1
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I'm setting off on the third leg of my
marathon tour of the Wonders of the World.

2
00:00:13,946 --> 00:00:16,642
As I make my way through Australia
and south east Asia,

3
00:00:17,182 --> 00:00:22,484
I'll see some of the most awe inspiring and
haunting treasures ever created by man.

4
00:00:26,191 --> 00:00:30,787
I'm heading for a world of spirits.
A paradise on Earth.

5
00:00:52,584 --> 00:00:56,020
Over the past month
I've travelled through the Americas

6
00:00:56,188 --> 00:00:58,452
from Peru to New York.

7
00:00:59,358 --> 00:01:03,124
My next stop is another of the world's
great modern cities.

8
00:01:12,237 --> 00:01:14,000
In little more than two hundred years,

9
00:01:14,173 --> 00:01:17,233
Sydney has gone from being a dumping ground
for British convicts,

10
00:01:17,409 --> 00:01:19,172
to a confident metropolis,

11
00:01:19,344 --> 00:01:23,212
with a number of potential treasures
I'm keen to see.

12
00:01:29,388 --> 00:01:32,255
I've come to Sydney to seek my treasure.

13
00:01:32,424 --> 00:01:36,326
To find the treasure
that capures the extraordinary history,

14
00:01:36,495 --> 00:01:39,862
the spirit of this city and this nation.

15
00:01:40,065 --> 00:01:41,965
There are several contenders.

16
00:01:51,276 --> 00:01:52,766
The first one is obvious.

17
00:01:52,945 --> 00:01:54,936
The Sydney Opera House.

18
00:01:55,714 --> 00:01:57,579
It's the great Australian icon

19
00:01:57,749 --> 00:02:01,310
and one of the most celebrated buildings
of the 2oth century.

20
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The Opera House was designed in 1957

21
00:02:08,627 --> 00:02:12,154
by a Danish architect, Jorn Ytzon

22
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The Opera House is one of the most
memorable buildings of the 2oth Century.

23
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Its forms are so strong.

24
00:02:20,539 --> 00:02:22,530
They're like a symbol for the City.

25
00:02:22,808 --> 00:02:25,800
These great shells one upon the other.

26
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Incredibly powerful.

27
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The influences are complex.

28
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Ytzon looked at many things.

29
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He'd been to Mexico, seen Mayan architecture.

30
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He loved the platform.

31
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I'm on the platform now.

32
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The shells rise from the -
rise from the platform,

33
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below are the sort of service parts
of the buildings,

34
00:02:43,629 --> 00:02:44,926
and these great steps,

35
00:02:45,097 --> 00:02:48,066
again from the great Mayan temples in Mexico.

36
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So he's thinking of ancient sacred buildings.

37
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Ytzon also took inspiration from nature.

38
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He needed to make the structure easy to build.

39
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His solution was ingenious.

40
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The shape of each of these shells originates
from one form.

41
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A sphere.

42
00:03:06,385 --> 00:03:15,191
If one takes an orange and
one cuts it into components -

43
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I'm now creating the surface of the shells
on a miniscule scale.

44
00:03:20,599 --> 00:03:25,764
And these surface shapes of
standard geometrical form

45
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are the basis of the shell structure
of the City Opera House, you see.

46
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Incredible this use of nature,
use of simple forms,

47
00:03:36,348 --> 00:03:41,843
use of powerful elemental geometry,
use of modern building materials, concrete,

48
00:03:42,287 --> 00:03:45,552
all very ingenious,
to create emblematic building

49
00:03:45,724 --> 00:03:49,319
which sums up the City which has capured
the imagination of the world,

50
00:03:49,494 --> 00:03:51,155
which says Sydney.

51
00:03:58,203 --> 00:03:58,669
My heart sinks

52
00:03:58,837 --> 00:04:00,668
when I enter the Opera House.

53
00:04:01,173 --> 00:04:03,300
It seems like another building.

54
00:04:04,443 --> 00:04:09,244
The imaginative design of the exterior
has not been repeated inside.

55
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It's all because in 1 966,
Ytzon walked off the project

56
00:04:15,787 --> 00:04:19,154
after rows over the design
and escalating budget.

57
00:04:22,928 --> 00:04:28,889
The consequences of Ytzon's resignation were,
well, tragic really.

58
00:04:29,167 --> 00:04:34,400
The fact is the relationship between the inside
and the outside is er, what shall one say?

59
00:04:34,573 --> 00:04:36,734
Ynresolved, unsatisfactory.

60
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It's good in parts,
but not as good as it ought to be

61
00:04:39,544 --> 00:04:45,881
and that is very sad.
A masterpiece has been flawed.

62
00:04:47,085 --> 00:04:51,249
For this reason I have decided to reject
the Opera House as a treasure.

63
00:04:53,225 --> 00:04:56,991
My next contender is a stone's throw
from the Opera House.

64
00:04:57,195 --> 00:05:01,655
The Sydney Harbour Bridge
straddles the Bay like a huge longbow.

65
00:05:02,601 --> 00:05:04,569
It's one of the most famous bridges in the world

66
00:05:04,736 --> 00:05:07,864
and from a distance it has a majestic presence.

67
00:05:16,481 --> 00:05:20,611
But I want to take a closer look
and climb to the bridge's summit.

68
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A journey of more than a mile.

69
00:05:24,856 --> 00:05:27,324
It's the largest steel arch bridge in the world

70
00:05:27,492 --> 00:05:32,293
and it's held together by an amazing
six million hand-driven rivets.

71
00:05:41,940 --> 00:05:44,909
The Sydney Harbour Bridge,
when completed in 1932,

72
00:05:45,243 --> 00:05:47,905
was the great emblem of Sydney, of Australia

73
00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,345
and one can see why. It's a superb - structure.

74
00:05:51,516 --> 00:05:54,349
Superb, exciting too across the harbour.

75
00:05:54,519 --> 00:05:56,419
Magnificent creature.

76
00:05:57,689 --> 00:06:00,658
There's no doubt the bridge
is a great feat of engineering,

77
00:06:01,026 --> 00:06:03,085
but it's like many other bridges in the world

78
00:06:03,261 --> 00:06:06,424
and I wonder what it
really tells me about Australia.

79
00:06:08,934 --> 00:06:11,630
I have a third,
much more surprising contender,

80
00:06:11,803 --> 00:06:13,634
which I believe is more symbolic of Australia

81
00:06:13,805 --> 00:06:16,535
than either the bridge or the Opera House.

82
00:06:17,476 --> 00:06:18,773
It's a short walk from the bridge

83
00:06:18,944 --> 00:06:21,037
and you'd be forgiven for missing it.

84
00:06:22,013 --> 00:06:24,277
Dwarfed by Sydney's 21 st Century skyline,

85
00:06:24,449 --> 00:06:26,246
Iies the City's hidden gem.

86
00:06:26,752 --> 00:06:29,414
A charming little Georgian church.

87
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St James' is my treasure

88
00:06:38,230 --> 00:06:41,791
because it tells the story of
how Australia was built.

89
00:06:41,967 --> 00:06:45,562
How a noble nation evolved
out of a penal colony.

90
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St James' may look like any
old late Georgian classical church,

91
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but consider the context, consider the
circumstances of its design and construction.

92
00:06:56,148 --> 00:06:58,844
When this church was started in 1 81 9,

93
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the City was less than fifty years old,

94
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and more to the point,
it was a penal settlement.

95
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A town of convicts, a sort of shanty town.

96
00:07:07,926 --> 00:07:12,158
So this church, in its grandeur,
was astonishing.

