Thangka paintings Thangka paintings are Buddhist paintings, or Buddhist art you can call it too. Illustrations of Buddha and other deities and gods are painted on specific undergrounds like cotton and silk. Usually it’s a loose woven cotton on which the illustrations are painted. The size of thangkas vary. There …
Angkor Thom Built in the late 12th century under the reign of Jayavarman VII and successors, Angkor Thom is one of the largest Khmer cities. It includes temples as Bayon, Bapuon and Phimeanakas. It was the capital of Angkor until the 17th century. The city walls in a square have …
Angkor Wat – size Many people have heard of Angkor Wat, but don’t really know that Angkor Wat is just one of the many temples located in the immensely huge complex of Angkor. That Angkor Wat is the most well known of them all, has to do with its history, …
Buddha Birthday Buddha Purnima and Buddha Jayanthi are two different terms for the same happening, the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha. This auspicious day has several names for it. Beside Buddha Purnima and Buddha Jayanthi it is also called Saga Dawa, Vesak, Vaisakh Purnima, and many more names in different …
Chobar Gorge There is the myth about Chobar that deity Manjushree cut with his sword a hill, which let out the water of a lake. Once all water was out, the fertile land left became what is nowadays Kathmandu. The story with more reality goes that the hill that was …
Mekong Tour One of the packages the agencies in Luang Prabang sell is the Mekong tour, which ultimately goes to Tham Ting Cave and to a Whiskey Farm. The complete tour cost you around 80k LAK ($10) and takes a full morning. You’ll get to the agency by 8 am, …
Shiva Statue The big statue of the Hindu god Shiva can be seen from far. Most visitors to Nepal are going to the temples of Bhaktapur, which is 15 km from Kathmandu. Hardly any of them goes to visit the Shiva statue while its location is only 5 km farther …
One of the many must see places to visit in Kathmandu valley is definitely Swayambhunath, or as it’s also called: Swayambhu, Swoyambhunath and Monkey Temple. Nath means temple in Nepalese language. That’s why many famous sightseeing place names end with Nath. Swayambhunath, Boudhanath and Pashupatinath. The nickname Monkey Temple is …
Buddha Park location The Buddha park, which has the local name Xieng Khuan, is located out of the capital of Laos, Vientiane. The distance from the center of Vientiane to the Buddha park is around 25 km. It’s actually closer to the border crossing with Thailand than to Vientiane itself. …
Kek Lok Si location When you visit Penang Island, then a visit to Kek Lok Si Temple is something you should do. It isn’t far from Penang Hill and therefore can easily be combined in one day. Both are located in Air Itam of Penang Island, which is a 20 …