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There were also inscriptions in the ancient Indian languages of Sanskrit and Pali and the old Khmer.
One Angkor temple, Ta Phrom, is a especially popular temple with tourists [28] because it is most covered by the huge trees of the surrounding jungle.
In Bayon there were also bas-reliefs that told us about the daily life in King Jayavarman VII’s court. Some others depicted laborers at work, and even men at leisure playing chess.
On its pink and yellow sandstone walls one finds Angkor’s best preserved carvings of vines, flowers, and miniature temples as well as violent scenes of Hindu epic legends.
Zhou Daguan’s observations were used by our guide. Pointing out a building across the Elephant Terrace in Angkor Thom, he told us “according to the Chinese Ambassador, if there was a dispute, the two parties to it were put in that building until one got sick and came out first; he was ruled guilty”.
The mythical animals of Hinduism and Buddhism are also present on the balustrades of the bridge to the south gate of Angkor Thom (giants and serpent nagas), and the gate itself (an elephant). The carvings of the sacrifice of buffalo related to “a ceremony customary before and after battles,” our guide said.
Jayavarman VII also erected a temple to Shiva (Ta Phrom), dedicating it to his mother, and another temple to both Shiva and Vishnu (Preah Khan), dedicating it to his father.
In the carving, “the Chams are shown wearing helmets, the Khmer fighting without helmet,” our guide pointed out.
“Hospital Jayavarman VII” was a hospital “only for children.” It was by far the preferred one in town. It was private but it was free. It was funded by an Austrian doctor (Beat) who was also its main physician. He was called Beatocello because he also played the cello. In fact, he supported the hospital by his fund-raising concerts. In our hotel we saw a poster announcing his next concert, “Music by Bach, Songs by Beatocello”.
The temple itself had been off limits but to the royal family, their entourage, and the priests. Its four gates had each admitted a specific group. “The steep difficult steps were to make the temple look like mountains.
Another aspect of the traditional Cambodian culture was on view in another room: small silver elephants commonly given as royal gifts with beetle nuts inside.
The poster for the majority party showed three somber looking men with glasses in dark suites and ties. One was Hun Sen, the others were the leaders of the Senate and the lower house.
Excellent bicycled to school which took him thirty minutes. “Those who have motorbikes are the rich students.” They were lounging on the lawn as we spoke.
A map of Khmer in its golden years is on prominent display in the Palace with a saying by Cambodia’s most revered King, Jayavarman VII of the medieval times: “The King was suffering from the disease of the subjects more than his because it is the pain of the people which makes the pain of the King and not his own one.”
The French colonial rulers have also left a memorial of their glory in the Palace grounds which were established in 1886 after the capital was moved from Oudong to Phnom Penh. It is a gingerbread building first erected in Egypt where it was used to accommodate the Empress of France on the occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal.
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