Angkor smiles

? On the morning of August 5th, I was still eating rice rolls for breakfast in Ji Bo. In the afternoon, I stood in the Royal Park in the center of Siem Reap and watched the black bat hanging upside down in the treetops spread its huge wings. Cambodians with dark skin, wide nose and curly hair come and go; I also earned an hour because of jet lag; I exchanged 200 people for 1 00000 riel (Cambodian currency,1RMB equals 500 riel), and I became a "local tyrant" as soon as I got off the plane. This is the mystery of the global village. I really set foot in a foreign land.

In less than three hours, I flew from Guangzhou to Siem Reap with a mixed group of 19 people. At the constant urging or prompting of the customs officials at the airport, we entered this country. Siem Reap, located in northern Cambodia, is a city built on the edge of Tonle Sap Lake, except the plain. "Siam" is Siam, Thailand, and "grain" is defeat. The name of this city is embedded with the history that Khmer (known as Jimmy in ancient times) defeated Siam 600 years ago. Yunnan, in the southwest of China, borders the Indian zhina Peninsula, where Khmer people flourished two thousand years ago. After the changes of Minnan, Zhenla and Angkor, the world-famous Angkor civilization was born. Angkor, which means "city" in Sanskrit, was the largest city in the world in the13rd century, with a population of one million. Before I left, I was familiar with Angkor's smile that appeared repeatedly in various images, pictures and books, as well as Angkor Wat, the "pearl" in the crown of Angkor civilization. What makes the Khmer people confident to build the residence of the king and God on the flat and unguarded Khmer plain? What created the secret of the combination of spirit and flesh between this big tree and the temple? Whose smile is Angkor's?

? A thousand years ago, the king's feast began-the palace of the Angkor King and the temple of God began to stand on the Khmer Plain as flat as a carpet; Six hundred years ago, the feast of trees began-dense jungle snakes entangled the palace and the temple; Today, people's feast began-tourists from all over the world wrapped around the palace and the temple like water. During the 600 years from the ninth century to the fifteenth century, more than 600 temples built intensively on 45 square kilometers of Angkor land suddenly disappeared collectively 600 years ago, until the young French naturalist Henry? Muo rediscovered the "lost city" in the jungle. As a group guest who is pressed for time, besides admiring the freelancers who run for 3, 5 and 7 days and travel in large, medium and small circles, how many pieces can I get from this feast?

? The first stop was the Angkor Panorama Museum built by Koreans. The treasure of the town hall is a four-story mural, with a height of 1.20 meters and a 360-degree panoramic view of the city, war and market of Angkor Dynasty. When it first arrived, it was shocked by Angkor civilization. In the sister temple, monks sit on the floor and accept the teachings of believers. Every Cambodian man must become a monk in a temple once in his life, which is the most important commandment in his life. The pattern of temples and houses here is similar, with orange-red triangles overlapping the roofs. Walking in the city center, restaurants, road signs and shops are full of pictures of the king and the prime minister. Weedy bamboo forests abound on both sides of the river, and towering trees covered with vines can be seen everywhere in the park. Most roads are two-lane sandy roads. From time to time, I saw a white cow with smoky makeup and dark circles passing by slowly, like wearing a white robe to attend a masquerade ball. Roadside stalls sell bottled mineral water and bottled gasoline-the main means of transportation here are motorcycles and covered taxis commonly known as "tuk tuk". Because of the high oil price, everyone simply measures by bottle. The four-lane cement road is a national highway with five-star hotels on both sides. Urban and rural areas, the rich and the backward are mixed together like this, and there is no contradiction-inflation is serious here, and only the US dollar is recognized; Low wages, high prices and rampant tipping. Cambodia, which suffered from war and bloody rule, has achieved peaceful development for more than 20 years. It was the tourism brought by Angkor Wat that saved Cambodia 1000 years later.

