In Angkor, aggressive fig trees and lianas devour walls and foundations. After checking out temples in various stages of ruin, I naturally asked myself, "What does a temple look like if it hasn't been cleared and reassembled by the French in the 19th century?"
I looked closely at the map. I tried to use logic to figure out where a temple might be that isn't on modern tourist maps anymore. The satellite images showed nothing but forest.
On-site, there are faint trails that slowly fade away, swallowed up by the dense, rustling undergrowth. Some of the paths were completely impassable. I went through fallen branches, webs, and thorny vines that scratched and tangled my clothes. Little critters scurried away. Don't mind be a snake, you little beast!
After a bit, I found what I was looking for—a hill in the middle of the forest. Pretty symmetrical in shape, well. I climbed up. Brushed away some leaves and lifted a layer of leaves with a stick. I shined my flashlight and saw stonework. Aha. After poking the stick a little more, I found some carvings with intricate patterns. And then, there it was—a face.
P.S.
I spent years helping out museums on how to preserve their collections, and I've always been into coservation and artifacts. I've got literrally, thousands of photos of them (mostly hi-res, not like this one, I thought I'd lost that one, but then I got a notification on Facebook. "Hey, take a look at what happened five years ago…"). This is my first post here, but if the community likes it, I'd be happy to contribute more.
by TheByzantian