The Great Angkor Wat

I went with a colleague for a holiday in Thailand last year – after a week in Thailand, she had a flight to Melbourne and my flight to London was 4 days later. During our flight from Phuket to Bangkok the in-flight magazine had an article on the great Angkor Wat temple ruins in Seam Reap, Cambodia. It was an experience of a famous French photographer who made as many as 10 trips to Cambodia in the 90’s to take photographs using an infra red camera, of one of the greatest temple ruins on earth. His pictures show-cased on the magazine were breathtaking and the infra-red camera shots resembled the ones I take on Sepia mode of my camera. He used an infra red camera for 2 reasons – a) it completely eliminates the effect of tree leaves that might come in the way (b) taking a picture using a color camera already puts a date to the photo; IR/Sepia pictures suggests something antique. Take a look at some of the Sepia-mode pictures I shot in Cambodian Angkor to know it yourself. On arrival at Bangkok, I saw her off to Australia and took a $40 Bangkok Airways flight to Seam Reap, Cambodia – I had no idea what I was in for!

Hindu God of Creation – Vishnu at the entrance of the Angkor Wat main temple. Angkor Wat is a set of 30 temples (many more unexplored, they say) on the outskirts of Seam Reap – a town on the Northern part of Cambodia. You can buy a 3 day temple visit pass for $40 and a 1 day pass cost you $20. You’d need at least 3 days to explore the Angkor and there are tourists that rent apartments to stay in Seam Reap for longer periods and explore the ruins in leisure.

Angkor Wat – the main temple and its reflection on the pond in the front. There is a strange phenomenon that happens only in this part of the world. The ocean floods the forests surrounding the Angkor during the rainy months and recedes in summer. The locals say that’s how they managed to build these massive stone temples in the middle of nowhere – the stones must have arrived on boats when the forests flood.

The Face temple – the faces represent king Jeyavarman whose face meant terror to the enemies. This temple was actually scary in broad day light!


There are lots of eerie trees all around Angkor and for tree watchers this place is a paradise. Observe the ones above, where the trees and the temple form a single formation.

Cat Temple – of course that is not its name; but the shape of the series of temples resembles a cat sitting down.

Stone rubbles are a common scene in this age old temple ruins. Some are really worth taking a close look at. The greenish tinge on the black rocks on a green background makes a good contrast and is pleasing to the eyes.



Kids kids kids – you will find them all around the temples and in Seam Reap town. Most bug tourists for money selling T-shirts, bronze figurines etc. Some like in the pictures above just play, swim, fish, randomly walk and enjoy their childhood in one of the most stunning works of the yesteryears. Angkor – I’d say is the mother of all hindu temples in the world.

There is plenty of opportunities for tourists to do community work in Seam Reap. When you still have time and energy after exploring the Angkor, you can consider visiting the following –
* Artisans D’angkor is an French organization that encourages and helps talented Angkor sculptors to continue the khmer art & tradition - http://www.artisansdangkor.com/
* The National Museum has been renovated and looks great
* There is a famous landmine museum [Cambodia has a deep landmine history – google to know more]
* Every night performances of Apsara [heavenly dance girl/charmer] dancers in Seam Reap restaurants
* Floating forests – definitely a must-see; you can even canoe in the thick forests [mind your head - take care there could be a branch or a root right in the front]
* Hiking Spots with plenty of waterfalls with stone sculpture ruins
* Army Shooting range – you could try AK-47, Mortar bombs, Pistols and other artillery that you fancy for dirt cheap price!

Sun & Sand – Shengoop

Middle East indeed has quite a lot of either and more – a unique culture. During the times that I’ve never traveled to that part of the world, I had a very different impression of the Arab world – mostly from travel channel shows of Morocco and Egypt. The problem with those shows is they are taken in Morocco & Egypt and they cover mostly tourist places which are not many and definitely not mainstream.

