Phnom Bakheng is a small hill 1.5 kilometers northwest of Angkor Wat. It is about 70 meters high and is the only commanding height nearby.

To the west of the mountain is the open West Baray, and to the southeast in the jungle is Angkor Wat, from the top of Phnom Bakheng you can overlook Angkor Wat. Outside Phnom Bakheng is a 650-meter-long and 436-meter-wide rectangular trench, which may be the flood-proof engineering of the old capital of Roluos used in the new building.

Phnom Bakheng is surrounded by trenches, symbolizing the Aral Sea surrounding Mount Sumeru, the center of the world in Indian mythology. Phnom Bakheng Temple is built on a flat mountain top. The temple mountain is a steep five-level platform, square, 13 meters high, 76 meters long at the bottom, gradually narrowing to 47 meters long at the top; the steep temple mountain symbolizes Mount Sumeru.

The five pagodas on the top of the temple mountain symbolize the five peaks of Mount Xumi. In the center of the four sides of the platform, there are five steep stone steps, each with ten steps, leading directly to the top platform of the temple. On the left and right of each stone step, there is a pair of sitting lions guarding. Some of the stone lions are broken and their appearance cannot be seen.

The 109 pagodas of Phnom Bakheng are arranged symmetrically according to a strict geometric pattern: the five pagodas on the top floor are placed with one in the middle and one in each corner, like a five-point plum blossom; corner pagodas are placed at the four corners of the square platform on each level of the temple mountain, for a total of 20 corner pagodas; there is a pair of pagodas standing on the left and right on each level of each of the four five-story staircases, for a total of 40 staircase pagodas.

There are 44 pagodas around the temple mountain. In the early 14th century, when the Yuan Dynasty navigator Wang Dayuan visited Zhenla, he called Bakheng Temple "Hundred Pagodas Island". At that time, more than 100 pagodas were golden pagodas. Today, many pagodas are incomplete.

Ta Prohm is one of the largest buildings in the Angkor Wat complex. It includes 260 statues, 39 spires, and 566 palaces. Archaeologists decoded a Sanskrit stele in the temple and learned that Ta Prohm covered 3,140 villages at the time, and it took 79,365 people to maintain the operation of the temple, including 18 senior priests, 2,740 officials, 2,202 assistants, and 615 dancers.

There is a set of gold plates weighing more than 500 kilograms, 35 diamonds, 40,620 pearls, 4,540 gems... As the most artistic relic in Angkor, the attraction of Ta Prohm Temple is that, unlike other temples, it is almost swallowed by the jungle.

It is said that the small door under the big tree in the middle is the entrance where Julie chased a little girl into the ancient tomb in Tomb Raider. The sunlight faintly illuminates the exquisite reliefs. The green Ta Prohm Temple is also a giant tree. The roots deep underground are enough to crush hard stones. What a perfect fusion. The exit is the West Hall.

After being discovered by the French in the 19th century, the century-old tree had already tightly wrapped around the temple, so no restoration was done and the temple was preserved in its original state. The tree roots continued to extend wantonly, around the eaves, into the cracks in the rocks, and tightly wrapped around the old temple. It's almost like the temple came out of the tree roots, and then they wrapped around it. Just like that.

There are two types of trees here. The larger one is the Kapok tree, which is thicker and light brown in color. It also has many boils on its roots. The smaller one is the Strangler fig, which has gray and thin roots, but is tangled and intertwined.

Ta Prohm Temple, many of its palace walls and city gates are occupied by towering giant trees, the roots of which the locals call the snake tree (kapok), which are intertwined between beams, stone cracks, eaves, doors and windows.

The giant tree grows in the gaps between the temples, and its seeds germinate in water with strong vitality. Birds eat the fruits of the tree and spread the seeds all over the temple. The roots of the tree penetrate deep into the cracks of the stone building and spread in all directions, and the giant roots cling to the broken temple. This also witnesses the decline and fall of the Angkor civilization.

It is said that the French decided to give up the renovation because the tree roots were too entangled, and only made some repairs to keep it in its original appearance. Thus, the temple is formed with huge tree roots today.

At the entrance, a tall four-faced Buddha stands in front of you. After entering the city gate, you can't see any ancient monuments. It feels like walking into a dense forest. Along the path to Ta Prohm Temple, there is a tree about 20 to 30 meters high with a large burnt piece on the trunk. It is said that this is a plant called oil tree by the locals.

The reason for burning it is to let it drip oil which can be used as fuel for lighting, and as long as it is not excessive, it can be supplied in an endless supply, just like a natural gas station.

In addition to the spectacular natural scenery, the various reliefs in the temple are also very exciting. The goddess of wisdom is enshrined in the temple. It is said that Jayakarta VII sculpted it based on the appearance of his mother. In addition to the special mountain-shaped wall of the city, there are many beautiful carvings, including the deeds of the Buddha and the image of the earth goddess Pudevi holding a petal in her hand.