? The five-star hotel where I stayed at night has a name full of Chinese flavor, "Hua Fu". Seeing the tourists from China, China music such as "How Beautiful Jasmine" sounded-this is the background music of Cambodian musicians playing the boat-shaped bamboo harp live. Before boarding the plane, I accidentally scratched my index finger, which introduced me to the first Cambodian, Tai Qiang, the front desk supervisor. Gao Xiao, the tour guide, contacted the front desk, and Tai Qiang smiled and helped me to treat the wound carefully with disinfectant and hemostatic plaster. Tai Qiang is 29 years old with Chinese face and eyebrows. In order to receive tourists from China, he studied Chinese for three years, sorted out several stacks of Chinese characters and pinyin comparison tables, and browsed them after work. Joining a hotel is a decent job in the local area with a monthly salary of $250. His father owed the bank $5,000, and he paid back $3,000 through his work. Before, Tai Qiang's girlfriend told him to get married when he earned $250 a month. But before Tai Qiang earned $250 a month, his girlfriend ran away. Tai Qiang can communicate with me in simple Chinese. I envy China. Tai Qiang looked at me with a yearning face. But we have Angkor Wat. Tai Qiang looked at me and saw the desire in my eyes.

? The next day, I finally came to Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is only 6 kilometers northwest of Siem Reap city center. There are two sites, Angkor Wat commonly known as "Xiaowuge Cave" and Angkor Tang commonly known as "Big Angkor Wat". On that day, the 20 17 Angkor 10 km marathon international invitational tournament was held, and the open-air concert was warmly held. I didn't see Angkor Wat, but I heard the noise first. Angkor Wat is the largest temple in the world, covering an area of nearly 2 million square meters. Angkor Wat is the only east-west temple in Angkor Wat, with a rectangular layout and a larger rectangular moat around it. I walked through a long bank on the moat and entered the outer door; And through a long tunnel, came to the inner door. On both sides of the tunnel are lotus ponds, reflecting the five minarets of Angkor Wat. You can see the sunrise of the famous Angkor Wat here. At that time, the silhouette of the steeple was like the spire in the crown, and the silhouette of the tall brown sugar tree was like the cattail leaf fan behind the king. Along the way, I also saw two different styles of Angkor beasts-Naga, the snake god guarding the road, and Sima, the lion god guarding the gate. Naga is fierce, like an angry cobra holding its swollen neck high; Sima is naive, with a wide mouth, a protruding chest and an upturned ass. She looks funny.

I set foot on the high platform, passed through the inner city gate and walked into the bathroom of King Cross. The magnificence of Angkor Wat is displayed in front of me-a thousand years of erosion has made it more solemn. There are only three colors left in Angkor Wat: black is the erosion of rain from top to bottom; White is the erosion of moss from bottom to top; Ash is the true face of the gray sandstone that built it-this is more in line with the temperament of its grave: the king is alive and it is the "residence" of God; After the death of the king, this is the "residence" of the king. What you can't see are the complex reliefs on the walls, cloisters, platforms, lintels and windowsills: the topless Apsara fairy, the king riding a symbol of war, and the soldiers throwing spears and bows and arrows, telling the story of God, the history of the king and the people's lives, forming a "visual epic" of the Angkor Dynasty. From the outside to the inside, from low to high, there are three layers of sumeru terrace with three corridors from big to small. To the innermost floor, the height of Sumeru Terrace is 10 meters, which is 60 degrees. The steps can only accommodate one foot, and the performer must be pious with both hands and feet. A small tower will be built in each of the four directions, with a center point of 65 meters high. This is the highest point of the whole Angkor Wat, symbolizing the "center of the universe" in Angkor's mind-Angkor people are layered on top of each other, and the highest point of belief is built with huge stones all the way.

? In the 9th century, King Yesheba Momo I of Angkor began to build a royal city around the 65-meter-high Bakken Mountain, which is the only commanding height of 45 square kilometers in Fiona Fang. Two hundred years later, in113 A.D., that is, during the Southern Song Dynasty in China, the former king of Angkor and his uncle Suliye Pomo II ascended the throne at the age of 17, and spent 35 years on the plain 1.5 km south of Bakken Mountain. It is an artistic masterpiece of the perfect combination of the will of kingship and the wisdom of Angkor, and it is also a symbol of the peak of the national strength of Angkor Dynasty. Wang believes that with God's blessing, chariots can be put into storage and the plains can be clear. Therefore, the moat 190 meters wide is not used to defend the enemy, but to reflect the beauty of Angkor Wat; The relief of the 70-meter-long East Promenade "Agitating the Sea of Milk" is just the story of "the gods pulling the cable". According to Indian mythology, in order to get the nectar of immortality, the gods asked Vishnu to uphold justice, moved to Mount Datura as a pestle, and tied Vasuki, the snake god, as a rope. Eighty-eight Asura representing evil are pulling snakehead on the left, and ninety-two Dehua gods representing good are pulling snakehead on the right. Together, they stirred the sea water for a thousand years and turned it into milk. Asura tried to snatch the nectar, and Vishnu became a fairy in Apsara, confusing Asura by singing and dancing. As a result, the nectar of immortality was obtained by the good god. Asura, one of the fish who escaped from the net, became a good god and shared nectar. Finally, he was exposed by the sun god and the moon god and beheaded by Vishnu. Luo Wei died, but his head came back to life. He devoured the sun god and the moon god angrily, and fell into his throat every time, becoming the "origin" of the solar eclipse.

