More facts and trivia related to Angkor Wat for you:
(1) Angkor Wat was built facing the west, as the King at that time was actually building the temple to prepare for his death, in a way. And he really died a few weeks after the completion. Hence, the superstitious Cambodians would avoid constructing their houses towards the direction of the sunset.
(2) In the 15th century, Angkor Wat was abandoned and forgotten for quite some time.
(3) Only in 1860, Angkor Wat was exposed to the world by a French traveler, Henri Mouhout.
(4) Restoration work of the temple started in 1908 and still continues until today.
(5) One of the major factors that destroyed the carvings on the walls was bats' urine and droppings. Euw...
(7) 300 000 workers and 6000 elephants were used to complete this mega project.
(8) The stairs to get the highest tower were extremely steep because "it was not easy to get to the kingdom of gods".
(9) According to legend, there were crocodiles in the moat. But the tour guide could be telling a joke because he was laughing.
It was a very fruitful trip to one of the Seven Wonders of the World and I learned new things I have not found in my textbooks before. However, I still need to thank my lower secondary teachers for making History a fun subject to learn and I could only taste the fruit of my labour (reading and remembering facts) every time I visit historical sites in any of my trips overseas.
No comments:
Post a Comment