ASIA IN DARKNESS

Half a million Hindus came to the holy town of Kurukshetra in India to wash away their sins in two sacred lakes during the the first complete solar eclipse seen in Southeast Asia since 1955 and the last to come until 2070. In the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, photographers in hot-air balloons to catch the shadows of the eclipse as they passed over the Taj Mahal in the city of Agra. In Cambodia, hundreds of tourists and Cambodians were protected by 30,000 soldiers from possible Khmer Rouge attacks, as they gathered to watch the eclipse against the backdrop of the fabled temples of Angkor Wat. And in Thailand, Princess Sirindhorn, daughter of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, led tens of thousands in an observation ceremony broadcast live on television.