97
00:07:12,330 --> 00:07:14,890
It's metropolitan in its ambition.

98
00:07:15,066 --> 00:07:22,802
It's a declaration really that one day this town
of convicts, Sydney, would be a great city.

99
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The architect was an English prisoner
called Francis Greenway.

100
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He'd been condemned to death in 1 81 2 for fraud,

101
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but the sentence was commuted
and he was deported to Australia.

102
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The Governor of New South Wales,
Lachlan Macquarie, emancipated Greenway

103
00:07:41,126 --> 00:07:44,118
and decided to make use of
his skills as an architect.

104
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And all this results in a building
that I find absolutely haunting.

105
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In this barren location,
the other end of the world,

106
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a town of pain, a convict town,

107
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one gets a spectacular church built.

108
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A church as good as anything
in Britain at the time.

109
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Governor Macquarie is now revered
as the Father of Australia.

110
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But at the time his liberal policies towards
emancipated convicts were attacked.

111
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Macquarie was ousted by the reactionary
free men of the city in 1 821,

112
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and his favourite architect, Greenway, was sacked
the following year before his masterpiece,

113
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St James' Church, was completed.

114
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Greenway, a broken man,

115
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died in 1 837, penniless and forgotten.

116
00:08:43,355 --> 00:08:52,320
But there is a opimistic twist to this tale
which makes one heart and soul rise.

117
00:08:52,497 --> 00:08:56,900
One picks up a ten dollar note.

118
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Not a current one, one of some years ago

119
00:09:00,005 --> 00:09:02,701
and here we see the hero of the church.

120
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The hero of art and architecture in early
Australia Francis Greenway.

121
00:09:09,581 --> 00:09:12,072
Now a hero indeed.

122
00:09:12,651 --> 00:09:17,554
Ironically of course a man
convicted of forging letters,

123
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of forgery ends up emblazoning a bank note.

124
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For me this building, this church,
says so much about this nation.

125
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It says so much about the spirit of this nation.

126
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There's another spirit which existed here long
before Europeans moved to Australia.

127
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The Aboriginal spirit.

128
00:09:47,018 --> 00:09:51,887
I've always been fascinated by the ancient
beliefs of Australia's early inhabitants.

129
00:09:59,664 --> 00:10:04,101
To break the long journey, I stop for a snack
that I'm told is very nourishing,

130
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if a little shocking.

131
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Green ants. Must be a nest.

132
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These are walking lunch baskets.

133
00:10:12,444 --> 00:10:18,007
Their posteriors are loaded with um vitamin C

134
00:10:18,550 --> 00:10:25,046
and the Aboriginal people around here
love to eat them, if you can catch them.

135
00:10:29,294 --> 00:10:33,424
Lovely. Very, very intense taste.

136
00:10:33,965 --> 00:10:36,058
A bit like a good wine.

137
00:10:36,501 --> 00:10:43,339
Now here's a good one offering up
his buttocks. Ym.

138
00:10:44,476 --> 00:10:47,934
Now I know the thrill of being an anteater.

139
00:10:49,114 --> 00:10:53,483
Ym. Your ass is mine, as they say!

140
00:11:06,898 --> 00:11:09,230
The ants were strangely delicious.

141
00:11:09,534 --> 00:11:13,026
But later I chance upon a brilliant bit
of insect engineering

142
00:11:13,204 --> 00:11:15,604
that makes me feel rather guilty.

143
00:11:16,875 --> 00:11:19,070
Insect architecture.

144
00:11:20,779 --> 00:11:25,807
About twenty, thirty million termites

145
00:11:25,984 --> 00:11:31,286
Iive in this sort of high rise structure
made out of mud really.

146
00:11:31,456 --> 00:11:35,153
Mud architecture. A beautiful piece of work.

147
00:11:36,227 --> 00:11:39,822
Termite skyscraper. Incredible.

148
00:11:44,402 --> 00:11:49,396
The termite tower is the work of nature that
the Aboriginal people would appreciate.

149
00:11:50,041 --> 00:11:53,169
Indeed to them this whole landscape is alive

150
00:11:53,344 --> 00:11:57,371
and tomorrow somewhere within it
I will find my next treasure.

151
00:12:11,329 --> 00:12:16,357
I've come to the Northern Territory of Australia
to see the oldest art in history.

152
00:12:16,534 --> 00:12:19,526
Art that dates from the dawn of man.

153
00:12:19,771 --> 00:12:24,504
I'm going to a site that was first inhabited
fifty thousand or even sixty thousand years ago.

154
00:12:24,676 --> 00:12:28,271
But, although ancient, this art is not dead.

155
00:12:28,446 --> 00:12:30,914
I'm going to see a living treasure.

156
00:12:44,729 --> 00:12:49,962
It's an art form inspired by the kind of nature
which now explodes all round me.

157
00:12:52,036 --> 00:12:54,504
It was painted by the ancestors
of the Aborigines,

158
00:12:54,672 --> 00:12:57,368
the traditional owners of this land.

159
00:13:17,195 --> 00:13:22,633
There are literally hundreds of paintings layers
one upon the other

160
00:13:23,301 --> 00:13:26,532
on the rock faces in front of me
and round about.

161
00:13:26,971 --> 00:13:28,836
They date back twenty or thirty thousand years.

162
00:13:29,007 --> 00:13:30,497
Some are much - much more recent.

163
00:13:30,675 --> 00:13:36,238
They're living, living paintings
full of meaning and power.

164
00:13:36,714 --> 00:13:38,238
They tell about the Creation,

165
00:13:38,416 --> 00:13:44,252
about life the life of the people,
all those hundreds, thousands of years ago.

166
00:13:44,689 --> 00:13:49,353
They tell us about the past and of course also
they could be about the present.

167
00:13:49,527 --> 00:13:52,928
They could be about safeguarding
the families that live here,

168
00:13:53,097 --> 00:13:55,531
that still live here, the same families.

169
00:14:00,238 --> 00:14:03,264
The paintings aren't left to fade away
with the passing of the years,

170
00:14:03,441 --> 00:14:07,207
but are lovingly refreshed
by Aboriginal painters today.

171
00:14:07,779 --> 00:14:09,906
They're potent works of art.

172
00:14:10,081 --> 00:14:15,314
The paintings of fish, turtles and wild animals,
carry deep spiritual meaning.

173
00:14:25,597 --> 00:14:31,968
I meet Natasha Naji, whose family has lived
at Kakadu for generation upon generation.

174
00:14:32,136 --> 00:14:33,660
- lncredible.
- This is the area that we go hunting,

175
00:14:33,838 --> 00:14:36,898
but not now because there's too much water
at the moment.

176
00:14:40,178 --> 00:14:43,545
- You, your ancestors right back come from here?
- Yeah.

177
00:14:43,715 --> 00:14:47,242
Starting from the oldest man we know.

178
00:14:49,821 --> 00:14:52,790
As we walked through one of the world's
oldest art galleries,

179
00:14:52,957 --> 00:14:57,189
she tells me about the Creation ancestors
and the Dream Time.

180
00:14:57,462 --> 00:15:00,329
The beginning of knowledge and understanding.

181
00:15:02,634 --> 00:15:04,761
There are also moral tales from the past,

182
00:15:04,936 --> 00:15:08,702
including the peculiar story
of the selfish Namagan sisters,

183
00:15:08,873 --> 00:15:13,970
who turned themselves into crocodiles to
prey upon their former, human, companions.

184
00:15:16,915 --> 00:15:21,352
The person that paints the painting is - is - is
kind of more important than the painting itself.

185
00:15:21,519 --> 00:15:23,919
The person has to have the power
and the knowledge.

