Ch-maa

The Lonely Planet explanation of the place:

"Vast and Remote, Banteay Chhmar (Narrow Fortress), has been repeatedly looted over the years and many of its treasures carted off to private collections around the world (ed. note now including ours...okay, just kidding). The massive temple complex is yet another that was constructed by some guy you've never heard of but who had a hand in the Angkor complex (okay, it doesn't exactly say that, but do you really need to know that it was Jayavarman VII?).

"...This is one of the few temples in Cambodia to feature the faces of Avalokiteshvara, as seen at Bayon (and our pictures, of course).....The temple was pretty much off limits during the civil war, until 1999."

Other stuff about the temple not being as spectacular as the principal temples at Angkor, but seriously, when will you have the temples of Angkor to yourselves?

As I said, we had a number of guides and general hangers-on follow us around the complex. This doorway and pediment was near the entrance to the complex. The kid and his gum were just an added bonus.

Lonely Planet: "...The temple was deservedly renowned for its intricate carvings...a sequence of eight multi-armed Avalokiteshvaras adorning an ourter gallery, but six of thexe were hacked up and trucked into Thailand in a brazen act of looting in 1998. The two that remain are spectacular, and offer a glimpse of how this temple must have looked beofe it was pillaged.


Katherine and our 'guides' approach an outer wall.

Recent evidence of further looting. These were all buddha faces (or faces of someone) that had recently been chiseled out of a still-intact room at Chhmar and spirited away. On our return through immigration we were made to turn out our bags, but I doubt that looters that would take the riches of temples such as Chhmar would be stupid enough to walk through immigration with their booty in backpacks.


At this point most museums around the world are on notice that ancient stonework is no-go, but private collectors still create quite a market.