So much of the beauty of Thailand is known to the world and yet so little of Cambodia. But when you arrive in Cambodia and look at the temples and palaces, the first thing many think is, "doesn't that look Thai?"
Uhm, no. Thai architecture looks like Cambodian. And this is where the 500 year feud begins.
To be clear: they are two different (and both beautiful) cultures, two different (and both crazy difficult) languages, two different styles of cuisine, and yet ... somehow similar. They just both don't like anyone pointing that out.
Let's go back in history to get a better view.
Khmer Empire (802-1431): Asia's Roman Empire
The Khmer Empire stretched over what is now Cambodia, southern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) during its peak, with Angkor the capital over all of this region – much like the Roman Empire stretched across Europe and influenced many different countries, peoples, and cultures. In this region were various tribes and peoples that spoke similar (but different) languages ... The Khmer called themselves Khmer ... the people in the western provinces called them Khom (recognise the similarities between the Khmer of Cambodia and the Mon peoples of Thailand? yep: pisses the Thai off...)
Now, just like the Roman Empire fell, so too did the Khmer Empire eventually collapse. And, like Rome, this happened slowly, as the Empire was eroded away piece by piece. The Kings and Warlords of the outer provinces saw this as their opportunity to gain power. The vacuum was filled by two of the Siamese kingdoms, namely Sukhothai (1238-1438) and Ayuthaya (1351-1767) – together the predecessors of modern Thailand. They turned to China for support, and an influx of Tai people from China moved down to Siam to help build a new kingdom (yes, not a typing error: the Tai are Chinese, the Thai are modern-day Siamese ... a Mon-Tai hybrid, but I'm getting ahead of the story...)
Khmer: the mother language? Asia's ancient Latin?
But ... Thai language is tonal, Khmer is not, you say?
Or maybe not, but that is the case either way.
Thai, like most Chinese languages, is tonal. You pronounce a word with the wrong inflection and suddenly you're calling someone's mother a horse. That is the Tai influence on the Thai language. The Thai are very proud of this fact, and sometimes even point to Khmer as something old and inferior, not as refined as Thai.
Thai language is hybrid language compared to other Tai languages spoken in China. If a Thai person were to attempt to speak to a Zhuang person from Guangxi China (a modern-day Chinese Tai), the Zhuang would not understand a word of what that person is saying.
However, the modern Thai language uses up to 40% words of Khmer origin – and the rest is a accumulation of Mon, Persian, English, and of course, old Tai.
So ... architecture?
The Thai continued in the style of the Khmer, but they further developed and refined it as they progressed over the centuries. Most notably the Prang – those "towers" in the the temples. The Khmer Prang are rounder (I'd even say plumper/fuller, if they were fruit); the Thai more slender and taller (uhm, pineapple versus asparagus maybe?)
And, to be fair ... the Cambodians borrowed back: the Cambodian Royal Palace in Phnom Penh was built much later than the Royal Palace in Bangkok ... guess it's only fair.
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