186
00:15:24,088 --> 00:15:26,113
Ysually it's only just men that do this.

187
00:15:26,291 --> 00:15:32,355
Men are the ones that go out spearing fish,
hunting for other sorts of things

188
00:15:32,530 --> 00:15:36,159
that women aren't supposed to do.
Women are just the gatherers.

189
00:15:36,334 --> 00:15:40,464
It's incredible to be - I mean the stories are
about - about creation, about the past,

190
00:15:40,638 --> 00:15:43,766
but also they seem to be about things
now as well.

191
00:15:43,975 --> 00:15:47,433
With the fish and shows all their insides,

192
00:15:47,612 --> 00:15:52,379
Iike we get fish today and we come back
and we can have a look at these paintings

193
00:15:52,550 --> 00:15:56,680
and we can see exactly the same shapes
and bones and fat

194
00:15:56,854 --> 00:15:59,584
and everything that's in the fish
that are on the paintings.

195
00:15:59,757 --> 00:16:02,385
So that's the point of the famous,
so called X-ray painting,

196
00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,188
where you can see the inside of a creature.

197
00:16:05,363 --> 00:16:07,456
It's really like a diagram of
how to cut it up or what to eat.

198
00:16:07,632 --> 00:16:11,466
Yeah, yeah, and it shows you
what parts are poisonous

199
00:16:11,636 --> 00:16:15,504
or what parts certain people can
- can eat and can't eat.

200
00:16:16,140 --> 00:16:18,472
Tell you what,
I'd love to the see the Rainbow Serpent.

201
00:16:18,643 --> 00:16:21,305
- She's over here and it is a female, isn't it?
- Yes, yes.

202
00:16:21,479 --> 00:16:23,106
Female goddess, Earth goddess.

203
00:16:23,281 --> 00:16:25,306
- Y es, it's woman power.
- Woman power.

204
00:16:25,483 --> 00:16:27,974
Y es. Come on. We'll go and see.

205
00:16:31,189 --> 00:16:34,852
- Here we are.
- Oh look. Oh! This is

206
00:16:35,026 --> 00:16:37,460
- The Rainbow Serpent.
- This is the serpent.

207
00:16:38,162 --> 00:16:43,600
Where's the um- the head is
gone underground, there.

208
00:16:44,268 --> 00:16:50,229
So this is again - sorry, god I sound so stupid,
the Rainbow Serpent, of course a rainbow.

209
00:16:50,408 --> 00:16:52,899
In other words the rainbow is a great bridge
between this world and the next.

210
00:16:53,077 --> 00:16:56,137
So many religions, and of course the
Rainbow Serpent is shown as a rainbow.

211
00:16:56,447 --> 00:16:59,814
I hadn't expected it. I thought it would be like,
you know, a snake.

212
00:16:59,984 --> 00:17:03,112
It's much more powerful, it's much more abstract,
much more sensual. There it is.

213
00:17:03,287 --> 00:17:03,946
Great.

214
00:17:04,122 --> 00:17:07,421
The Rainbow Serpent
pretty much represents our women

215
00:17:07,592 --> 00:17:11,858
and with women culture
and how a young girl becomes a lady.

216
00:17:12,030 --> 00:17:13,998
- A Earth goddess, isn't it, really?
- Yes, yes.

217
00:17:14,165 --> 00:17:16,793
Life coming from the Earth,
life coming from the female.

218
00:17:16,968 --> 00:17:20,301
She um, is like what my grandfather said.
She's like a queen, your boss.

219
00:17:20,471 --> 00:17:23,235
- Yeah, the boss lady.
- Yes.

220
00:17:36,988 --> 00:17:42,392
It's deeply moving to experience a culture rooted
in the myths of the earliest human society.

221
00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:47,327
To come into contact with beliefs far
removed from our material existence.

222
00:18:01,746 --> 00:18:04,510
But I fear for the future of this fragile world.

223
00:18:05,249 --> 00:18:07,342
If Natasha's generation turn their backs on it,

224
00:18:07,518 --> 00:18:12,114
what will become of the Creation ancestors
and its ancient and legend memories?

225
00:18:12,290 --> 00:18:14,087
It's a terrible thought.

226
00:18:18,529 --> 00:18:20,656
I leave Australia for lndonesia,

227
00:18:20,832 --> 00:18:26,031
where I will encounter another culture whose
strange and time honoured traditions live on.

228
00:18:30,408 --> 00:18:35,471
I'm heading into the heart of the lsland of
Sulawesi to a region called Torajaland.

229
00:18:37,181 --> 00:18:41,777
I'm flying north across the Timor Sea,
part of the Pacific Ocean,

230
00:18:41,953 --> 00:18:42,977
to meet a people

231
00:18:43,154 --> 00:18:46,419
who've had traditionally
a very close relationship

232
00:18:46,591 --> 00:18:50,425
with the Aborigines
of the north west coast of Australia.

233
00:18:50,595 --> 00:18:55,931
I'm meeting these people to participate
in a very special ceremony.

234
00:18:56,100 --> 00:19:02,699
Indeed, a ceremony that marks
the most important moment of their lives.

235
00:19:05,476 --> 00:19:11,415
I'm about to enter a world where the process of
dying has been transformed into a way of life.

236
00:19:12,750 --> 00:19:14,445
It's one of the most beautiful places on Earth,

237
00:19:14,619 --> 00:19:18,646
and, as I'm about to find out,
one of the most mysterious.

238
00:19:20,558 --> 00:19:22,788
This is the village of Ketu Kesu.

239
00:19:35,139 --> 00:19:38,074
The spirit houses are not quaint homes on stilts,

240
00:19:38,242 --> 00:19:40,938
but symbolise the realm of the dead.

241
00:19:42,180 --> 00:19:46,583
They're an important port of call for the
deceased in their journey to the afterlife.

242
00:19:46,884 --> 00:19:49,478
I'm about to join them on that journey.

243
00:19:50,922 --> 00:19:55,291
On my left are spirit houses,
the domain of the dead.

244
00:19:55,459 --> 00:19:57,927
Each one belongs to a different family.

245
00:19:58,095 --> 00:20:02,862
Embellished with buffalo horns,
buffalo skulls showing the creatures

246
00:20:03,034 --> 00:20:05,696
that were sacrificed at the time of the funerals.

247
00:20:06,037 --> 00:20:09,370
The more horns,
the higher status the family has.

248
00:20:10,408 --> 00:20:16,347
And everywhere there is the cockerel.
Lord Cock, King of the Ynderworld.

249
00:20:18,716 --> 00:20:21,776
And these buildings are divided
into these three, three worlds.

250
00:20:22,253 --> 00:20:27,122
The ground floor is the Ynderworld occupied
by beasts who live at the base of the house,

251
00:20:27,291 --> 00:20:29,521
the middle part occupied by man,

252
00:20:29,694 --> 00:20:33,926
the upper part, this amazing roof structure
that's the world of the gods,

253
00:20:34,098 --> 00:20:37,693
the spirits, the ancestors,
they live in the roof space.

254
00:20:37,868 --> 00:20:41,167
And the roof itself is a
very powerful sacred emblem,

255
00:20:41,339 --> 00:20:46,242
perhaps based on a boat. These people came
from the sea, lived off the sea for centuries

256
00:20:46,410 --> 00:20:48,037
so there's a great boat shaped top,

257
00:20:48,212 --> 00:20:51,648
or you can see it as
the horns of a great buffalo.

258
00:20:52,116 --> 00:20:57,918
So this building itself, each building's a
diagram of the sacred belief of these people.

