Ta Muen Thom Temple

Hello and again we're out and about looking at the bottom temples of Cambodia. Now we are in fact on day two of our four-day trip, we're far far away from home. In fact we're further than maybe you imagine because we are right next to Thailand. I will show you how close to Thailand we are in just a moment. Follow me Sven. We do have a military presence here but they're all jolly friendly. Down there in fact are machine guns on the and also RPGs, rocket propelled grenades just leaning against the side there. So this place is disputed but I'll show you why it's being disputed at the moment but I'm very pleased to say everyone's getting along at the moment and here it is. This is Tha Mo. Right so let's have a look around shall we. Come on follow me. Here we go. Here's the jolly old military. Here we have a mix. We have the Thai guards army and also the Cambodian army. This gentleman is from Thailand as is this gentleman but at the back there is from Cambodia and there's more littered around the complex. Now come with me because this is fab. This is really good. I'm just standing on a huge plinth. We've got some enormous stones yet again but what we have which is very interesting, I'll let Sven come through because he needs to get a bit of an angle. Sven just goes to my left here and has a look at the wall. We can actually see how these things are put together. Now bear in mind for a thousand years this has stood here. Look at this no bigger than my hand and then we have as wide as my span. Then we have squares. We have that's just a brick but it's quite remarkable isn't it? It's like entering into spines and all sorts of spiders webs as always. It's like entering a secret garden. It really is and this doorway here is obviously not how it should be and this is where we come into Thailand because behind this it has been blocked for the sole reason of not letting people into Thailand. So through there is Thailand but we are in Cambodia and the odd thing as well is over here. Look at this big step. Everything is big isn't it? It's Thailand. We've got Thailand here. We've got Thailand behind me and on that other side is also Thailand. We are hemmed in by Thailand hence the guards and the soldiers are just moving away actually as we come towards them. They don't like to be filmed don't you know? Well the Thai ones don't. The Cambodian ones don't seem to care too much. So it's very unique just on that one point which is we are literally there's a little piece of Cambodia just jutting into Thailand and they've been arguing disputing temples for many a long year but this one at the moment is Thai. Let's go and have a look at some more. Now we've just come round from the back there and we're at the front where those steps brought us up and this is the main reason. This is the main structure, the main temple. So let's have a quick guided look as to its depth but what I will be doing is showing you the back of this in just a moment because there's something interesting going on at the back but if Sven follows me because there's another building I have to show you purely because of how complete it is and it's not often we see these things in such a good state of repair and this one just caught my fancy really. I don't know there's something about being inside it that I really like. So there was obviously an altar in here and it's really good, it's really good because look at it. Isn't this fantastic? You don't need much of an imagination to well we've got the altar we don't have to imagine the altar and the statue that used to stand here and people coming in now the roof and people ask about the roof the roof would have been wooden so it would have been rather gloomy for starters so I'd imagine maybe there was you know tallow candles or something here so you could imagine this gloomy room that has no windows or anything and all you see is this deity this altar in front of you and lit by this lovely gentle amber light and that's why I really like this room it's just got a certain presence about it and this is the heart of it all this we are at the beating heart of this temple and as to why it was constructed and for what purposes. A moment ago I said we would come through to the back well here we are and here once was a statue or maybe a linga I can't say because we just can't tell it's been taken away but it is this that is the very point of the whole temple and people would have come here for their blessings and so on and what we believe from the evidence we have on hand is they were doing the same thing they were pouring the water over to get a blessing and to get I don't know their prayers answered I suppose and we have an indication of this and maybe an indication of how popular this place was because here's something there's always something unique I always say that with these temples and this one yet again has come up with a bit of a surprise if I just dip down here we can see this water course which reminds me remarkably of what I've seen in Pompeii except they had the lead pipes but this water course definitely inclines away from me so with the statue being there is people came in and they did their blessings and so on and maybe they were so numerous that they had to get rid of all the water because we have this drain in effect and I've never seen that before but there's more there's more of a mystery now this one I couldn't even hazard a guess at myself and Sven my rippling cameraman have found this hole now as to why this is here is a mystery and I consider that maybe due to its depth and its width but maybe they were cooking offerings to this incredibly well-respected altar but Sven doesn't think so and I kind of agree with him it's just no idea just no it's not a well it's not it's just a bloody big hole and someone's chipped into the hard rock here so it has its surprises it's still to this day highly considered highly respected certainly wanted because we have representatives of two armies here we also have seen some reasonably heavy military equipment there's assault rifles and other such things just lounging around against walls but what there isn't is people like me and the delightful Sven which is people who come and visit these sort of things so it has been another fantastic temple another fantastic ride coming here and as always it's dished up its surprises and it's been a treat to devour this has been Mr B for Forgotten Temples of Cambodia I very much hope you enjoyed this 10 minute romp around an ancient temple that is surrounded by Thailand but held in the firm grasp of the Cambodian military for now until next time have a superb day bye