The Angkor Ruins are the largest cultural heritage site in Southeast Asia, and are a group of stone and tile buildings along the north shore of Tonle Sap Lake in Siem Reap Province in northwest Cambodia.

When Xiao Yang introduced this attraction, he told Zhou Sen about the history.

"The Angkor Dynasty was once a glorious empire, and at its peak in the 12th and 13th centuries AD, it was a great empire that ruled the entire Indochina Peninsula, with many magnificent cities and buildings springing up one after another, making the bustling imperial capital of Angkor Thom even more vibrant. ”

However, its brilliance was short-lived, and after the fall of the Angkor Dynasty, the royal city was unconsciously lost to the jungle, and the scene is bleak, and it is still eroded by the harsh nature of the tropics. ”

Angkor is the spiritual and religious center of the Khmer people, a holy place for travelers, and a must-visit attraction for Cambodia, with many tourists. ”

"Hundreds of temple towers with Hindu and Buddhist architectural styles, such as Angkor Thom, Angkor Wat and Queen's Palace, have been left behind. ”

"Yes!" Zhou Sen nodded, "I am in China, I heard about Cambodia's Angkor Thom, this is the most familiar attraction for Chinese, come to Cambodia must have a good field visit, I have seen some promotional albums before I came, the feeling of reading the album and seeing it with my own eyes is different!"

Xiao Yang walked forward with Zhou Sen, and the camera brother Liu Dazhuang carried the camera, Angkor Thom, a city surrounded by a 12-kilometer-long city.

Zhou Sen sighed: "The wall is really long!"

Angkor Thom is a square shape, protected by a city wall and a moat, the city wall is high, the whole city has five city gates, in addition to the city gates in the four positive directions of east, west, north and south, there is also a victory gate on the north side of the east gate, the city gates are all tower-shaped structures.

There is a stone bridge over the moat outside the south gate of Angkor Thom, and on each side of the bridge is a row of stone busts representing gods on one side and demons on the other, holding the giant serpent king in the form of a cobra.

Xiao Yang introduced: "It is said that the moat, which is about 100 meters wide, was used to defend against enemy attacks in ancient times. ”

"Crocodile?" Zhou Sen was stunned, "I thought crocodiles were common in India, but I didn't expect Southeast Asian countries to have them!"

Fortunately, the moat has now dried up and there are no crocodiles.

Drill into the small south gate doorway, the ancient trees that stand up to the sky are neatly lined up on both sides of the road, the gentle morning light is revealed in the cracks of the trees, the breeze blows, the leaves gently slide down in the wind, and fall to the ground, which is quite poetic and picturesque.

In the middle of Angkor Thom, the magnificent Bayon Temple was built according to the concept of the Buddhist Sumeru Holy Mountain, and around the central minaret are 49 Buddha face pagodas carved on all sides, these enigmatic Buddha faces smile, different expressions, serene and somewhat mysterious.

Cambodia is very particular about Buddha statues, Zhou Sen listened to Xiao Yang's introduction: "The four faces of the four-faced Buddha represent compassion, compassion, joy, and giving, and sorrow and joy are invisible." ”

The cloister murals of Bayon Temple are also very rich, and in the whole area of Angkor Thom, there are famous buildings such as Bapuang Temple, Sky Palace, Libo King Altar, and Elephant Terrace.

Zhou Sen said: "I have been in Cambodia for a while, and I have a certain understanding of Cambodian architectural style, and I feel that there are both foreign culture and local customs!"

Xiao Yang nodded, "Angkor Thong Royal City is the last capital of the Khmer Empire, surrounded by priests' residences, civil and military palaces and government halls, it is impregnable, this is the most representative building in Cambodia, these buildings are made of wood, it has been corroded, but the stone buildings left behind confirm its former glory." ”

Temples include Bayon, Bharfang, Angkor Palace, Elephant Tower, Mad Terrace, St. Pali Temple, Ti Pa Nam Temple and the Zodiac Pagoda, the royal palace located in the royal city of Angkor Thong is much older, belonging to the early kings of the 10th century, the king of the 10th century and the early 11th century, the royal city of Angkor Thong is famous for its magnificence.

"Build a Golden Taparong Temple in the center, I also took you to visit it before!"

"Yes, I'm impressed!"

"On the east side is a golden stone bridge with a golden stone lion on each side of the bridge, and there are eight bottles of golden bodhisattvas lined up along the stone houses, and on the north side is the golden copper pagoda, Bafang Temple, which is even higher than the golden pagoda, and is a truly amazing sight, with ten stone houses at its base. ”

Further north, there is the king's palace, and from his private residence rises another golden pagoda, with a passage leading directly to the Elephant Terrace and the Mad King Terrace, and there is a small stone pagoda at each corner of the city wall next to the Angkor Thong Castle. ”

Zhou Sen followed Xiao Yang and went to visit one by one according to what he said, there was a giant snake at the front of the passage stretching out nine heads, arranged in a fan shape, the snake body extended along the passage and was caught by the gods, and the devil formed a serpentine railing, this snake may represent the rainbow, connecting the human world and the gods.

Every time Zhou Sen goes to a country, there are local characteristics, and the architectural style is related to the local history and culture.

Interestingly, each temple is in the shape of a cross and opens towards the east, with an arch on each side and crowned with a lotus dome and two tiered towers supporting the temple underneath.

There are female statues and false windows on the outside, typical of the period, with red clay blocks in the upper part of the windows as a canopy and a parapet in the lower half.

Zhou Sen's feeling after looking at it is that the whole is built magnificently and beautifully, and it must be extremely strong to resist external invasion.

The lower part of the gates is in the shape of an elephant, each elephant has three heads, the trunk of the elephant is used as a pillar, and the lotus flower is plucked, the Hindu god Indra sits on the back of the elephant, and there is a little elf on each side, and the left hand of the god Indra is placed in a slightly lower position, and the hand is holding the thunder and lightning.

Elephant, Zhou Sen came to Cambodia to ride, the elephant is very curious, he went to Mongolia to interview when he rode a horse, to Thailand, Cambodia and rode an elephant, the feeling is still not the same, the horse runs fast, although the elephant looks slow, but when there is danger, the elephant can run fast, Zhou Sen sat on the bull elephant has a good temper, very docile, specially trained, Zhou Sen and the elephant took a group photo, take it back to show his wife and son.

Looking inside the stone pagoda, one can see the pillow beam arch, which is typical of Cambodian architecture, with several wooden beams inside the stone pagoda and a sentry box on each side.

There are two concentric square cloisters around the building on the pedestal, the cloister is carved with a large number of reliefs, mainly based on mythological stories, daily life as the theme, relief is the characteristic of Cambodia, before Xiao Yang took Zhou Sen to visit a number of scenic spots, Zhou Sen has seen the relief, to Zhou Sen is very impressed, it can be seen that these reliefs are carefully designed and carved out by skilled craftsmen, condensing their hard work and wisdom.

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