259
00:21:04,061 --> 00:21:07,588
Here we have him, Pong Laladong as he's called.

260
00:21:07,865 --> 00:21:12,325
King Cock, Lord of the Ynderworld
pecking at my feet.

261
00:21:13,070 --> 00:21:18,702
And here these fine creatures water buffalos,

262
00:21:18,876 --> 00:21:22,368
bull water buffalo, munching looking at me.

263
00:21:23,447 --> 00:21:26,314
Maybe a trifle nervous.
Not surprised because um,

264
00:21:27,018 --> 00:21:30,784
the chances are one day soon
he'll be sacrificed at a funeral.

265
00:21:31,088 --> 00:21:37,823
If so, his spirit would join the corpse
on its journey to the other world.

266
00:21:39,697 --> 00:21:42,291
I'm about to witness
the fate awaiting the buffalo,

267
00:21:42,466 --> 00:21:44,434
and it's not a pleasant one.

268
00:21:48,673 --> 00:21:53,474
Here death is celebrated with an orgy of blood
and killing to mourn one man

269
00:21:53,644 --> 00:21:56,169
who's already been dead for four years.

270
00:21:57,348 --> 00:22:00,078
The village is teeming with people.
It's like a festival.

271
00:22:00,284 --> 00:22:04,618
But in fact, as these ladies in black reveal,
it's a funeral.

272
00:22:04,955 --> 00:22:07,389
This is a high point though,
in the life of these people.

273
00:22:07,558 --> 00:22:12,962
The funeral, death, death leading of course
to rebirth in a better place in the stars.

274
00:22:14,465 --> 00:22:17,628
I'm being guided by this man.
He seemed to know what I want.

275
00:22:17,868 --> 00:22:21,964
These people are all the relatives
of the of the deceased, the people here?

276
00:22:22,139 --> 00:22:24,334
Yeah, people are family.

277
00:22:24,508 --> 00:22:26,442
Are these people - they're all family.
Are you family as well?

278
00:22:26,610 --> 00:22:28,237
Yeah, family. My uncle is dead.

279
00:22:28,412 --> 00:22:33,179
Well, do you mind us coming to um,
to join in the funeral?

280
00:22:33,584 --> 00:22:38,180
Is it all right - it's all right if we come
and have a look to see your uncle?

281
00:22:38,356 --> 00:22:39,880
Yeah, my uncle.

282
00:22:42,159 --> 00:22:46,425
Everywhere freshly sacrificed creatures -
I'm being dragged inside.

283
00:22:54,205 --> 00:22:55,433
Do we sit down?

284
00:22:58,676 --> 00:23:02,134
This is basically a grandstand.

285
00:23:02,780 --> 00:23:07,274
More like a box in opera.
Each box is numbered, I'm in 39.

286
00:23:07,451 --> 00:23:09,942
I'm being ushered in here
to witness something.

287
00:23:11,222 --> 00:23:17,161
Everywhere people are gathering,
waiting for something to happen.

288
00:23:17,628 --> 00:23:19,459
Not entirely sure what at this stage.

289
00:23:22,032 --> 00:23:23,659
It soon becomes clear.

290
00:23:25,302 --> 00:23:28,328
As a new victim enters the arena of death.

291
00:23:42,553 --> 00:23:45,044
Oh dear. I'm very fond of pigs.

292
00:23:45,456 --> 00:23:49,256
They're obviously - they've obviously tried to be
merciful, they've gone to his heart, haven't they?

293
00:23:50,060 --> 00:23:51,721
Oh dear.

294
00:23:54,031 --> 00:23:56,898
The people here believe the spirit
of the sacrificed pig

295
00:23:57,067 --> 00:24:02,027
will join the dead man's spirit in the afterlife,
giving him status and wealth.

296
00:24:04,642 --> 00:24:08,976
The funeral's a celebration because the dead,
they've gone to a better place.

297
00:24:09,146 --> 00:24:15,608
They're renewing the cycle of life and death
and rebirth, they've gone to the stars.

298
00:24:15,786 --> 00:24:19,688
Where these people believe their ancestors
came from, where they come from.

299
00:24:19,857 --> 00:24:25,193
But I must say seeing this scene of sacrifice,
this um, this poor pig,

300
00:24:26,063 --> 00:24:33,265
simply as part of the ritual rather
takes the pleasure of all this for me.

301
00:24:34,238 --> 00:24:37,139
God knows how many pigs
have been sacrificed here today.

302
00:24:37,741 --> 00:24:42,576
There's remains of many round about
and two here waiting to go.

303
00:24:49,653 --> 00:24:53,589
I meet Mr Ranti Tasak,
the man who has organised the funeral.

304
00:24:53,757 --> 00:24:57,488
So what relation are you to the deceased?

305
00:25:01,031 --> 00:25:02,191
- My father.
- His father.

306
00:25:02,366 --> 00:25:06,200
It's your father? Oh my dear, I'm so sorry.
I didn't realise it's your father.

307
00:25:06,370 --> 00:25:12,934
It's very - very - and - and so all this um,
the gathering here all these people

308
00:25:13,110 --> 00:25:17,103
and the animals being sacrificed
it's in honour of your father?

309
00:25:18,415 --> 00:25:21,578
Because you like your father,
because he loved his father.

310
00:25:22,386 --> 00:25:26,755
That's why he make this -
this kind of offering.

311
00:25:26,924 --> 00:25:30,690
What about the spirit of the animals?
Where do they go?

312
00:25:31,028 --> 00:25:36,227
According to our belief the spirit
of the buffalo and pig

313
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:42,600
also will go to their heaven,
join with the dead person as well. Yeah.

314
00:25:42,773 --> 00:25:46,004
That's what I thought. So the flesh stays here
to feed the people, the humans,

315
00:25:46,176 --> 00:25:49,270
but the spirit of the animal
accompanies the deceased?

316
00:25:49,446 --> 00:25:55,316
Yeah. And also everyone comes
to pray to this, the dead person.

317
00:25:55,553 --> 00:26:00,422
They hope this - the dead person
could go straight to paradise will go to...

318
00:26:01,792 --> 00:26:04,761
The funeral here will go on
for a few more days yet.

319
00:26:04,929 --> 00:26:09,832
Finally, four years after dying,
the dead man will be interned.

320
00:26:14,405 --> 00:26:18,136
Then Hela Tuktuk can go in search
of his final resting place.

321
00:26:18,309 --> 00:26:22,302
In Torajaland death
is the most important moment in life.

322
00:26:22,479 --> 00:26:25,243
It's when humans return to the place
of their celestial origin,

323
00:26:25,416 --> 00:26:29,580
so commemorating the dead
is sacred art of the highest order.

324
00:26:37,761 --> 00:26:39,820
This brings me to my next treasure.

325
00:26:42,967 --> 00:26:46,960
The Tau Tau are wooden statues
representing the ancestor.

326
00:26:47,237 --> 00:26:48,864
They're not so much monuments as a means

327
00:26:49,039 --> 00:26:53,271
by which the spirits of the dead
can return to counsel the living.

328
00:26:55,012 --> 00:26:59,472
The body we've just seen
will be brought to a grave like this

329
00:27:00,351 --> 00:27:04,879
and be interned in a cavity
that's been carved out of the rock.

330
00:27:05,055 --> 00:27:08,354
Here you see a whole series of burials,

331
00:27:08,525 --> 00:27:13,258
Iittle wooden doors over a hole
in the which the body's been inserted.

332
00:27:13,797 --> 00:27:17,631
A dozen or so here, two dozen,
and a lot all - all the way round.

