Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom is the biggest complex within the historic site. The name means “Grand City”, and it was built in the late 12th Century.

There’s a lot of symbolism in all of this construction, tied either to Buddhist or Hindu beliefs, depending on when the construction happened. For example, there are five gates into Angkor Thom – one on the East representing Birth, and two on the west representing Death (don’t use those!). Didn’t catch what the other two represented, though.

There is a manmade mote around the 506 hectacre site, which was originally filled with crocodiles.

That’ll keep the neighbor kids in their own damned yard!

As you cross the bridge going into the site, all the statues on the left are Gods and all those on the right are demons. Sadly, lots of these things have been looted by taking their heads off over the centuries. The head, in Cambodian lore, is the most important part and was also the easiest to steal.

 

 

Angkor Thom had a population of 1 million people. Again, to put things in perspective, NYC didn’t even exist then. London had a population of 80,000. The Khmer Empire had a capital city this huge.

This was a sophisticated society.

Unfortunately, it was kind of short lived due to mismanagement by subsequent kings. The irrigation system, which was essential to the countryside’s rice production, not to mention keeping the mote up and flowing, fell into disrepair. Eventually, invading warriors from neighboring Thailand overtook them.

At Angkor Thom, there are four faces on the various towers. Each of them represents, from Buddhist lore, one of the states of mind – Compassion, Charity, Sympathy or Equality.

Think on that one. These were the concepts being espoused by this religious ideology when Christians were undertaking the Spanish Inquisition.

There’s something we can all learn here.

To get into the City, you had to have 10 fingers. Why? Because if you got caught stealing, they lopped off a pinky. Second offense was the same penalty, and they worked their way progressively through the digits. The theory was, “Once a thief, always a thief. We don’t need you in our town.”

The other thing we discovered was that a very large truck, if it moves very, very slowly, can make it through the City’s gate. While we were standing there waiting for this to happen, a guy pulled up next to us on a motorcycle.

Carrying a chicken.

The opportunity didn’t present itself to really ask the details, maybe he was just taking his pet out for a ride. Maybe it was dinner on the hoof. We don’t know. But he was coordinated enough to hang onto the chicken and ride a motorcycle at the same time.