Gardeners Risk Their Lives to Climb Cambodia's Angkor Wat Temple to Save it
Published August 8th, 2019 - 09:34 GMT

A team of gardeners risked their lives, climbing up ladders to reach the top of a tower at the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, in order to cut away sapling trees - which could destroy the ancient temple.

Lune Lun, the head gardener, explained on tonight's BBC's Sacred Wonders that if the roots of the sapling trees grow any more then they could force one of the towers to crash down.

Many, including Lune, believe that spirits live in the temple and if the towers are damaged then the spirits will leave forever.

The gardeners go on to climb the towers, barefoot and without ropes, in order to cut down away the leaves and weeds - but one fatal slip could have been life threatening.

Sacred Wonders visits religious sites all over the world and explores their different traditions and tonight they started with Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

At the beginning of the show they joined Lune and his team of gardeners as they start their ascent at 5am up the towers of the ancient temple in Cambodia.

500 years ago the ancient city was abandoned and became engulfed by jungle, and the gardeners now have a daily battle to get rid of weeds and plants which start to grow on the temple.

‘If we don’t face up to the dangers – we won’t be able to protect the towers,' Lune admitted.

The tower is 65 feet high and the team use ladders to climb it and cut away any leaves which are growing on the tower. As the stones are thousands of years old they can’t attach ropes to it.

Lune stops at one point, as he feels he's not fit enough to make the final ascent and his apprentices carry on without him.

The team have to be careful about loose rocks - and check each one to make sure they don’t come away from the temples structure.

To reach a section, where their ladders aren’t long enough, the men have to tie two together with rope.

When Lune's apprentice gets up there he walks dangerously close to the side of the tower, barefoot, as he inspects it and cuts down some shrubs.

He also goes up even further - but as the part of the tower is too narrow for a ladder he uses a bamboo pole to climb further up, sweating as he goes from the heat - and pulls the ladder up after him.

As they find the final leaves from a sapling trees roots their gardening is finished for the year and they then have to make the dangerous climb back down.
https://www.albawaba.com/editors-choice ... ent-temple

Saving Angkor Wat: Cambodia's ninja gardeners tame jungle growth
By Suy SE (AFP) 13 hours ago in Travel

Stacking a ladder against the towering spires of Cambodia's archaeological marvel Angkor Wat, Chhoeurm Try gingerly scales the temple's exterior to hack away foliage before it damages the ancient facade.

The 50-year-old is part of a crack team of gardeners ensuring the kingdom's most valued heritage site is not strangled by overgrown tree saplings sprouting from the sandstone's cracks.

For two decades, Chhoeurm Try has made the treacherous climbs barefoot up to Angkor Wat's central tower, which rises 65 metres high (213 feet) above the archaeological complex in the northern city of Siem Reap.

"If we make a mistake, we will not survive," he tells AFP after returning to the ground.

But he soldiers on, aware that the fight to hack away tough roots is an ongoing battle against nature.

"When the sapling trees grow bigger, their roots go deep and cause the stones to fall apart," he says.

Preserving the dozens of temples at Angkor Archaeological Park is a delicate year-round job taken on by the 30-member team.

The world heritage site contains monuments dating from the 9th to 15th century, and was Cambodia's most popular tourist destination before the coronavirus pandemic seized up global travel.

"We love and want to preserve the temples," Chhoeurm Try says. "If we don't preserve them... the younger generation would not get a chance to see them."

- No safety gear -

With just blue hard hats as their only safety precaution, the gardening team are used to performing their duties under the gaze of visiting tourists.

"When local and international tourists see us climb up the temples, it seems scary to them and they think there is a lack of technique," says team leader Ngin Thy.

But using ropes or climbing gear is out of the question, as it could damage the fragile stone work, while scaffolding would take weeks to build and pull down.

"It could cause problems for them instead," Ngin Thy tells AFP. "It is safer for them to just carry a pair of scissors and go straight for the sapling trees."

There are also tight sections in certain temples that require workers to crawl through, navigating their way around jutting sculptures as they attempt not to unnecessarily come into contact with the friezes.

"At temples with brick work, the job is even more difficult," Chhourm Try says, recounting a near miss a few years ago when a brick fell on his head and cracked his helmet into two.
Full article: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/worl ... cle/580479
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