333
00:27:17,868 --> 00:27:21,998
Of course what's really striking
are these effigies called Tau Tau.

334
00:27:22,172 --> 00:27:29,237
Images of the dead placed up there
with this fixed gaze.

335
00:27:30,214 --> 00:27:33,047
Gazing into eternity I suppose.

336
00:27:33,684 --> 00:27:38,678
And round about are offerings
below this row of images,

337
00:27:38,856 --> 00:27:40,983
Iike the dead in an opera box

338
00:27:41,158 --> 00:27:45,288
watching life's strange doings
with their hands out-held. Amazing.

339
00:27:45,462 --> 00:27:48,659
But below them is a plate wrapped in paper,

340
00:27:48,832 --> 00:27:54,134
hung on string, obvi - obviously offerings
from a family to their ancestor to sustain them,

341
00:27:54,304 --> 00:27:58,638
to appease them keep them
active for the benefit of the family.

342
00:28:10,254 --> 00:28:12,586
Here are some coffins.

343
00:28:12,856 --> 00:28:15,188
Old coffins. One, two.

344
00:28:15,993 --> 00:28:21,488
Empy apart from a gigantic
jawbone in this one, not human.

345
00:28:21,832 --> 00:28:25,825
Ah, now there's another one
over there that looks more intact.

346
00:28:26,303 --> 00:28:30,603
Indeed the lid's on it, it's closed and can there
be a body in storage waiting to be interned?

347
00:28:30,774 --> 00:28:32,537
No, but I'll have a look.

348
00:28:33,944 --> 00:28:35,502
So here's this coffin.

349
00:28:39,249 --> 00:28:43,083
Now it's intact, it's closed, is it sealed?

350
00:28:43,253 --> 00:28:47,417
I mean can there be a body here left waiting?

351
00:28:49,259 --> 00:28:53,286
It's going to open. Here we go.

352
00:28:59,002 --> 00:29:03,439
What we've got - my god, it's a rat.

353
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:05,369
How completely bizarre.

354
00:29:05,542 --> 00:29:07,703
My god, she's giving birth as we watch.

355
00:29:08,312 --> 00:29:11,679
She's terrified with her babies,
she's carrying her babies, poor rat.

356
00:29:11,849 --> 00:29:13,180
Oh my goodness me.

357
00:29:14,485 --> 00:29:18,251
So a coffin becomes a natal clinic for a rat.

358
00:29:19,256 --> 00:29:20,848
So the world goes on. Right,

359
00:29:21,024 --> 00:29:22,958
gosh, what an extraordinary moment?

360
00:29:40,010 --> 00:29:42,979
I've been told about one more place called Londa

361
00:29:43,147 --> 00:29:47,106
where I'll be able to complete my journey
into the realm of the dead.

362
00:29:53,524 --> 00:29:57,756
Again the cliffs are occupied
by the eerie forms of the Tau Tau.

363
00:30:01,064 --> 00:30:05,057
But here I'll be able to cross a threshold
into the burial caves

364
00:30:05,235 --> 00:30:08,261
where the voyage to the afterlife begins.

365
00:30:13,377 --> 00:30:17,074
To my three young guides,
this is a very special place.

366
00:30:17,347 --> 00:30:19,713
It's their own family vault.

367
00:30:31,528 --> 00:30:33,519
We're in a sort of natural cryp

368
00:30:34,064 --> 00:30:38,967
within this rocky sort of outcrop is

369
00:30:39,703 --> 00:30:44,766
this vault full of coffins.

370
00:30:44,942 --> 00:30:49,106
And obviously many must have been broken
because here are these skulls.

371
00:30:49,279 --> 00:30:51,645
In fact here is a coffin now breaking open

372
00:30:51,815 --> 00:30:56,149
and within the coffin one
of course sees the body.

373
00:30:56,486 --> 00:30:58,113
Stacked one upon the other.

374
00:30:59,122 --> 00:31:02,922
And of course these dead are not dead,
as far as these people are concerned.

375
00:31:04,228 --> 00:31:07,755
They're present and part of
their world their spirits,

376
00:31:07,931 --> 00:31:10,957
which is why there are offerings everywhere.

377
00:31:11,468 --> 00:31:15,370
Here, this skull cigarettes clearly
a favourite offering to the dead,

378
00:31:15,539 --> 00:31:20,374
the dead obviously like to smoke
in the spirit land. Extraordinary.

379
00:31:20,944 --> 00:31:23,469
And there's more, there's more,
it goes round the corner here.

380
00:31:28,552 --> 00:31:31,680
The power of death, incredible isn't it?

381
00:31:32,422 --> 00:31:39,487
Compelling, forceful, in the presence of corpses
of a family. Must be overwhelming

382
00:31:39,663 --> 00:31:45,192
for family members who come down here to
connect with the mysteries of life after death.

383
00:31:45,402 --> 00:31:47,529
And of course they hold the mysteries really,

384
00:31:48,171 --> 00:31:50,731
'cause here are the people with the answers -

385
00:31:50,908 --> 00:31:53,069
and they come and commune
and talk to the living.

386
00:31:54,845 --> 00:31:56,745
And here there's a passage going on,
but no more?

387
00:31:56,914 --> 00:31:59,849
No more. No coffin, no coffins yet, just space.

388
00:32:00,117 --> 00:32:02,108
This is living and dying.

389
00:32:02,286 --> 00:32:03,810
There's space there for future generations,

390
00:32:03,987 --> 00:32:10,017
these young chaps are of the family that own this,
this vault, they will end up in here.

391
00:32:12,229 --> 00:32:16,097
Yes. Must be an interesting feeling.

392
00:32:41,992 --> 00:32:46,793
My journey into the lndonesian spirit world
has inflamed my imagination.

393
00:32:48,498 --> 00:32:50,932
I travel 65o miles south west

394
00:32:51,101 --> 00:32:55,902
to another of lndonesia's
fourteen thousand islands. Java.

395
00:33:33,377 --> 00:33:38,178
My treasure is one of the most
intriguing buildings in south east Asia,

396
00:33:38,348 --> 00:33:42,307
Iost in the jungles of Java for centuries.

397
00:33:42,586 --> 00:33:48,752
It offers a route to heaven.
A route to spiritual enlightenment.

398
00:33:57,100 --> 00:34:00,263
This is the largest ancient monument
in a southern hemisphere.

399
00:34:00,437 --> 00:34:04,635
A giant, pyramidal Buddhist temple
called a Stupa.

400
00:34:12,549 --> 00:34:16,645
Borobodur is one of the greatest
Buddhist stupas in the world.

401
00:34:16,820 --> 00:34:21,018
Built in the 8th century, it's a diagram,

402
00:34:21,191 --> 00:34:29,326
it's like an open book telling you how to,
well, say for example, reach Nirvana.

403
00:34:29,499 --> 00:34:37,634
You have nine levels. Each level is a route
which one takes as a pilgrim to learn,

404
00:34:38,742 --> 00:34:42,701
to learn those things necessary
to achieve enlightenment.

405
00:34:57,227 --> 00:34:59,923
This is the second level of the stupa.

406
00:35:00,097 --> 00:35:04,158
The first level down there shows worldly desires.

407
00:35:04,468 --> 00:35:06,231
This is the first or sacred level,

408
00:35:06,403 --> 00:35:11,932
and these panels, wrapping right way round,
show the life of the Buddha.

409
00:35:12,375 --> 00:35:17,540
Princess Maya here,
the Buddha's mother asleep. The queen.

410
00:35:18,014 --> 00:35:21,006
And she's having this fateful and amazing dream.