?

? But Vishnu can't protect Angkor Wat. 1 177, 30 years after the completion of Angkor Wat, it was captured and looted by Champo people from the east of Southeast Peninsula. This gave birth to the second great king, Jaya Varman VII. He gave up three chances to ascend the throne, until the king's father and brother were killed by traitors, and Mrs. Zhan went to Enemy at the Gates again. He was appointed to ascend the throne at 1 18 1, when he was over 50 years old. Four years later, he led the army to defeat Shiva in Tonle Sap Lake in the south of the city, and won peace for the Angkor Dynasty for more than 200 years. Jaya Varman VII in the handed down statue has a pair of kind eyes, like a Buddha's head. He was tolerant, tired of the endless struggle of Hinduism, and saw the disillusionment of Vishnu, so the whole country converted to Buddhism. 1 193, 80 years after the completion of Angkor Wat, Jaya Varman VII built another great temple of Angkor Wat in the downtown area 500 meters north of Bakken Mountain.

? This is bayon temple. The stone pillars without canopies are independent, and the huge Shi Zhuan pours into mountains in the ruins. The long corridor of the temple is carved with exquisite reliefs, one of which records the war in Tonle Sap Lake. In the middle of the relief, the soldiers on the battleship deck turned left, naked, wrapped in cloth, and held high their spears; The soldiers under the deck turned to the right, showing only their heads and struggling to paddle. Big fish and giant turtles swim between the paddles, and crocodiles and waterfowl eat fish. Just as Zhou Daguan, a Yuan Dynasty traveler, described the land of fish and rice in The Record of True Wax: "If it is a fish in the sea, it is colored." Under the relief, under the dense forest, there are deer running, cranes dancing and monkeys climbing trees; Some natives catch rabbits and fight with tigers. The upper part of the relief is full of enemy bodies. Every relief is carved on a well-built Shi Zhuan, and there is no room for an axe. Every relief is a "swan song" left by Angkor craftsmen with superb skills.

?

? The whole of bayon temple is like a pyramid. Around the tallest main tower, 54 sub-towers, large and small, gradually spread out, representing 54 provinces of the dynasty. The upper part of each tower is carved with four-faced buddhas, representing kindness, sadness, happiness and giving up respectively. Walking into bayon temple, 54 four-faced buddhas are suddenly near and far, high and low, just like walking into a "jungle of eyes". Inadvertently passing by a four-faced Buddha, one person is tall and within reach. This is actually the most famous four-faced Buddha, the Cambodian version of "Mona Lisa's Smile"-"Angkor's Smile" that has appeared in various images, pictures and books for countless times. Buddha wears a crown and has a huge earlobe; The eyebrows and chin are low, and the corners of the mouth are slightly upturned. Even today, I can still see infinite pity in his eyes. The smiling Buddha head was originally the image of Jaya Varman VII. It symbolizes that there will be no more fighting under his gaze. The subjects are full of joy; Dynasty is full of joy everywhere-this is the meaning of bayon temple's existence.

? But Buddha can't protect Angkor Wat. In A.D. 143 1 year, Siamese from the west of the southeast peninsula captured and looted Angkor City, and there was almost no decent resistance from Buddhist Angkor soldiers and civilians. Although Angkor later recaptured the city, Angkor finally gave up the city completely because of the rampant plague and disappeared from people's sight. Hundreds of years later, Angkor Wat, once razed to the ground, returned to the jungle. Tabulong Temple, a temple dedicated by Jaya Varman VII to his mother, is the most famous paradise for the savage growth of the jungle-a century-old "snake tree", with huge roots covering the roof, drilling into cracks in the wall and wrapped in stone statues. The snake tree is like a performance art advocating "violent aesthetics", splashing thick paste in every corner of the temple, flowing into a snake shape, tower shape, bridge shape, mesh shape and even ass shape. Black, white and gray temples have green that can never be erased. In sharp contrast to the ruins, the tall snake trees are full of vitality around the temple, just like the immortal expression of the soul of the temple.