So visiting the Middle East was easily a culture shock to me and it took quite a bit to understand a lot of things there. Few other things still remain a mystery. On the above picture is Shengoop, me and Ali Mussalem in Oman that is trying to mobilize a Schlumberger unit for a job on a land rig involving secondary high explosives to perforate the oil well. Shengoop meaning “crap” is the nickname for Seif – I wouldn’t be surprised coz on our drive from Fahud to Sahmah, Shengoop was narrating his experience of getting lost in the sands and ending up over a border police check-post in Saudi Arabia with radio-active sources, which was originally sent to a rig in Oman – hehe!

Frequent break of journeys to sit around in a circle and enjoy the sunset with frequent shots of Omani coffee & fresh-picked home dates is commonplace in this country. Business and people in Oman is pretty laid back – fair enough for an oil rich country with population less than most metropolitan cities in the world. Observe the Oman Chips carton (I kind of have a thing for this chips, very different in taste & flavor), 1.4 D Explosives placard (the 1.4 D is a universal explosives classification code – in this case referring to a Secondary High Explosives, which are the most deadly of all) and the nothingness of the background! The desert in Oman is not like the usual ones with sand dunes you would imagine (though Oman does have some places with dunes) – they are mostly granular sands and rock formations.

That is Shengoop at a closer angle – it was fun working with him during that job; he just lost the key for the pick-up truck during that job – but hey, at least we didn’t end up in Saudi Arabia :-)

Back in the Petrogas camp in Sahmah, we got to stand-by for a day before they wanted Schlumberger crew in the rig. I stole (really) a bike from the camp and was so excited to ride it on the camp corridors.

And ended up like this…!

Bratislava - the big small town!

Brat, as it is lovably called it is the capital city of Slovakia. The Slovaks are very friendly people and the city is too small that you can walk all over the city within one day. Brat, despite being small is charming and there are too many little things that capture everybody’s attention. It was a welcome break in the middle of my euro trip at a point I was inundated with museums, art galleries and cathedrals. I have compiled below some random scenes in Brat that made me sit and stare. I love Brat, muaah!

Sitting in the front side of the Danube restaurant for lunch!

This is a famous monument of the waterworks man climbing up the man-hole. It is there in some random street and comes up before you all of a sudden.

I love this one, on a park bench in some major square in city center.

This is what I love about Brat, look at this one - completely random in the walking lane of a shop street!

Cute kids playing a game around the tree. I was trying to understand how they play, but its difficult. As far as I remember, its got to do something with running round and round the tree and one kid gets kicked out for some reason. Umm, something like that i guess..

My favorite activity while backpacking - visiting the local post office and sending out cards to friends. This one is not a postoffice but a random post box in a random street - again so Brat'ish!

Random Photograher at a street corner - smart & wily!

This is heights of randomness - an alien space ship shaped restaurant on top of the suspension bridge that goes on top of river danube! It is supposed to be Brat's millennium monument.


This is a just a famous clock tower in city center - not too Brat'ish (or random)!

I would visit Slovakia again, but not Bratislava. I want to explore the hill side villages on the northern part of Slovakia bordering Poland. I want to also visit the border district of Zakopane in Poland. Ahhh, can't wait to go back :-)

Play it again, Sam

“You must remember this; a kiss is just a kiss...
Unforgettable standard...As time goes by…”

Indeed, it’s got to be Woody Allen’s master piece created in 1972 that took Casablanca to an all time great romantic work. That has nothing to do with this post. Just got reminded of when I was hand picking some pictures I shot in Central Europe of monuments erected for great musicians whose work are so immaculate that it impacts even today’s ipod generation! I always assumed one needs to have a taste to enjoy classical music – but there are works of some (you will see their monuments below) that just blow your mind away, period. I was so wrong. You do not have to be a classical music enthusiast to appreciate their work. I wondered what makes their music so special. As I kept going to more concertos and visited more monuments, slowly it dawned to my mind. In order to enjoy a genre of music (hip hop, RnB, Electronica, Classical, Folk etc.) one needs to have a taste or like – else you will not enjoy it. The works of the following people cannot be classified as a genre of music – they are more like music itself; in its natural, original, pure, universal form straight from the heart influenced more by nature, human moods & sensualities rather than society and pretension. I enjoyed every bit of the 5 or 6 concerts I went in Vienna, Paris and Budapest and clearly understood what is it in such forms of music that brings tear drops to the listener.