411
00:35:21,184 --> 00:35:27,282
She dreams that a white elephant
circles her waist three times

412
00:35:27,457 --> 00:35:30,483
and the third time it enters her womb.

413
00:35:31,261 --> 00:35:35,755
She's going to give birth to some astonishing,
extraordinary creature. The white elephant.

414
00:35:35,932 --> 00:35:40,835
The white elephant is the emblem,
one of the many early emblems of the Buddha

415
00:35:41,004 --> 00:35:42,596
and here we see the white elephant.

416
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,508
Somewhat damaged to his trunk here.

417
00:35:46,676 --> 00:35:50,168
The parasol, emblem of the Buddha above him.

418
00:36:11,868 --> 00:36:14,393
This level and the next two above me,

419
00:36:14,571 --> 00:36:19,702
tell the story of Sudana, the pilgrim,
on his quest for truth.

420
00:36:20,410 --> 00:36:26,246
Presiding over this of course, one of the many
images of Buddha himself sitting quietly.

421
00:36:26,416 --> 00:36:30,978
It's amazing, Sudana, I mean he's the emblematic
figure, he is the pilgrim, he is you, he is me -

422
00:36:31,154 --> 00:36:34,851
and people who came here would look at the panels,
they would see what happened to him.

423
00:36:35,025 --> 00:36:38,085
They would learn, they would then go on.

424
00:36:53,210 --> 00:36:57,112
This is a lovely panel. Rather architectural.

425
00:36:57,447 --> 00:37:02,783
And here is Sudana, the pilgrim,
the disciple of Buddha.

426
00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:07,950
Now by this stage,
this is - we're at the third level of his story,

427
00:37:08,191 --> 00:37:09,419
he's um, he's getting somewhere.

428
00:37:09,593 --> 00:37:16,294
And this panel is about the power of meditation
to overcome the physical world I suppose.

429
00:37:16,466 --> 00:37:22,200
Because here he is,
supplicating to achieve this.

430
00:37:22,505 --> 00:37:27,033
Levitation. The fellow's floating.

431
00:37:27,944 --> 00:37:33,246
And from here I look over the parapet
to this amazing landscape.

432
00:37:33,416 --> 00:37:37,284
Little changed in twelve hundred years.

433
00:37:40,457 --> 00:37:45,485
Gosh. The power of the place.
Absolutely so tangible.

434
00:38:03,713 --> 00:38:05,840
Enlightenment is getting closer.

435
00:38:06,149 --> 00:38:12,850
And this is signified by a landscape of bell-shape
mini stupas, sitting on top of the giant stupa.

436
00:38:21,865 --> 00:38:24,459
There are 72 of these up here.

437
00:38:24,768 --> 00:38:29,899
Each stupa, bell-shaped,
contains an image of the Buddha.

438
00:38:30,573 --> 00:38:34,703
Now of course very few people
would have achieved this level.

439
00:38:34,878 --> 00:38:43,217
Only, I suppose, enlightened,
inspired monks would have reached this plane

440
00:38:43,386 --> 00:38:50,053
and even they could only catch a glimpse
of the Buddha through these little openings.

441
00:38:50,226 --> 00:38:57,223
I suppose they're emblematic of the difficulty
of seeing Buddha, of achieving enlightenment.

442
00:38:58,902 --> 00:39:03,362
Only a handful of Buddhist pilgrims
now make the spiritual journey here.

443
00:39:07,277 --> 00:39:09,142
Indonesia is largely a Moslem country

444
00:39:09,312 --> 00:39:12,770
and today the great stupa
is teeming with tourists.

445
00:39:18,722 --> 00:39:21,350
What did this great building mean in the past?

446
00:39:21,524 --> 00:39:23,116
What does it mean today?

447
00:39:23,293 --> 00:39:28,595
Well, it encapsulates in the most
powerful way Buddhist beliefs.

448
00:39:28,798 --> 00:39:36,227
It told, and tells, pilgrims and disciples
coming here how to find the path to Nirvana.

449
00:39:36,406 --> 00:39:39,534
How to escape the woes and ills of the world.

450
00:39:39,776 --> 00:39:42,574
It tells them that suffering comes from desire

451
00:39:42,746 --> 00:39:47,046
and that to escape from suffering
you must escape from desires.

452
00:39:47,584 --> 00:39:52,351
And now it's still an incredibly popular place.
Now full of tourists.

453
00:39:52,522 --> 00:40:00,793
They all come to look, to feel, to experience
the power of this incredible temple.

454
00:40:04,968 --> 00:40:08,062
I defy anyone to be unmoved by Borobodur.

455
00:40:08,438 --> 00:40:14,809
It has an atmosphere that seems to offer a glimpse
- all too fleetingly - of Nirvana.

456
00:40:18,848 --> 00:40:20,475
From one of the great Buddhist monuments,

457
00:40:20,650 --> 00:40:25,144
my journey takes me to one of the
great Buddhist nations. Thailand.

458
00:40:29,993 --> 00:40:32,655
Bangkok is a baffling mix of the old and new,

459
00:40:32,829 --> 00:40:34,820
the exotic and the vulgar.

460
00:40:35,331 --> 00:40:39,893
In the bustling capital city,
sex and money are the new gods.

461
00:40:41,805 --> 00:40:42,999
My treasure is not here,

462
00:40:43,173 --> 00:40:45,300
but an hour's drive to the north.

463
00:41:05,695 --> 00:41:08,926
I've come to the ancient capital of Thailand.

464
00:41:09,098 --> 00:41:13,933
To Ayutthaya,
to tell the tale of two battling brothers.

465
00:41:14,103 --> 00:41:19,006
A tragic tale in which the elephant
plays a central role.

466
00:41:30,253 --> 00:41:32,813
It happened in the middle of the 15th century.

467
00:41:33,056 --> 00:41:38,187
The brothers were sons of the king and found
themselves locked in a bitter power struggle.

468
00:41:38,561 --> 00:41:43,760
They ended up fighting a dramatic duel
on elephant back. Both were killed.

469
00:41:59,482 --> 00:42:03,418
Their tragic story ended
with the temple of Watt Ratchaburana.

470
00:42:03,586 --> 00:42:06,384
the central tower, or prang, is beautiful.

471
00:42:06,556 --> 00:42:09,787
It's not my treasure, but it will lead me to it.

472
00:42:13,396 --> 00:42:16,627
The surviving brother built a mighty memorial

473
00:42:16,799 --> 00:42:20,326
to the two brothers who died
in combat fighting each other.

474
00:42:20,503 --> 00:42:22,198
And of course this is not so surprising

475
00:42:22,372 --> 00:42:26,866
because the death of the two brothers
allowed the third brother to become king.

476
00:42:27,110 --> 00:42:30,443
And this tower is part of the great memorial.

477
00:42:30,713 --> 00:42:36,652
And within here the brother secreted
a mighty treasure trove,

478
00:42:36,819 --> 00:42:42,519
one of the greatest in the world,
buried in the bowels of this building.

479
00:43:12,021 --> 00:43:15,422
God, it's hot here. It was common practice

480
00:43:15,592 --> 00:43:19,688
to bury precious things
in the foundations of sacred buildings.

481
00:43:19,862 --> 00:43:23,127
Jewels, diamonds, pearls, images of the gods,

482
00:43:23,633 --> 00:43:26,295
and this place of course was no excepion.

483
00:43:33,943 --> 00:43:36,912
An incredible rich hoard.

