A picture speaks a thousand words... really?

Below is a shot of sunrise at the world famous Angkor Wat, Cambodia. I always laugh when photographers or bloggers write about how serene the place was... in fact the words "peaceful serenity" seems to be constantly associated with photos of Angkor Wat. See below... a shot that I took at Angkor Wat in 2011.






Sure looks "peaceful" and "serene" doesn't it? The photo below is what it actually looked like at the scene of the photo. There were hordes of people crowding next to the each other to catch a shot of the sunrise! Oh... and people weren't friendly either! The spot where I set up had 4 sets of tripods... got to  be really careful not to knock any camera over! Come on... anyone who thinks this is serene is out of their mind! Well, lesson learnt... a picture speaks a thousand words... but not the complete picture.