#5 - Sites

(#5 is the sites… my words cannot do justice to describe the sheer beauty and power of these places…)

Hello, my name is Kristen, and I’m a site-seeing addict.

Really, it is the ancient and cultural sites that I crave to see, and I will pay whatever, go wherever, and do whatever to see them.  Get up at 5:00 AM and stand in two lines to see the Taj Mahal?  No problem.  Drag Ayla around for three days to see the Angkor Wat temples?  Done.  Climb a mountain to see a Buddhist peace pagoda even though I’m sick as a dog?  Pffft.  Get into a car with a man I barely know to see a significant Islamic complex?  Hahaha… of course.

I don’t know where this craving comes from.  I view it as part of my worldly education – to learn more and understand more the foreign cultures that I keep stepping into, and also to understand where we’ve come from as human beings.  It’s amazing to see all of this art and architecture and realize that real humans made all of this, without modern technology.  Seriously, we’re capable of amazing things.

I also hope that the money I spend getting there, staying there, and touring goes to benefit the preservation of these sites and the livelihood of the local people.  I do not want to lose these cultural icons.  And we’re in danger of losing some of them, through bad preservation, mismanagement of funds, and encroaching urbanism.

Each place probably merits its own blog post, but I will have to crunch them into one.  I’ve included a sample of the sites I’ve seen – beware, there are a lot of pictures – and I hope that others are as lucky and privileged as I am and can visit them one day.

Shrine of Shah Jalal in Sylhet, Bangladesh - a mosque and complex dedicated to a significant Muslim missionary from the 1300s.

The National Monument in Dhaka and the martyrs monument in Chittagong, Bangladesh - both places dedicated to the fight for independence from Pakistan, and the mother language of Bangla.

The funerary ghats in Varanasi, India - a very holy Hindu place on the Ganges river where people go to die.

Khajuraho Temple Complexes in Khajuraho, India - a collection of medieval Hindu (and some Jain) temples, one famous for its erotic sculptures.

Taj Mahal in Agra, India - a mausoleum built by Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it is one of the finest examples of Mughal architecture.

Jaisalmer Fort in Jaisalmer and the Bada Bagh Cenotaphs outside of Jaisalmer, India - a modern living fort and a cemetery, both examples of fine sandstone architecture in the Thar Desert.

Swayambhu and Boudhanath stupas in Kathmandu, Nepal - two large Buddhist stupas that serve as religious focal points and tourist sites in the Nepali capital.

Patan Durbar Square in Kathmandu and the World Peace Pagoda in Pokhara, Nepal - a sprawling urban complex of temples and palaces in the capital, and a modern Buddhist pagoda.

Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Banteay Srei, near Siem Reap, Cambodia - all fine examples of carving and architecture from the ancient Angkor kingdom.

*Again, so many thanks for the photos courtesy of Jessi Hinz!