Ta Prohm Temple also has a very special building called the Heart-Knocking Pagoda, which was originally a room for the king to give advice. The special cone-shaped building design makes the echo louder on the sides and smaller in the middle. If you stand in the pagoda with your back against the wall and look up at the sky, and then pat your chest, the whole pagoda will emit a loud echo.

Ta Prohm was built by King Jayavarman VII for his mother. It is a Buddhist temple. I don't know if this is related to the fact that the emperor's mother was a devout Buddhist. Objects with Buddhist imprints, from temples to rice bowls, are all round and transparent.

King Jayavarman VII must have been a thoughtful, sensitive and gentle person. Under his leadership, Ta Prohm Temple not only reflected the spirit of Buddhism, but also made full use of the Khmer architectural language. It was built in a soft, gorgeous and feminine style in line with the owner's status.

The architectural style of Ta Prohm Temple is the same as that of Bayon Temple, but without the smiling face. Angkor Temple is gorgeous, Bayon Temple is gloomy, they both belong to gods, without any worldly fireworks. They are lively because of the participation of life. The whole temple is surrounded by huge trees, and the dense tree roots are like giant pythons, tightly wrapping everything they can grab, entangled with the ancient temple for thousands of years until they become one.

The huge trees at the entrance blocked out the sun, and the tree roots were ridiculously large. The temple, which should have been very magnificent, was now covered by huge trees. Perhaps only such a huge natural force could compete with Buddha. These tree roots spent hundreds of years entwining and penetrating the stone towers and corridors that were thought to be unbreakable, slowly wrapping them up.

Buried the temple. Buddha also has its own frustration. Yun Luo couldn't help but sigh at the tenacity of life. From sprouting to squeezing through the cracks in the rocks until finally stretching out its body, the endless life is as worthy of awe as Buddha. The world breeds gods and spirits, and also reproduces spirits. They have intertwined here for centuries, producing such a wonderful scene, which has given Angkor a mysterious and charming makeup.

The tropical climate made it grow particularly vigorously, and the roots grasped the stone wall tightly like an open hand, and then penetrated deeply into the ground. The branches stretched high into the sky, and some even inserted into the lower guardrail, causing it to break and fall.

The hollow trees had no leaves, only pale branches. The presence of stones made it very difficult for them to breathe, as if they were dead, but they would come back to life when the rainy season came. Hundreds of years later, the jungle gradually covered this place, and more stones were cut by trees. It became even more dilapidated in the war.

Even so, people have not forgotten it. In the past, many poor people who had nothing would not hesitate to offend the gods and cut off the Buddha's head in exchange for the necessities of life. Now, this place is climbed and crossed by tourists, and pictures are made to attract more people.

In order to protect the exquisite statues from further destruction, cultural relics protection organizations from various countries came and removed the trees that were too tall. By the way, the precious trees in the jungle were also cut down and made into furniture and floors for the rich people's gardens. In the hotel where I stayed, the rooms were all made of ant wood from ceiling to floor, and even the lamp base was made of wood.

If the temple is very quiet, if you sit in the shade after a cool rain, you may be able to hear the dialogue between the trees and the stones. Unfortunately, the noise of tourists broke it all.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Like any tourist attraction in China, everyone was competing to see who was quicker, vying to take photos with those entangled trees, but in fact, they were just the feet of the trees. Looking up, the ancient trees were towering. The stage that was once joyful and glorious has become a ruin. The temple has been ruined, and there are rocks all over the ground.

It seems that the scenery of trees and rocks entwined for hundreds of years can't resist human greed. I wonder how many more movies can be made here, how many people's secrets can be kept, how many knees can be broken, or if the few lucky ones left can still listen to a sad song.

Preah Khan Temple was renovated between 1927 and 1932. It was built in the 12th century by King Koyavarman VII to worship his father. It is said that when the great city of Angkor Thom was being built, this became the king's temporary residence, where he worshipped and studied. There is an inscription in the temple, written by King Koyavarman VII's son.

The temple is huge, with a rectangular wall 800 meters long and 700 meters wide. There are four roads leading to the temple. At the entrance of the temple stand several gods and asuras holding long snakes to churn the ocean of milk. On the east and west sides, there is a long sandstone lotus wall, and there used to be Buddha statues on the lotus, but they were destroyed when the Shiva sect presided over it.

There is a two-story building at the east entrance of the Holy Sword Temple. It is said that this house is used to store the holy sword. Its round pillars are very similar to the Mediterranean architectural style. Starting from the central holy tower, four narrow corridors extend in all directions with arches. On the west and back of the holy tower are shrines of Vishnu and Shiva respectively.

The International Heritage Foundation, which repaired the Temple of the Holy Sword, did not clean up the temple on the south side, and the ruins on the south side have been buried deep in the forest. The middle part of the Temple of the Holy Sword is high, representing the center of the universe - Mount Xumi. According to research, the royal family of the Angkor Dynasty abandoned Angkor City in the 15th century, but the incense of the Temple of the Holy Sword has always been very popular. (To be continued...)