On-screen text reads, 'Journey to Medieval Angkor: Animated Accounts of a 13th Century Visit to Cambodia Part I. [Monash University, 2013]. Animations based upon: Zhou Daguan's A Record Of Cambodia: The Land And Its People. Text sourced from the translation by Peter Harris, Silkworm Books, Bangkok, 2007.'
(Bells rings)
Chinese script oriented vertically.
On-screen text reads, 'The Country known to us as Zhenla... has for long had commercial relations with us... On the sixth moon of the yi-wei year in the yuanzheng period... the holy Son of Heaven sent an ambassador... and nominated me to accompany him.'
(Thunderclaps)
(Jungle birds squawk)
Shot of a bird's eye view of a green cultivated plain.
On-screen text reads, In 1296 AD, the Chinese emissary Zhou Daguan visited the Cambodian metropolis of Angkor...'
(Thunder rumbles)
On-screen text reads, 'Zhou Daguan's diary is the only eye witness account we have of this city.'
On-screen text reads, Excerpts taken from Chapter 1: The City and its Walls.'
(Horn blows)
Shot of a city laid out amongst a grid of square parks with pyramidal buildings sitting atop flat plinths.
On-screen text reads, 'In the center of the capital is a gold tower... flanked by twenty stone towers...'
(General hubbub)
On-screen text reads, '...a li north of the gold tower there is a bronze tower... an exquisite sight... The palace lies... north, there are many wonderful places there, but I could not... see them.'
Shot of a large complex built atop a hill and surrounded by a moat at the foot of the hill.
On-screen text reads, 'Half a li beyond the south gate is Stone Tower Mountain.'
Banners fly from the pyramidal peaks of the white buildings.
On-screen text reads, 'According to legend, Lu Ban built it in a single night.'
Shot of the temple complex on a plain surrounded by water.
On-screen text reads, 'Lu Ban's tomb (Angkor Wat) is about a li beyond the south gate. It is about 10 li in circumference, and has several hundred stone chambers. We think... these monuments have given rise to the eulogy... "rich and noble Cambodia..." which overseas merchants have always repeated.'
On-screen text reads, 'Excerpts taken from Chapter 2: Residences.'
(Clanging and general hubbub)
Animation of people moving about the city and houses.
On-screen text reads, '...the dwelling of the... senior officials... are large and spacious in style... ...the homes of the common people... only use thatch for their roofs. Although the sizes of their homes vary according to how wealthy they are... ...they do not dare emulate the styles of the great houses.'
On-screen text reads, 'Excerpts taken from Chapter 3: Dress, Chapter 6: The People, Chapter 31: Carts and Palanquins, Chapter 15: Leprosy and other Illnesses.
(General hubbub)
Animation of men dressed in loin cloths and sarongs going about their work.
An elephant and its mahout walk along a road.
On-screen text reads, '..the men and women all wear their hair wound in a knot... ...they go naked to the waist, wrapped only in a cloth.'
Shot of a woman in a traditional headdress being carried in a hammock-like palanquin by two men.
On-screen text reads, 'Their palanquins are made of pieces of wood that bend in the middle... ...they are carved with floral designs and girdled with gold and silver...'
Animation of two men on crutches standing by the roadside and drinking with a third man.
On-screen text reads, '...there are many lepers - they are everywhere on the roads... local people think nothing of sleeping and eating in their company.'
On-screen text reads, 'Excerpts taken from Chapter 17: Cultivating the Land.'
A bird's eye view shot of a cultivated plain.
On-screen text reads, 'In general, crops can be harvested three or four times a year... ... all four seasons are like our fifth and sixth months... with days that know no frost or snow...'
Crops gently sway in the breeze.
(Birds squawk)
On-screen text reads, '... for six months the land has rain, for six months no rain at all...'
A man carrying parcels on a long staff over his shoulder walks through the fields.
A herd of buffaloes are guided through the fields.
On-screen text reads, 'Excerpts taken from Chapter 5: Three Doctrines, Chapter 34: Villages.'
Shot of a pyramidal temple in the middle of a village.
On-screen text reads, 'In every village there is a Buddhist temple or a pagoda. Those who are learned men are called banjie... Those who are Buddhist monks are called zhugu... Followers of the Dao are called basiwei.'
On-screen text reads, 'Excerpts taken from Chapter 12: Boats.'
(Water laps)
Animation of a man rowing a canoe through a murky canal in a village of stilt huts.
On-screen text reads, 'Very large boats are made from hardwood broken into planks... ...small boats... which they call pilan... are large in the middle and pointed at either end.'
On-screen text reads, 'Excerpts taken from Chapter 34: Villages, Chapter 39: The Army.'
(Traditional music)
Animation of scantily-clad soldiers walking beside elephants carrying howdahs.
On-screen text reads, 'I have heard reports that when the Siamese attacked... ...all the ordinary people were ordered out to do battle...'
Cavalry troops trot beside the foot soldiers.
On-screen text reads, '...as a result of repeated wars... the land has been completely laid to waste...'
(Horse gallop)
(Distant shouting)
On-screen text reads, '300 years after Zhou's visit, the city of Angkor was gradually abandoned and lost to the encroaching forests. Archaeologists have recently discovered that at its peak, Angkor was the largest city on earth.'