484
00:43:37,347 --> 00:43:41,841
This was only discovered in 1 957
when two robbers broke into here,

485
00:43:42,018 --> 00:43:44,851
burrowed in and made away with many of the items,

486
00:43:45,021 --> 00:43:50,459
but they were caught with lots of the items.
Not all, but many were recovered

487
00:43:50,627 --> 00:43:52,618
and I can see those now.

488
00:44:02,338 --> 00:44:06,172
The surviving jewels have been
moved to a nearby museum for safekeeping

489
00:44:06,342 --> 00:44:09,175
and this is where I will find my treasure.

490
00:44:19,689 --> 00:44:26,595
This strong room contains a treasure
from the chamber below the tower.

491
00:44:27,163 --> 00:44:29,597
It's a fabulous collection.

492
00:44:29,966 --> 00:44:33,663
Gold everywhere, wall to wall.

493
00:44:34,070 --> 00:44:38,234
These are some of the items
recovered from the looters

494
00:44:38,408 --> 00:44:44,870
and some of these items were subsequently
excavated when the tower was inspected.

495
00:44:45,114 --> 00:44:49,983
But this elephant here,
this is my particular treasure.

496
00:45:01,531 --> 00:45:07,333
A wonderful thing.
A masterpiece of the goldsmith's art.

497
00:45:07,503 --> 00:45:12,964
Studded with gems. It's spectacular to see it.

498
00:45:13,142 --> 00:45:20,412
Made in about 142o, the same time
as the tower in which it was found.

499
00:45:20,583 --> 00:45:23,814
Encrusted with gems.

500
00:45:24,587 --> 00:45:27,852
Goodness me, I've never seen it,
of course, this way before, such detail.

501
00:45:28,024 --> 00:45:31,687
It's beautifully, beautifully finished.

502
00:45:31,994 --> 00:45:34,724
Elephant kneeling with a howdah.

503
00:45:34,931 --> 00:45:40,198
Of course, the elephant is a very special beast
in this part of the world, very auspicious.

504
00:45:40,369 --> 00:45:42,667
The war mount of kings.

505
00:45:42,839 --> 00:45:48,471
And the Buddha, one of his manifestations
was as a white elephant.

506
00:45:48,711 --> 00:45:50,804
So the elephant's very powerful.

507
00:45:51,047 --> 00:45:56,144
But I wonder also in this case whether
this elephant represents the means

508
00:45:56,319 --> 00:46:02,155
by which the two brothers of the king died
in their elephant duel fighting

509
00:46:02,325 --> 00:46:05,089
from the howdahs on top of the elephants?

510
00:46:05,795 --> 00:46:10,789
In that case I suspect there would have been
two elephants in the tomb.

511
00:46:10,967 --> 00:46:14,095
One survives, the other one gone, looted.

512
00:46:14,270 --> 00:46:21,369
Melted down or maybe somewhere wandering
around the world unrecognised.

513
00:46:22,011 --> 00:46:23,979
Spectacular thing, this.

514
00:46:32,688 --> 00:46:35,020
Leaving behind my most diminutive treasure,

515
00:46:35,191 --> 00:46:37,125
I head to neighbouring Cambodia

516
00:46:37,827 --> 00:46:41,285
in the search for one of
my most awe inspiring treasures.

517
00:46:47,570 --> 00:46:54,134
I've come to see the mighty remains of
one of the great civilisations of the world.

518
00:46:54,310 --> 00:46:59,714
A civilisation so sophisticated
it can be compared with Rome.

519
00:47:07,657 --> 00:47:13,027
This civilisation grew in the jungles
of Cambodia twelve hundred years ago.

520
00:47:13,196 --> 00:47:15,528
Flourished for six hundred years

521
00:47:15,698 --> 00:47:21,694
and then was consumed by the very jungles
upon which it originated.

522
00:47:30,046 --> 00:47:33,538
I'm about to see
one of the great Wonders of the World.

523
00:47:44,627 --> 00:47:48,825
Angkor Wat is a legacy of the
mighty king Suryavarman the Second

524
00:47:48,998 --> 00:47:51,728
and dates back to the mid 12th century.

525
00:47:53,369 --> 00:47:55,269
This is the temple at Angkor Wat,

526
00:47:55,438 --> 00:48:02,401
a place I've wanted to see for years, and what
a place it is. It's man's vision of heaven.

527
00:48:02,578 --> 00:48:06,241
It's a Hindu image of the celestial city.

528
00:48:13,155 --> 00:48:16,454
King Suryavarman portrayed himself as a god king

529
00:48:16,626 --> 00:48:21,529
and Angkor Wat was his vision in masonry
and mortar of heaven on Earth.

530
00:48:23,366 --> 00:48:26,824
Angkor Wat was the sacred heart
of the great city of Angkor.

531
00:48:27,003 --> 00:48:31,872
The capital of the Khmer empire,
ruled by Suryavarman.

532
00:48:32,742 --> 00:48:34,642
Angkor was home to a million people,

533
00:48:34,810 --> 00:48:37,973
making it one of the world's largest cities.

534
00:48:39,548 --> 00:48:44,611
I'm at the highest point of the temple.
Its summit.

535
00:48:45,488 --> 00:48:52,451
And that tower over there represents
the sacred mountain of the Hindus,

536
00:48:52,628 --> 00:48:57,292
the centre of their universe,
the dwelling of the Hindu gods.

537
00:48:57,967 --> 00:49:04,930
It's exterior is embellished
with images of Hindu deities. Cosmic figures.

538
00:49:05,174 --> 00:49:11,511
And inside, originally,
would have been a great image of Vishnu.

539
00:49:11,681 --> 00:49:19,247
And probably the king's body,
cremated as ashes, interred in there in an urn.

540
00:49:19,655 --> 00:49:24,683
This tower is many things,
including a gateway to heaven.

541
00:49:28,164 --> 00:49:31,895
Angkor Wat's soaring towers,
courtyards, avenues and buildings,

542
00:49:32,068 --> 00:49:35,265
are dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu.

543
00:49:36,739 --> 00:49:39,435
Vishnu is the preserver of the universe.

544
00:49:39,775 --> 00:49:45,077
A good whose miracles are narrated
in great stone reliefs carved into the walls.

545
00:49:47,350 --> 00:49:49,079
This is glorious.

546
00:49:49,719 --> 00:49:54,588
Here we have on my right gods,
on my left the demons.

547
00:49:54,757 --> 00:49:55,724
They're pulling,

548
00:49:55,891 --> 00:49:59,349
a great tug of war, the great snake Naga.

549
00:49:59,729 --> 00:50:02,698
And here she is the snake, being tugged.

550
00:50:03,032 --> 00:50:07,662
As they tug and battle
they're churning the sea of milk,

551
00:50:07,837 --> 00:50:12,467
the sea of milk holding power
and all good things.

552
00:50:12,641 --> 00:50:18,045
Presiding in the middle is Vishnu
who was venerated in this temple.

553
00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:22,080
Here he is and another incarnation of Vishnu,
the turtle.

554
00:50:22,651 --> 00:50:27,748
So here we see the battle,
and the prize is immortality.

555
00:50:28,357 --> 00:50:31,019
The gods, thank goodness, get it.

556
00:50:31,193 --> 00:50:33,161
Become immortal and prevail.

557
00:50:33,329 --> 00:50:40,428
This is a tremendous image of this duality,
good and evil, gods and demons.

558
00:50:40,636 --> 00:50:44,663
The constant battle of humanity.

559
00:50:57,820 --> 00:51:00,414
This courtyard's full of Apsara.

560
00:51:00,589 --> 00:51:08,325
These celestial nymphs who were -
are the escorts to the gods and to kings.

561
00:51:08,564 --> 00:51:13,024
This Apsara is staring right at me, eye to eye.

