Suryavarman II Builds Angkor Wat

The crisp air surrounds me as I venture and push my way through the crowds to get a glimpse of  the mighty King Suryavarman II, the year  is 1113 AD, my name is Rith it means strength and courage, yet,  I am a mere servant farmer of the great 'King'. The buzz of the crowd escalates as the first of many soldiers march into the grounds. Dust, Lots of dust - the kind that gets in your nose and fills your head with the stench of dried elephant droppings- is spews up behind the soldiers. The coughing of the crowd now drowns out the once exited buzz.

The king rides in on the very same elephant used to kill his great uncle and claim the throne, he jumps down and displays himself to the crowed before beginning an obviously well rehearsed speech: "Hello my dearest friends!" a large snort echo's through the crowd as we are all his servants and in some cases his unfairly treated slaves, "I bring news that will require many men, I have developed a scheme to please the mighty god Vishnu I order you to build a great temple call it Angkor Wat. You have heard my word now go forth and keep it."

A feeling of lose sweeps through my body- all the excitement, all the expectation- just to be told to do more work whilst the king gets to sit on his pampered throne.

The crowd begins to spread apart slithering through the grounds lake hundreds of snake hatch lings, I bend down and pick up a humongous sack of sandstone my aching back buckles under the weight (It was a good 40-50kg). I struggle over to a cart drawn by a giant elephant and deposit the huge load. I then stumble back toward the endless piles of sacks.

I  am, along with the other slaves  loaded into the cart along with 5 odd tonne of Sandstone, we are transported across the country to a place could Siem Reap the jungle is thicker here yet there is a sort of odd clearing in the middle as if Shiva  had come here and destroyed all tree's with in 2,000,000 Square Metres.  We start work lifting and stacking, it takes hours but finally we have built a small section of stacked bricks it may be small and lifeless but all of us are feeling the same thing Vishnu's really going to like this.