Antonín Dvořák in front of the Rudolfium in Praha (Czekh Republic)

Ludwig van Beethoven, Wien (Austria) Please note he was able to conduct and perform even after becoming completely deaf!

Johannes Brahms, Wien (Austria)

Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wien (Austria) - Yeah, that's his full name!!

Johann Strauss II, Wien (Austria)

Golden Hall of the Musikvierin - Wien (Austria) - take a look at the costumes and the wig of the concerto performers!!

Schlumberger Melodramatic 1930s

I do not come from a family that has a background in the oil world. It is hence safe to assume none of my folks got any clue about my job or industry in general. The video is a melodramatic version of the first resistivity log done by my company in the US. The b/w movie is taken in 1932 in California - since then both the industry and Schlumberger have come a long way and look very different.

Glorifying the Piss

What is in a piss? But Europeans somehow find great passion in creating works of art related to a pissing man and glorifying it to unfair proportions. Although there are too many examples of pissing man fountains in Europe (i can count at least 10 that I have seen myself), the most famous one of all is the Manekkan's Piss of Brussels, Belgium. It is so over-rated that everybody who visits Brussels is so excited to see it; when they do see it the first reaction would be "Oh, is that it?"!! Reason being, the statue is way too small and nobody is sure why is it so famous - there is even a museum with a whole collection of outfits for the usually naked Manekkan who never stops pissing.

Manekkan in his usual naked pose, pissing of course

I was very lucky to get hold of the same Manekkan in the same pissing pose, but with a costume on!

Other not so famous examples of Glorifying the piss tradition of Europe - these 2 pissing boys with an especially vivid expression of relief on the face, is on the front side of a restaurant on the way to the hrad (castle) in Praha, Czekh Republic. I'm not sure if people actually ate in that restaurant, but definitely took pictures with the pissing boys or took a piss themselves - haha!

My Random Shoots - A Series!

Victoria Train Station, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam - Bikes are very much a part of life in Holland, special lanes, beautiful nature makes it ideal!

Charles Bridge from river Danube, Praha, Czekh Republic

Cigar Shop, Golden Utika (Street), Praha, Czekh Republic

Restaurant, Praha, Czekh Republic

wafflebrugge - what is that?

wafflebrugge is the name of my blog – I’m sure it would have occurred to some why I chose this name. I think I had the best moment of my recent life in a town called Brugge (pronounced as brooooh) in Belgium. What was the moment? Sitting by a canal and enjoying freshly made, hot waffles with chocolate syrup with a sweet companion bought from a €1 a piece road-side vendor. Hence the name wafflebrugge for my blog address and chocolate waffles for my blog title. Whenever I see/type/hear wafflebrugge I get reminded of those few minutes in Brugge and it makes me feel great instantly! Ok, time for some pictures: all of the following are taken in Brugge, Belgium this summer, except the last one in Amsterdam, Holland –


You can still see the waffle vendor in the background from whom I bought the tastiest chocolate waffles in the world.


Windmills are very characteristic of Holland and Belgium; and many works of the Dutch genius Vincent Van Gogh find inspiration in these ancient windmills.


Tiny streets lined with old stone houses and stone roads that makes a funny noise when cars go past them – found in many towns all over Europe, especially in Italy.


Canals flaked by typical Dutch/Belgian style houses (characterized by steps/curves triangulating upwards, small width and no gap in between). I took this picture standing on a canal bridge which is also a common scene in Holland, Belgium and the sinking city of Venicia (Italy). Also one of the major Van Gogh inspirations.



Since I already mentioned his name twice, I had to put up this picture taken right outside the VV Gogh museum in Amsterdam, Holland – that houses world’s largest collection of VVG’s works. Please visit this website for more info – http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/

North Pole

What does a boy with some pounds on the wallet, plenty of holidays and infinite desire to travel the world (and beyond) do on a laid back Sunday after noon? Look out for backpacking destinations! Having traveled in over 25 countries so far, I am not an amateur when it comes to traveling. In the past, I have considered – Euro trips, Olympics vacation, African safari, Cheap Asia tour, trekking in Himalayas, Learn Spanish in Spain, GAP holiday in S America and other popular ones. The thing about the “off beaten destinations” is, everybody talks about them, some even manage to get there and in the end they are not off beaten enough.

