Curious Cat Travel Photo Blog

Close up view of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem by Bill Hunter.

The Dome of the Rock (Arabic: مسجد قبة الصخرة‎ – Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah, Hebrew: כיפת הסלע‎ – Kipat Hasela) is a shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Foundation Stone, at its heart, bears great significance for Jews, Christians and Muslims.

The Dome of the Rock is situated in the center of the Temple Mount, the site of the Jewish Second Temple. The location is holy to Christians primarily because of the role the Temple played in the life of Jesus. The Temple was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans, who built a temple to Jupiter on the site. During the Byzantine era, Jerusalem was primarily Christian, and pilgrims came by the tens of thousands to experience the places where Jesus walked.

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I can’t remember the temple name, I’ll add it once I have a chance to go through my photos and organize them. The temple is in the Angkor park area, which includes: Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm (which is famous for the banyans growing over the temple) and many more.

Related: Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia – Mesa Verde National Park, USA – Cypress Garden Swamp, South Carolina, USA

Sewu temple is the second largest Buddhist temple in Indonesia, Borobudur is the largest. The Sewa temple is located in the Prambanan temple complex in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (about 1 km away from Prambanan temple). They are rebuilding many of the temples on the site which now lie in ruins.

Candi Sewu was likely built in the 8th century as the royal palace at the end of the Rakai Panangkaran kingdom.

Related: Buddha Statues, Borobudur Temple, Java, Indonesia – Banteay Srei temple, Cambodia – Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand

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Banteay Srei temple, Cambodia. The temple is an another amazing temple in the vicinity of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Banteay Srei is fairly small, but I was definitely very glad I took a day trip (1/2 day really) from Siem Reap to here and Kbal Spean.

Related: Angkor Wat – Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, USA – Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand

The Marina Bay Sands opened in Singapore in 2010. The building is certainly an eye-caching one. It has what looks like an ocean liner spanning 3, 55 story high rise building that each have a luxury hotel. The casino was one of 2 opened in Singapore that quickly surpassed Las Vegas to become the second highest grossing gambling area (Macao is first).

Adjacent to the Marina Bay Sands are: a science museum (in the partial sphere in the photo), an eye ferris wheel (like the London Eye) and a huge new botanical complex – the Gardens by the Bay.

Related: Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Empire State Building, New York City – Palais du Luxembourg, Paris

This is the view from my hotel room, now (of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). My hope is I will be posting much more frequently to this blog in the next month, than I have been in the last 6 months.

See more photos from Malaysia. I have also started a new blog recently: Living in Malaysia.

Empire State Building, NYC

Empire State Building in New York City: see more photos from my walk around Manhattan.

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.

Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky

Bedroom in Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky.