fishermen as amazing. Many other countries including Malaysia guards it frontier in the sea jealously. Cambodia employs a liberal policy instead. Tonle Sap is located in the middle of Cambodia and the Cambodian government allows Vietnamese fishermen to settle here during the peak season. There is a background story to this but I think that is too complicated for me to tell in this entry.

I visited a village or two on the lake. They are villages of fishermen. The reason for that should be obvious: freshwater lake, fish.

Here, two brothers were busy catching some fishes.  This was near the edge of the lake.

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When I reached that particular village, most fishermen were done working at the lake and they were collecting their catch caught in their nets.

Categories
Sports

[2614] The 900th win

Michigan 12, Michigan State 10.

That means the winningest college football team clinched its… our… 900th win.

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Categories
ASEAN Conflict & disaster

[2613] Welcoming peace in Mindanao

Some peace is not worth it. A state that suppresses its citizens and others does not deserve peace for such peace only allows the state to continue to use its power to bully. Peace is sustainable only if rights are respected. No peace can stand with disrespect.

For other peace, it is worth the shot and it should be welcomed. One of such peace is the one almost everybody is shooting for in Mindanao. It is worth the shot because I do not think the government of Philippines is one comparable to that of Saddam Hussien of Iraq or al-Assad of Syria. Furthermore, the conflict has been going on for a long time much to the disadvantage of everybody in the Philippines, and possibly to Malaysia as well although arguably, Malaysia did benefit from the conflict given the context of the formation of Malaysia and the Filipino claim to Sabah in the early age of modern nation-states in Southeast Asia. The conflict in Mindanao essentially distracted the government of the Philippines from pursuing its claim more vigorously. Also, Malaysia, both the state and private citizens, had been naughty with respect to Mindanao in the past, just as they had with Aceh.

But that does not mean that there is no cost to Malaysia. Security in eastern Sabah had attracted attention in the past. The US government has issued travel warnings from time to time, which I think can be an unfair representation of Malaysia as a whole which is very safely relative to most neighboring countries. There have been several high-profile kidnapping cases in the past and this has caused the military to beef up its presence in that area. Whereas Malaysia could spend its resources on building up public infrastructure in Sabah, which is severely lacking compared to Peninsular Malaysia, the same resources went to security purposes. The security spending is necessary but it would have been great if it was not.

Another cost, which is bigger, has been illegal immigration into Sabah. I personally prefer assimilation for these immigrants because they have been here for such a long time. The cost of assimilation should be reasonably cheap compared to mass expulsion. I also think expulsion is an inhumane policy. I think we have a responsibility to welcome these immigrants as long as they are willing to work and become good residents. It is cruel to force them back in harm’s way.

But the politics in Sabah is murky and assimilation that a libertarian like me prefers is not a popular proposal among Sabahans. Some Sabahans hold almost racist (outright racist even?) view when it comes to the issue. So peace is one way which the problem of illegal immigration can be solved, even partially.

Peace is Mindanao may encourage some refugees to return home. Peace also may finally allow for economic development on the island and that may encourage economic migrants in Sabah to return home as well. Peace itself will encourage greater trade between Mindanao and the surrounding regions and that has to be good for Sabah and Malaysia.

But it is still to be seen if there will be peace in Mindanao despite the fanfare. A wholesome peace requires that the rebels are represented wholly and already there are fractions opposing the proposed deal. One hopes the rebelling fractions are only a minority, unpopular and unarmed. Unfortunately, it is quite clear that they are armed. Besides, how many broken peace deals were made in the past?

I also wonder though how will the effort at peace there will affect the Filipino claim to Sabah.

Categories
Photography Travels

[2612] Lost in Preah Khan

Which is my favorite temple ruins among all the Angkor temples that I visited?

It is Preah Khan.

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Unlike others which are mountain temples, Pheah Khan is a collection of chambers and open space. And unlike others which at once impose their presence upon sight, Preah Khan is unassuming. Its entrance is an open courtyard with statues of devas and demons lining up on both sides. That leads to an door or archway which in turn leads you to the temple itself.

You will only realize its vastness once you are inside. Indeed, I was lost within the temple ruins after wandering with my camera. Its greatness is subtle and I like subtlety.

Pheah Khan is also interesting to me because it is the clearest example of Hindu-Buddhist conflict in the past. The Khmer Empire was primarily a Hindu polity but for some decades, its rulers decided to adopt Buddhism. The Hindu reaction came later when its rulers embraced Hinduism again. It was during this time that various Buddhist images were vandalized or redone as Hindu icons. In fact, Hindu kings converted Buddhist temples into Hindu temples.

Here is an example of Hindu reaction to Buddhism in the Khmer empire; images of Buddha were chiseled out:

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Here is another where a Buddha image was remodeled as a Hindu holy man:

Some rights reserved. Creative Commons 3.0. Hafiz Noor Shams