Angkor, another Angkor!
West Baray is located in the vicinity of the famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia. This is a grandiose man-made reservoir (8 kilometers long and 2.1 wide), having a regular geometric shape and almost exactly oriented from east to west. An inquisitive gaze easily finds its mirrored surface in space photographs …
Close up, Baray is even more shocking with its truly cyclopean scale. The coast steeply goes down to 10 - 15 meters, where the reservoir itself begins, the depth of which a few meters from the coast does not allow feet to touch the bottom (the depth reaches about 5 meters).
If you look along the reservoir, then its surface goes into the distance and connects somewhere with the sky with a narrow strip of greenery … At the same time, the visible forest is not located on the opposite bank of the reservoir - the bushes begin on its now silted half.
The appearance of Baray, like almost all buildings in Angkor and its environs, is dated using the words "approximately" and "probably", and its former purpose is described as "presumptive".
It is worth noting that West Barai has a twin brother - East Barai, which has a similar size, but is now completely dry, as well as numerous less grandiose reservoirs and canals that can be found along their contours on satellite images.
It is difficult to imagine the labor costs and funds that went into the manufacture of only this one hydraulic structure. You can also remember that in the overgrown jungles of Cambodia there are other gigantic hydraulic projects, the sophisticated layout of which and the work done is amazing … It's not a fact that modern civilization is capable of such projects! With the connection and separation of reservoirs, their filling, sluices and dams, cofferdam and outlets, ideal geometry. Moreover, all experts openly admit: all this practically works to this day. Masterpiece performance!
Questions involuntarily arise. Where did the ancient Khmers (after all, the construction is attributed to them, and the dates obtained do not yet make it possible to question this statement) had so many resources to dig giant pools and what is their purpose? Why do you need geometric perfection and accuracy in orienting reservoirs to the cardinal points?..
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And we can recall that it was the "gods" who demonstrated the highest quality of hydraulic structures earlier in Ancient Egypt and other centers of civilization. Perhaps, if the dating does not lie, we are dealing with some kind of “shard” of divine knowledge and skills that has lingered in the centuries?.. You can also recall that Angkor Wat is full of legends about mysterious “nagas”, supposedly concealing unearthly knowledge…
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