THE CITY AND ITS WALLS
Table of Contents
The walls of the city [Angkor Thom] are about 20 li [about 7 miles or 10 kilometers] in circumference.
There are 5 gateways, each of them with 2 gates, one in front of the other.
There are 2 gateways facing east, and one gateway facing in each of the other directions.
Around the outside of the city walls there is a very large moat.
This is spanned by big bridges carrying large roads into the city. On either side of every bridge there are 54 stone deities.
They look like stone generals, huge and fierce-looking.
The 5 gateways are all alike.
The parapets of the bridges are all made of stone and carved into the shape of snakes, each snake with nine heads.
The 54 deities are all pulling at the snake with their hands, and look as if they are preventing it from escaping.
Above the gateways in the city wall there are five stone Buddha heads.
Four of them face toward the four cardinal points, and one of them is placed in the middle.
It is decorated with gold.
On either side of the gates the stones are carved into the shape of elephants.¹⁰
The walls are all made of piled-up stones, and are about 21 feet high.
The stones are very tightly packed and firm, so there are no weeds growing.
There are no battlements either. Here and there sugar palms have been planted on the walls. There are empty chambers at frequent intervals.¹¹
The inside of the walls is built like a slope, and is probably over 100 feet in width.
The slopes all have big gates on them that shut at night and open early in the day.
There are guards, too, though only dogs are not allowed in—and also criminals who have had their toes amputated.
The city walls form an exact square, with a stone tower on each of its 4 sides.
In the center of the capital is a gold tower [Bayon], flanked by 20 or so stone towers and 100 or so stone chambers.
To the east of it is a golden bridge flanked by two gold lions, one on the left and one on the right.
Eight gold Buddhas are laid out in a row at the lowest level of stone chambers.¹²
About a li north of the gold tower there is a bronze tower [Bapuon].
It is even taller than the gold tower, and an exquisite sight.
At the foot there are, again, several dozen stone chambers.¹³
About 1 li further north again there is the residence of the king [Royal Palace].
There is another gold tower [Phimeanakas] in his sleeping quarters.¹⁴
All this explains why from the start there have been merchant seamen who speak glowingly about “rich, noble Cambodia.”
Half a li or so beyond the south gate is Stone Tower Mountain [Phnom Bakheng].
According to legend Lu Ban built it in a single night.
Lu Ban’s tomb [Angkor Wat] is about 1 li beyond the south gate.
It is about 10 li [5 kilometers] in circumference, and has several hundred stone chambers.
Ten li east of the city wall lies the East Lake [East Baray].
It is about 100 li in circumference.
In the middle of it there is a stone tower with stone chambers. In the middle of the tower is a bronze reclining Buddha with water constantly flowing from its navel.
Five li to the north of the city wall lies the North Lake [Jayatataka Baray].
In the middle of it is a square gold tower with several dozen stone chambers [Neak Pean].
It has:
- a gold lion
- a gold Buddha
- a bronze elephant
- a bronze cow
- a bronze horse