Indonesia | Our Neighbouring Country

[bakpao]

Hi guys, greetings from Indonesia! You know I'm amazed looking at pictures knowing that the Khmer are somewhat physically looks like Indonesians (I thought the Khmer look more like Vietnamese or Chinese with lighter skin)... I also read somewhere that centuries ago a Khmer great king ever visited Majapahit Kingdom court in Java when he was young ...I can imagine perhaps our ancestors had a strong relation in trade, culture, and religion... I wish our countries and people have this close relationship too...

Phnom Penh is a really beautiful city and seems to be well planned! I hope I can visit your country in the near future, perhaps to Angkor Wat first then to PP.... and you know what we have the word Cambodia also: Kamboja, it's a name of a beautiful white flower...

[kvaaa]

I heard earlier this year about the history of Cambodia and Indonesia described by Soy Sopheap, one of Cambodian journalists. He went into details about the ancestors of the two countries and how we are related. It was very interesting.

[mrfusion]

Originally Posted by bakpao

Hi guys, greetings from Indonesia! You know I'm amazed looking at pictures knowing that the Khmer are somewhat physically looks like Indonesians (I thought the Khmer look more like Vietnamese or Chinese with lighter skin)... I also read somewhere that centuries ago a Khmer great king ever visited Majapahit Kingdom court in Java when he was young ...I can imagine perhaps our ancestors had a strong relation in trade, culture, and religion... I wish our countries and people have this close relationship too...

Our business partner from Indonesia visit is last week and said the same thing, about surprise the Khmer look so muck like them.

[MYPHNOMPENH]

I think indonesian long time ago they are also buddishm, because has one big buddish temple there was built by stone. maybe it the same age of Angkor wat...!?

[AsianDragons]

you mean borobudur???

[MYPHNOMPENH]

Originally Posted by AsianDragons

you mean borobudur???

Yes that temple!!

[SeeMacau]

I thought all South East Asians are looking similar to each other lol

[bakpao]

Yeah Borobudur, that's the biggest Buddhist temple in the world... but I think the one a bit similar to Angkor architecture is Prambanan, the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, located near Borobudur...but yes, at that time Javanese were mostly Hindu or Buddhist, they're the two largest religions which coexisted in Indonesia before the arrival of Islam...

Prambanan (sorry for posting non pict of Phnom Penh, I just want to show you that the architecture of Prambanan is somewhat similar to Angkor)


Both were constructed about mid of 800s...so they're a bit earlier than Angkor Wat... the difference is that Borobudur and Prambanan were just temples, not a big city like Angkor...

Besides those two temples we don't have survival remains of the city/kingdom itself... perhaps they built cities using mostly wood as a material at that time since Java, especially the region where those monuments are located, is a disaster prone one...

I was wrong by mentioning Majapahit. Actually the relationship between Cambodia and Indonesia was even much earlier than the era of Majapahit. It was during Sailendra period, where Jayavarman II was thought to live in Sailendra court...

Sorry OOT from the thread topic, I'm just a bit excited... you know history on Sailendra and their relationship with Cambodian/Khmer was never/rarely told in Indonesian history school books since, IMHO, Indonesian historians think that there's still so little knowledge about Sailendra, so little historical/archeological materials.

I thought all South East Asians are looking similar to each other lol

I don't quite agree that people in Southeast Asia look similar. North Vietnamese for example look more like Chinese. Some tribes in Sumatra, Borneo, North Sulawesi of Indonesia and Philippines also have lighter skin, while Javanese have darker (brown) skin...

[mrfusion]

Originally Posted by bakpao

Prambanan (sorry for posting non pict of Phnom Penh, I just want to show you that the architecture of Prambanan is somewhat similar to Angkor)

wow, you can probably fool people in thinking this is angkor Wat.
Now angkor wat is probably not so unique.

[Asian]

yeah, this can fool the fooled-people in thinking about Angkor what. But, looking at it, you can see that it is far different from Angkor Wat. The shape of the towers look similar, but everything else is totally different. What kind of layout around this temple? Does it look like the area around Angkor Wat? It is not, Angkor Wat is still one - it is unique. It has more than just a temple.

[bakpao]

haha yeah, that's why I told you that Borobudur and Prambanan were only temples, not a big city like Angkor...I also think that Angkor is more amazing due to the size of it as a big city, and many big jungle trees around it, in which in the case of Borobudur and Prambanan, the jungle has already cleaned as it's located in a densely populated island of Java...

There are no traces of remaining ancient cities there... bare in mind that they were built some hundred years before Angkor, they are in a disaster prone area, especially from volcano and earthquake, and Java experience Islamization which make such culture stops to exist in that island since about 1400-1500s. If you want to see the ancient Javanese Hindu culture, you need to go to Bali. There the Majapahit nobles, artists, people moved to avoid Islamization and merged with indigenous Balinese creating nowadays Balinese culture...

The region is where the mount Merapi is located, it's the most active volcano in the world... Borobudur, for example, disappeared from people eyes since hundred years ago because it was covered by a thick layer of volcano ashes...it's not until 1800s when Raffles (Singapore founder) then Java's British colonial administrator heard about the legend of a missing temple and ordered an excavation...

That's why there's almost no trace of ancient Indonesian kingdom cities beside the temples. It's also perhaps because they built cities using wood to avoid heavy damages due to frequent earthquake, or during Islamization people just destroyed many Hindu and Buddhist temples, except those two which are too big to destroy and had already been covered with a thick layer of ashes when Islam came to the island...

[kvaaa]

I wonder if there is any link between the greatest Khmer kings and Indonesia. The name of the greatest Khmer king is Javaraman. It begins with Java.

[StrongAngkor]

as i used to study in history when i was in highschool, jayavorman ii was get along very well the king of indonesia, Oukus. because that time indo's religious is buddism.

[mrfusion]

Originally Posted by Asian

yeah, this can fool the fooled-people in thinking about Angkor what. But, looking at it, you can see that it is far different from Angkor Wat. The shape of the towers look similar, but everything else is totally different. What kind of layout around this temple? Does it look like the area around Angkor Wat? It is not, Angkor Wat is still one - it is unique. It has more than just a temple.

Hold on, you think everyone under the sun know exactly what Angkor Wat looks like (in details)? You think everyone know its size and complexitiy?

People outside of Cambodia have only a fade image what it looks like in their mind, maybe from travel magazines etc.

Some don't even know where it is? I have friends from Australia that say, hey I will be in Vietnam next year, and I want to visit you in Phnom Penh for a day, and you can bring me to Angkor Wat.

[Saigoneseguy]

Originally Posted by mrfusion

wow, you can probably fool people in thinking this is angkor Wat.
Now angkor wat is probably not so unique.

This is only one temple. It's nothing compared to the sheer size of Angkor complex. Even Ta Prohm is two times larger than Prambanan.

[SeeMacau]

Indonesia

Capital: Jakarta
Official language(s): Indonesian

[mrfusion]

Originally Posted by Saigoneseguy

This is only one temple. It's nothing compared to the sheer size of Angkor complex. Even Ta Prohm is two times larger than Prambanan.

yes, but a typical front view of Angkor Wat does not review it as a complex.

[SeeMacau]

Jakarta Skyline

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/...2f54824a4b.jpg
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[SeeMacau]

btw, today is Indonesia's Independence Day, I found this out from other website

[StrongAngkor]

ha happy indonesia indepence's day. :-)