WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.794 --> 00:00:09.487 I'm standing here, right in front of Angkor Wat. 2 00:00:09.520 --> 00:00:15.841 This is the great Khmer masterpiece, great architecture built by the Khmer king. 3 00:00:16.630 --> 00:00:22.489 The largest temple complex of the whole temple of Angkor, it's Angkor Wat. 4 00:00:26.997 --> 00:00:31.750 This is probably the most sacred shrine in Angkor Wat today. 5 00:00:32.534 --> 00:00:40.321 Because of this statue... it's thought that it was the original statue of Vishnu from the central towers 6 00:00:40.846 --> 00:00:45.914 that had been removed when the Buddhists came, probably, 16th, 17th century. 7 00:00:46.515 --> 00:00:48.877 Then the statue has been here. 8 00:00:50.055 --> 00:00:58.888 The people believe that this was a spirit of protectors of the temples and also for their village and everything. 9 00:01:01.727 --> 00:01:10.334 This is one of my favorite spots of the Angkor Wat, because you could view the central top of Angkor Wat, 10 00:01:10.794 --> 00:01:18.647 where you could see these four towers, basically, the one in the middle and then another one in the back. 11 00:01:19.103 --> 00:01:24.242 You know, there's no other place in the world that has this kind of great monument. 12 00:01:28.299 --> 00:01:37.198 This monument, it's standing as a great foundation of the nation. It's throughout all the history of Cambodia. 13 00:01:37.642 --> 00:01:45.110 Angkor Wat, it's still standing as a place now for tourists to come and see this heritage site. 14 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:52.522 So, Bayon, it's also one of my favorite temples so far. 15 00:01:53.034 --> 00:02:02.160 And it has the distinctive architectural design to represent the god and earth and all the elements. 16 00:02:03.157 --> 00:02:13.285 The towers shaped with the face of the Buddha, and likeness of the king, and the lotus blossom on the top represent the heaven. 17 00:02:13.738 --> 00:02:17.391 So, the heavens, the Buddha, all the elements. 18 00:02:17.412 --> 00:02:25.850 And this is a, you know, a beautiful place, even though one would imagine that these whole towers would have been painted in gold in the heyday. 19 00:02:26.242 --> 00:02:30.018 And they must have been so spectacular, so beautiful. 20 00:02:31.568 --> 00:02:36.489 This is the Temple of Ta Prohm, which is a contemporary name. 21 00:02:37.038 --> 00:02:46.662 The old name, it's called Rajavihara, which is... means the royal monastery. It's built by the most famous king of Angkor, Jayavarman VII. 22 00:02:46.796 --> 00:02:51.301 And as the place he dedicated to his mother, so now it's the "mother temple." 23 00:02:51.735 --> 00:02:56.272 Today, most tourists and most people who come here refer to it as the "jungle temple," 24 00:02:56.335 --> 00:03:00.956 because of the evidence of the jungle here -- giant trees overgrown on top of the building. 25 00:03:01.203 --> 00:03:08.183 So, this is one of the great examples of the tree, the spung tree, or the Tetrameles nudiflora. 26 00:03:08.459 --> 00:03:17.620 This kind of giant trees started from the top and the roots came all the way down to the ground, and the whole thing went "bvrrp" for, like, 600 years. 27 00:03:18.409 --> 00:03:24.280 And the tree is probably about 300 or something years old. But this was under the jungle for almost 600 years. 28 00:03:24.594 --> 00:03:35.979 And this is how many people recognize that this was a jungle temple because they saw that this giant tree is here, you know, growing on the top of the roof of the building like that. 29 00:03:36.047 --> 00:03:43.308 So, it's part of the French idea to preserve this as the... as a temple of the ruin[s], the way they found it. 30 00:03:43.326 --> 00:03:50.068 So, it's kind of romantic of the French. You know, they even named the tree. It's a fromage. It means "cheese." 31 00:03:50.455 --> 00:03:54.346 It's like a cheese melting down from the buildings, so the fromage. 32 00:03:54.654 --> 00:04:00.411 It's like a ripened brieor something, the illusion of the French in those days. So, it's really something.