After a long day of sightseeing, I laid down on a grassy patch under the shade of a group of tall palm trees. Looking up, I saw the most beautiful sight. A rainbow unlike any other rainbow I had ever seen floated above me. Instead of diverging to melding with the earth, its colorful beams reconnected, forming a halo over the crest of the palm grove.
I would like to introduce you all to Tetrameles nudiflora, a type of beautiful deciduous tree (a tree that loses its leaves) that calls southern Asia its home. I was fortunate to meet a few of these lovely trees while walking through Angkor, a sprawling complex comprised of ancient Khmer architecture. These massive trees seem to have slowly ambled their way over hundreds of years into the ancient compound, stepping over ancient walls on gargantuan silver elephant leg trunks. Instead of squashing the architecture with their massive limbs, their trunks embrace the compound, enhancing Angkor Wat’s beauty and mystique. Have you seen nature incorporated into architecture? If so, what did it look like? How did the building and the flora (plants) “get along?”
The official language of Cambodia is Khmer, also referred to as Cambodian. However, many other languages are currently spoken in Cambodia today. Many regional villages use local languages to communicate. Use of the English language is growing in Cambodia as the country becomes increasingly globalized (situated in the global community). Do you speak another language?
