We went to Cambodia to see the famous Angkor Wat with a two-day excursion from Pattaya. After all, seals, beach holidays are always interesting to combine with cognitive ones, especially since the nature, culture, mentality of Southeast Asia is so strikingly different from ours.
Of course, it's a long way to go to the border, but everything is redeemed by the place itself, which has enchanting magic.
This temple complex became world famous after the release of the film "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider" starring Angelina Jolie.
Angkor Wat itself is a lot of different temples, not all tourists are taken, something is being restored, something is simply closed, because it is dangerous to walk there.
There are statues here and there inside.
This is how the entire territory of the temples looked until they were cleared of the jungle.
Promotional video:
These are the convex drawings in the galleries on the first floor.
The largest temple of Ankor Wat itself consists of three floors and on the first two you can walk freely, on the third floor they are allowed only when there are no Buddhist holidays and you must have your shoulders and knees covered, this is strictly monitored.
Here is the cherished staircase to the third floor.
I am very afraid of heights, I have a phobia, but I overcame myself and climbed such a ladder and heroically descended. Moreover, the guide said that the railing at the stairs was installed relatively recently, because not dexterous tourists fell.
Gradually, I'm getting to what is stated in the title of my post. Any guide tells tourists that the city and temples were built by King Suryavarman II in the 12th century and his followers. The temple symbolized the sacred Mount Meru, but after a series of years the dominant religion changed from Hindu to Buddhist. When the Europeans saw the complex, the locals told that the gods had built it. And in fact, no documents about the construction itself have survived, how the ancient Khmers, without having heavy construction equipment, adjusted the building blocks to one another.
ABOUT! Why, it's a dinosaur!
Take a closer look, because we will always recognize this dinosaur.
And one more thing: there are four swimming pools on the first floor of the temple. They are now empty. But between them, in the center, is the so-called "place of power", which is shown to tourists. You need to close your eyes, try to detach from thoughts and feel how an invisible force seems to lift you off the ground. I tested it on myself several times and it worked every time. But the pools around are empty, what happened when there was liquid in them, we don't even know which one now.
For myself, I made an unambiguous conclusion: local authorities and local residents, of course, benefit from the belief that such majestic and one might even say unthinkable structures were built by their ancestors. But even now, if you come to Agkor and catch the restorers at work, you can see that even with heavy equipment, you have to lift each stone several times to rub it against the neighboring stones. I do not believe that it was possible.
It would be interesting to know exactly who built all this beauty, I think that this is the legacy of an antediluvian civilization, the traces of which are everywhere on Earth. Perhaps there were several such civilizations, and therefore in each region the majestic buildings have their own special distinctive features.
And how cool it is to see such a structure with your own eyes! With what pleasure I would travel around the world to see all these interesting places with my own eyes! I want to be a traveler! And you, dear readers?