Then I reached out to my freeze box to grab my Irn bru when it hit me – North Pole! To be frank, I thought North Pole is an exclusive zone for scientific researchers and environmentalists. Then I wiki’d North Pole and the page I got turned out to be the funniest wiki page I’ve ever read. First some random facts and then some random funny facts from the North Pole wiki page.

North Pole Wiki Page-link - http://wikitravel.org/en/North_Pole

Random Facts:
1. Nobody knows who reached the North Pole first
2. Latitude-Longitude: latitude 90°N (longitude not applicable)
3. There is no official marker or flag or monument marking the North Pole (may be someone should build one)
4. Yes, there are Arctic tour operators  woo hoo!! You don’t have to be that strangely bearded scientist to be in the North Pole.
5. How to get there? By air ($ 13000) or By Sea ($ 20000) – I personally feel the 2 week expedition trips on ice-breaker vessels are the best way to get there.
6. There is only 1 protracted sun rise and sun set each year!

Random funny-facts: [these are quotes from the Wiki Page – I told you]
1. Tour operators stick a sign pole into the ice, but that's unofficial and purely for photographic purposes
2. Each year, there is a marathon foot race called the North Pole Marathon organized by Polar Running Adventures
3. It is impossible to buy anything at the North Pole; you should bring everything you might need [how unobvious - hehe]
4. Adventurous types may try searching for Santa Claus but it is highly unlikely you'll be able to locate him [Jesus Christ..!]
5. Most visitors to the North Pole head south next [I can believe that, coz I am already finding it hard to make a choice between the poles]

To be fair you should read a bit about the South Pole as well – I found an interesting organization acronym’d as IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators) http://www.iaato.org/

Smile that lingers

There are times when you meet someone, get influenced so much in a sweet way and end up smiling irrespective of what she says. Rarely, there are times when this smile lingers on long after she had gone; it takes a while before you realize you are still smiling and end up shrugging yourself off saying "oh silly me" :)

Those are actually amazing moments and the person who caused it is usually an amazing person. There is always a lot to read in the following -

A smile you give for a tiny bit of extra time
A hug that goes a little longer than it usually should
A hand shake with a tiny bit of extra stress
An extended moment of silence on the phone before hanging up
One extra bye, before parting
When in a group, an uneasy eye contact for no reason

Many think it is a crush, but I guess it is a bit more than that – may be an overly sweet form of it that could happen only between a boy and a girl, kind of made for each other.

Bachelor Cooking

That is my flatmate cooking stupid food in the disorganized kitchen in our disorganized house - haha! We have experimented so many things in the name of cooking. I guess now I could call myself an expert bad-cook :)

My house!

This was a video of my house in Scotland I took a long time back. I probably look like an idiot towards the end of it, please do not mind.

Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na

I don’t even know exactly what it means – but I saw this Bollywood movie twice during my short holiday in Bangalore. It’s a story of sequence of events that happen between a group of 6 friends who just graduated from school. Ratz and Meow are like best friends for a long time; thought they were just friends, until they realized they just can’t live without each other. The story is simple and sweet, but screen play could not have been better.

This is not a movie review – I think I have seen most of the characters in this movie in real life and that made it all the more sweet watching this movie. Ratz is a guy who is overly nice to everybody, can never get angry or upset and sweet to talk to. I bought the music CD and listening to it all the time here at work!

The finish – Ratz rides a horse to the airport, breaks the security & goes to the waiting hall, stops Meow from flying to New York, tells her he realized he’s in love with her, she tells him a yes and they live happily ever after. The next morning I was about to catch a flight to work, my last day in Bangalore, I couldn’t have had a better time, couldn’t have met a cooler gang and the last thing I want to do is leave. I told a friend, I wouldn’t have gone if someone came to the airport in a horse and stopped me – haha :-)