Trapeang Rosei Temple

Hello and welcome again to Forgotten Temples with myself Mr. B. Now you find me at a temple called Koh Shamo and I hope I'm getting that right. Now this one has amazed me because it's big and it's one of the temples at the Koh Ker complex which is an abandoned city. It was the residence of the great king Javavarman IV but it fell out of favour, the people went away, the jungle reclaimed it and there is some unbelievably mighty temples and after three days of filming I have literally seen nobody. I've got the entire city to myself pretty much and I was just driving around some dirt roads just to unwind after three hard days of filming but it didn't let me go because whilst driving around I spotted this and if you are to look around you 360 degrees all you see is jungle. The setting is fantastic, look through this doorway, can you see it? There's nothing but jungle surrounding us. This is an incredible temple, it's big, it's strong, it's mighty and through this doorway at the end is one hell of a tower. It's an absolute beauty and it's in that tower a god once dwelt. So why not join me as we go through and yet again see an absolutely stunning ancient wonder. Now this is the way we're heading through but allow me just to amplify the point. I mean look at this, what you must always remember, well especially in this case, is here is where a city once was. I mean thousands upon thousands of people had their houses right where you're looking but they were made of wood so they decay and what is staggering is they're completely missing from the pages of the history books but what they did leave are these temples and it's for us to decode them. Now I have looked in the usual sources so that'll be the internet won't it and some books I have and I can't find anything on this temple which is a shame. There may be some details somewhere but I couldn't locate them. Look at these fantastic windows, it's both here and on the other side and as I say through here is one almighty tower. Oh my goodness, have a look at this. This is absolutely huge. Let me put my foot there just for a moment. So my foot is just that very end bit there, just like that, that's my foot. Look at that, it is just enormous and that is what this complex is all about. Now I've been to others, let's say Sambor Preah Kuh, which is also an abandoned city but when Javavarman did it, he did it so much better. Now in this particular chamber, room, whatever you wish, we have this enormous wall but up at the top we can see something which tells us about the construction. Can you see these square holes? One, two, three, four. Now we do know that the roofs of these temples were made of wood, we even know as to what was the most common style. So if you looked up at the ceiling you'd see these square, this square patterning and look at how big those holes are. They must have held some huge timbers that supported a roof that would be worthy of a cathedral. And as we move on, I mean just look at this, it is absolutely picture perfect. It is everything you could want from temple hunting. I mean if you want an abandoned ancient city that's lost to time, I mean this is it and it has its wonders and amazements and there's one just in front of us. Now what we have looks like a supporting beam. Now it's very difficult to get the camera angle sometimes but hopefully you can see enough here. Which is, look at this, there's this huge big hole which is perfectly round and here we have a square because this would have locked in up here and we've got the same down here but it's sunk into the ground so we can never know exactly how big it is. And here it is a bit closer up, I mean look how beautifully round that is and I remind you, look, it would take a drill or something to mimic it wouldn't it? That is incredible and I feel it inside and it's all smooth. That is a master craftsman. But we need to move on because we have an absolute treat. I can hear the jungle birds calling. I'm clambering over moss and ancient stones and I could not be happier. Look at these pillars, one, two, three, four, five. Now what these would have done is created a room. Again we would have had a wooden roof here because we are now heading towards the Holy of Holies, the Sanctorum and there would have been the God himself because this is what we're doing. We're on a pilgrimage. This is a procession. We've come through the countryside because we've heard of this temple or maybe we've been here before and we go onward and onward until we hit the Holy of Holies and in this case it is this. So you've left your local village, you have trekked for maybe days because you've heard of this incredible city but it's proliferated with such wonders as this. But this temple is separated away from the others. I just bumped into it and I'm not joking. I thought I'd finish filming after three days. I just take a dusty track like I do and bang, here's another and it's a big one. Allow me to show you. I mean, have a look. This is a temple that nobody comes to for goodness sake and look at it. It is so mighty. It is just a thing of absolute wonder and to be in this jungle environment alone and have it to myself, well, these are the things that dreams are made of. And now it's time for us to enter the Sanctorum as those ancients did but I want you to notice something here. Remember how big I was in that doorway barely halfway up? Have a look at that lintel there. It is absolutely massive. I honestly mean massive. That is well on par with anything at Stonehenge. It just beggars belief what these people could do when they put their mind to it. And again, we see not just the might but also precision engineering because if we stick our heads through here, have a look at this. And unfortunately, I can't get away from the sunlight but there's an almost perfectly round hole there and that is about one and a half or two fists worth in width. And how very Neolithic does it look? I mean, this is the stuff of, you know, of legends. This is the stuff of adventure books I would read as a child. But the only difference is in those books there was always the goddess or the god present and usually they would have a jewel or something in the centre of their head. But alas, not here. But what we can do is get an idea as to the size. Now, if I step in, hopefully I'll be able to show you a bit more of the proportions because it's big and there's a point to this. Now think, if you've travelled for all those days to come on a religious pilgrimage and you see all this might and you get to the very heart of it, the holy of holies, you don't want to be disappointed. You couldn't have, let's say, a picture frame, you know, with a single photo which is approximately passport size. Let's say, here he is, here's that god, it's Lord Vishnu. No, you need to knock their socks off. And how do you do that? Well, you get grand, you get creative. And what I can see at the back here is some detailing. This is the base and it was vast. So the base alone has built the statue up to this height. What's that? About four feet or so. And there may have been another layer, let's say. And then you would place the god there. Now the reason for this is carving a square base is a damn sight easier than the intricate detail to actually do a character. But what you do by building that base is you've elevated him, you've pushed him up and that's how you fill such a huge space like this. It's simple engineering. The finer details would be left for the face and the body. But elevate him up and what do you do? You get people looking skyward. And when they came for their blessings, I'm sure they weren't disappointed. But this is a fantastic temple. So there you go. Another unbelievably good ancient temple. And as I say, I just bumped into it. I mean, how crazy is this? And I've said a few times on this channel, I honestly feel the temple gods are with me. And I suppose this, you know, following that line of thought, this bears that out quite nicely. It is such an incredible surrounding. There is butterflies flitting around everywhere, the call of the jungle birds and literally 360 is only jungle. It's just so very beautiful, as is this mighty, mighty temple. As always, I ask you, please like, subscribe and above all, comment. And if by chance you could drop just a few coins into my Patreon accounts to help me build this library, I would be truly grateful. The address for that is So until next time, I wish you absolutely nothing but the very best. You take good care.