562
00:51:13,335 --> 00:51:18,238
They're beautiful and strangely shiny.

563
00:51:18,407 --> 00:51:21,865
I suppose they've been
much handled over the years.

564
00:51:39,662 --> 00:51:41,323
Extraordinary sitting here.

565
00:51:42,331 --> 00:51:44,663
The whole place begins to make sense.

566
00:51:45,334 --> 00:51:50,067
Angkor Wat is a model of the cosmos
and the universe,

567
00:51:50,239 --> 00:51:54,642
containing at its heart the great temple there.

568
00:51:55,478 --> 00:51:57,378
There's a world within a world this,

569
00:51:57,546 --> 00:52:01,744
with these boundary walls, great causeway -

570
00:52:01,917 --> 00:52:07,082
surrounded by moats representing
the oceans of the world.

571
00:52:07,256 --> 00:52:11,955
And in here one has images of heaven,
of hell, celestial beings.

572
00:52:12,128 --> 00:52:16,064
And sitting here, this is paradise, isn't it?

573
00:52:32,715 --> 00:52:37,516
To appreciate the full meaning of Angkor Wat,
I take to the skies.

574
00:52:40,723 --> 00:52:43,351
Suryavarman's vision becomes clear.

575
00:52:43,926 --> 00:52:48,590
It's a homage of the gods
and a statement of his own divinity.

576
00:52:49,165 --> 00:52:51,929
There it is, the sacred mountain,

577
00:52:52,101 --> 00:52:56,231
protected on all sides
by moats representing mythic oceans.

578
00:52:56,572 --> 00:53:01,703
But in reality the moat could not keep
the dangers of the outside world at bay.

579
00:53:05,981 --> 00:53:08,677
In 1 177 the Kingdom of Angkor was invaded

580
00:53:08,851 --> 00:53:13,185
by the neighbouring Chans from Vietnam
who sacked the temple.

581
00:53:13,455 --> 00:53:17,016
Angkor was plunged into darkness and despair.

582
00:53:27,203 --> 00:53:30,468
But this is not the end of Khmer civilisation.

583
00:53:31,373 --> 00:53:35,400
A new god king,
Jayavarman Vll, came to the throne

584
00:53:35,744 --> 00:53:38,679
and in 1 1 81 drove the invaders out.

585
00:53:46,255 --> 00:53:49,622
Jayavarman wanted to stamp
his own imprint on Angkor,

586
00:53:50,025 --> 00:53:51,720
so a mile away from Angkor Wat

587
00:53:51,894 --> 00:53:53,725
he built the city of Angkor Thom.

588
00:53:54,496 --> 00:54:00,560
A monument to his triumph surrounded by
a strong wall to defend it from future invaders.

589
00:54:01,870 --> 00:54:04,668
Jayavarman brought one major change to Angkor.

590
00:54:04,974 --> 00:54:08,876
He replaced Hinduism with Buddhism
as the official religion.

591
00:54:10,379 --> 00:54:15,009
The centre piece of Angkor Thom is a tomb
and Buddhist temple called the Bayon.

592
00:54:15,184 --> 00:54:17,880
Hauntingly enigmatic and beautiful.

593
00:54:18,053 --> 00:54:22,080
Its walls were adorned with huge
and powerfully carved faces.

594
00:54:22,324 --> 00:54:23,689
These are my treasure.

595
00:54:30,799 --> 00:54:36,260
This place is all to do with politics and power,
and such power.

596
00:54:36,505 --> 00:54:42,933
These towers incorporating
these gigantic human faces,

597
00:54:43,112 --> 00:54:47,446
they really do capure the imagination.
They are so haunting.

598
00:54:47,683 --> 00:54:49,878
It's quite hard really to explain why.

599
00:54:50,052 --> 00:54:56,389
They have such a enigmatic
and persuasive quality.

600
00:54:56,959 --> 00:55:00,417
And they tell a very particular story.

601
00:55:00,596 --> 00:55:03,793
What you have here are the images of all
that was powerful

602
00:55:03,966 --> 00:55:07,333
and important in this land
at the time this place was built.

603
00:55:07,503 --> 00:55:12,304
Here we see the king making images to entice
and unite his people.

604
00:55:12,474 --> 00:55:14,738
We have images of his great military commanders

605
00:55:14,910 --> 00:55:17,037
we have images of the king himself.

606
00:55:17,212 --> 00:55:22,275
It's all here, all brought together in stone
to speak of this land.

607
00:55:22,451 --> 00:55:24,316
To speak of how this land could be united.

608
00:55:24,486 --> 00:55:27,649
And on the tallest tower of them

609
00:55:27,823 --> 00:55:29,848
all was a huge image of the king himself,

610
00:55:30,025 --> 00:55:33,392
combined with the image
of the compassionate Buddha.

611
00:55:33,562 --> 00:55:36,360
Here was the king, the great conqueror,
the great commander,

612
00:55:36,532 --> 00:55:41,128
the great protector of his people,
yet also a man of compassion, a man of caring.

613
00:55:41,303 --> 00:55:46,036
This is really absolutely
brilliant political architecture.

614
00:55:46,208 --> 00:55:47,505
And one looks around

615
00:55:47,676 --> 00:55:51,442
and these stones, though ancient, these faces,

616
00:55:51,613 --> 00:55:56,778
though antique still speak a very potent
and powerful language.

617
00:56:23,011 --> 00:56:26,742
There's nothing quite like these faces anywhere.

618
00:56:27,883 --> 00:56:29,942
They are beautiful.

619
00:56:31,086 --> 00:56:35,523
Art in the service of politics perhaps?

620
00:56:35,991 --> 00:56:37,720
Certainly sacred art.

621
00:56:39,595 --> 00:56:43,656
Sculpure and architecture combined?
Of course.

622
00:56:44,366 --> 00:56:47,130
That's one of the reasons
why they are so exciting.

623
00:56:47,569 --> 00:56:52,370
But one thing or the other,
building, a portrait, both things at once.

624
00:56:53,242 --> 00:56:57,736
And the - the smile his knowing smile.

625
00:56:57,913 --> 00:57:00,575
The eyes. They stare don't they?

626
00:57:00,749 --> 00:57:03,809
Look. They look into your soul.

627
00:57:30,646 --> 00:57:35,743
I've travelled through two continents
in this programme and seen wonderful things.

628
00:57:36,285 --> 00:57:39,379
But what I found most moving, most memorable

629
00:57:39,555 --> 00:57:42,956
are the connections that
traditional people have with nature.

630
00:57:43,125 --> 00:57:46,322
They see life, soul, spirit in all things.

631
00:57:46,495 --> 00:57:51,899
Animals, rocks, the landscape,
stones, of buildings.

632
00:57:52,067 --> 00:57:53,625
It's amazing really.

633
00:57:54,036 --> 00:57:57,836
And I find it very,
very - a very convincing view.

634
00:57:58,040 --> 00:58:00,975
In the west, arrogantly,
we see souls only dwelling in humans.

635
00:58:01,143 --> 00:58:03,338
This can't be right, can it?

636
00:58:05,747 --> 00:58:08,648
These stones are given huge human faces.

637
00:58:08,817 --> 00:58:11,047
What's it saying?
Of course it's saying the same thing.

638
00:58:11,220 --> 00:58:13,381
The stones, the buildings are alive.

639
00:58:13,555 --> 00:58:15,989
As one looks one knows it's true,

640
00:58:16,191 --> 00:58:20,855
because the building has such
a personality such a presence.

641
00:58:21,029 --> 00:58:22,929
The presence of a living thing.

