H and I had a wonderful guide to show us around Angkor Watt during our vacation. He gave us a great overview of Cambodian history and the modern day country and provided a wealth of information on the histories of the temples we visited. We learned all about the kings who built each complex, how the temples were constructed and adorned, the temple sculptures, the scenes depicted in the temple carvings, Hinduism and Buddhism, looting, and conservation works.
While inside the main Angkor Watt complex, we passed by one of the many headless Buddha statues. Our guide solemnly explained how many looters cut the heads off of statues they found in Angkor Watt as the heads were much easier to transport than the full statue while still retaining a lot of the detail of the sculpture. But he went on to say, this head had recently been found in Australia. What? H and I looked at him in surprise while he caught H’s eye and nodded his head towards the statue. A little slow on the uptake, he prompted us once again by saying, “go on, give Buddha a new head,” and encouraged H to stand behind the statue while he prodded me to take photos of the newly restored Buddha.
Ha! Maybe he thought we were starting to get distracted and wanted to make sure we were still paying attention. I’d love to see an album of photographs of tourists who were prompted to do the same thing. While this Buddha temporarily had a new head, later on in the trip, we found a courtier who had acquired a new hat.
I’m happy to see that people find their own way to interact with and enjoy history.
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