Angkor Wat is a world famous temple complex just outside the city of Siem Reap on the north shore of Cambodia's largest fresh water lake, Tonle Sap.
I tell you this, not because you will be interested in the slightest but in the craven hope that using Google Key Words will help swell my currently modest page review rate. That, and a tiny bit of exaggeration as what self respecting self promotion tells the whole truth?
Which is very good fortune, as today an amazing tale dropped on my plate like a big fat fish.
We were playing pool on the only slightly lop-sided table at Rosy Guest House, East River Road, Siem Reap, Cambodia (Tel : 0855 (0) 17814011).
It was an inauspicious performance and of little note other than that the game attracted the attention of a pleasant Cambodian man called Napoleon* , who gave us helpful hints on cue technique. Amazingly, he was a direct descendant of Suryavarman II, the God King responsible for the construction of the wonder that is the Angkor Wat Temple Complex.
He explained that, due to his lineage, he was unaccustomed to carrying money, and being temporarily separated from his retinue, found himself embarrassingly short of cash. He had, thank Vishnu, been able to commandeer a vehicle from one of his subjects and was at our disposal. Should we be in need of a guided tour, he was happy to share with us a further good fortune, namely the presence in his entourage of the descendant of the Chief Architect, Michael Angelo* who was intimately acquainted with the intricacies of the massive site.
Unable to believe our luck, we agreed on the spot and the following morning set off in the royal tuk tuk with Napoleon and Michael Angelo.
The complex is huge. Angkor Wat was a temple capital housing a population of 60,000, covering nine square kilometres and founded in 1177 by Suryvaraman II. Sacked by the Vietnamese Chams in 1181, it prompted the construction of Angkor Thom just to the north by a successor Jayavarman VII on an even grander scale, the population peaking at over 1 million people. At this point the Khmer Empire hosted the largest city on earth and what still remains the largest religious building ever created.
Climbing the steep steps to the Bayon Temple, I was disconcerted to trip on an uneven slab and fall headlong into a previously undiscovered chamber where, while I was dusting myself off, I discovered the undisturbed funerary urn of Jayavarman II, which was very nice.
Later in the morning whilst enthralled by the architectural splendour of the Baphuon Temple, lightning struck for a second time. Whilst surveying the bas-relief carvings depicting the Hindu legend of the Churning of the Sea of Milk in which Gods and Demons co-operate to create the Elixir of Immortality, I accidentally deciphered the lost meaning of the carvings, solving a mystery that has perplexed scholars for over a thousand years, which was also very nice.
Just before lunch we wondered at the 39 towers of Ta Prohn. A scene from the famous Tomb Raider motion picture starring Angelina Jolie and John Voight, the towers are engaged in the muscular embrace of Banyan trees, themselves over 400 years old. To our delight Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had returned to the location for research into a third installment of the franchise and invited us to lunch with them at their suite at the Siem Reap Intercontinental Hotel.
Fortunately, in the meantime, Napoleon had found the members of his missing retinue and we were gratified to accompany him as he processed back to Siem Reap. After banqueting into the early hours and being presented with the Cambodian Medal of Honour in recognition of my contributions to archaeology, we retired to bed at Rosy Guest House, accompanied to our slumbers by the royal orchestra that played a medley of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Did I say a big fat fish?
Perhaps I meant a big fat lie.
* The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
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