In the evening, the one-day tour of Angkor ruins is coming to an end. A Cambodian boy of several years old suddenly got on our bus and sold his flute with a smile. "1everyone in 0 yuan,1everyone in 0 yuan", the little boy speaks nonstandard Chinese. A female playmate picked up the flute and looked at it carefully for a long time. She didn't buy it and returned it to the little boy. The little boy got out of the car angrily and left a sentence: "If you don't buy it, it won't look good", which caused the whole car to laugh. The Angkor Kings never thought that their own and God's residence would become a huge cultural and tourism heritage in the future. Countless Cambodians skillfully deal with tourists from all over the world and share a piece of this "cultural tourism feast". 2, 3-year-old children sell mineral water bottles; Older children sell Angkor Wat postcards, wood carvings, bracelets, fans and other miscellaneous items; Boys work as tuk-tuk drivers or tour guides in Angkor Wat, and introduce their history to China, Koreans, Japanese, Europeans and Russians in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, German, English and Russian. Gorgeous hotels will not drive away beggars in rags. They sat on the floor in front of the hotel and begged from tourists. People try their best to win a dignified life for themselves.

? Shushan was the last Cambodian I knew before I left this country. She 16 years old, is a boatman of Ye Zhou in Tonle Sap Lake. Ye Zhou is narrow at both ends and has a wide belly, which is shaped like leaves. Spread a mat on it and walk gently with a paddle. On the last day of our trip, we visited Tonle Sap Lake. There used to be a river of blood here, but now it is as beautiful as a colorful oil painting. Under the blue sky, the red roof of the water house is nearby; In the distance, water and sky meet, white clouds stick to the yellow lake, and colorful painted wooden boats are full of tourists. Tonle Sap Lake is inhabited by descendants of Vietnamese refugees who fled the war, forming a water village. The river is the village road, on which boats run, and there are many diaojiao buildings on both sides of the road; There are shops, schools, churches and police stations in the village, and only a small piece of land has a temple. Whenever a cruise ship passes by, the children playing in the diaojiao building and the water will smile and wave to you politely. The virgin forest on land has been turned into swamp forest due to the flooding of lake water, and has also been developed into tourist attractions. After the cruise ship stops here, tourists will change into leaf boats and enter the depths of the jungle.

I ran into my companions Dahongying and Shushan by chance. Shushan has a round face and chapped lips. Earlobe wearing sterling silver earrings, long hair in a ponytail waist-high. She is wearing a national robe with a flaming gold leaf pattern and plaid trousers with purple dots. There is a sister in Shushan, and two sisters dropped out of school to help manage the water business at home. In rural Cambodia, giving birth to a girl is a big event. It is necessary to beat gongs and drums and send notices around the village. When a boy is born, he will wash Puckilo's schoolbag in the well outside the house and then secretly take it home. Most people in Cambodia believe in Buddhism, without the concept of clan inheritance, and believe that life and death are inevitable. The woman is in charge and the man "marries" to the woman's house. They have to send pigs and cows to the wedding, and they have to work hard for three years.

The boat glided silently in the swamp forest. The branches of the forest are intertwined like a net. In the afternoon, the sun shines through the canopy, the shadows of branches are wrapped around the water like a net, and people are surrounded by an infinite net. The sun also fell on the face of shushan. Dahongying and I suddenly felt that this was a scene we couldn't miss, so we said "Susan, smile" to Shushan in broken English. Shushan at the bow turned her head and smiled-Shushan's smile and the intertwined forest were fixed into a wonderful scenery. The companion's boat followed, and a boatman's aunt suddenly raised her voice, and the long Cambodian folk songs resounded through the whole forest-this is a "singing" forest.

? I finally want to say goodbye to Susan. After boarding the boat, she took the next wave of tourists and slowly disappeared into the intertwined Woods. But the smile of Shushan is still in sight.

The smile of Shushan is the "Angkor's smile" that fell to the world.