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Buddha heads stolen from Lopburi temple

The heads of six 17th century Buddha heads were stolen from a temple in Thailand’s Lopburi province.

photo credit: ELMASTUDIO

Six Buddha heads stolen from temple Bangkok Post, 23 October 2009

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Staircase access to Preah Vihear

Construction has begun on a 3,000-metre staircase up to Preah Vihear, aimed at adventure oriented tourists. Sounds all well and good on paper, but I wonder if a 3km uphill climb is all that attractive…

Staircase planned for Preah Vihear Phnom Penh Post, 21 October 2009

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Chiang Mai town set to become historic site

A Thai princess lends her royal support to the Viang Ta Kian site in Chiang Mai, an ancient town that was ruled by both the Burmese and the Lanna kingdoms. A museum is planned for the site to consolidate the artefacts found in the area.

Preserving the Priceless 18 October 2009

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Wednesday Rojak #68: The Destruction of Ta Muen Thom

Only one entry for this week’s rojak, and it’s a rather sad one. Andy Brouwer writes about the looting and destruction of lintels and statues at the border temple of Ta Muen Thom.

Check out Andy’s post here.

Besides temples, they built really good bridges too

Typhoon Ketsana may have reached Cambodia, but it looks like the ancient Angkoran bridges have withstood both tests of time and nature.

Angkoran bridges withstood natural disasters Cambodian Express News, 13 October 2009 Translated by Khmerization

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Not a temple for prudes

It may not be Borobodur or Prambanan, but Candi Sukuh in central Java is worth the visit for its, erm, erratic, erm, unrefined, statues.

Sukuh Temple A mystery yet to be unraveled Jakarta Post, 18 October 2009

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Prehistoric settlements uncovered in Sri Lanka

Archaeological excavations in the northern district of Jaffna have uncovered evidence for ancient settlements dating to the first millenium BC. I like how they referred to one of the settlement as belonging to the ‘ironic’ ages. My guess it was just after a mercurial era. =P

Ancient settlements unearthed in Jaffna Sri Lanka Daily News, [...]

Maritime museum allows archaeologists to work and visitors to admire at the same time

The Beijing Review has an article about the ongoing excavations at the Nanhai No. 1 wreck, recovered off the coast of China’s Guangdong province. The amazing aspect of this shipwreck recovery is that the entire shipwreck, silt and all, was relocated to a purpose-built museum which allows archaeologists to work on recovering finds and visitors [...]

Wednesday Rojak #67: The Diwali Edition

Hindus around the world celebrate the Festival of Lights, or Diwali, over the past weekend, and so we have a couple of Hindu-Indian themed posts in this week’s edition of Rojak. photo credit: magiceye

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Some of the earliest evidence for Islam in Southeast Asia

A beach strewn with Islamic tombstones in Indonesia’s Acheh province, uncovered the devastating 2004 tsunami, shed light on the spread of Islam into the region. The tombstones date as early as the 10th century and are some of the earliest evidence for the spread of the religion into Southeast Asia.

Aceh tombstones hint Islam spread [...]