What the emissary saw

In 1296, the Chinese Emperor Temür Khan despatched a diplomatic mission to Angkor. Zhou Daguan was a member, arriving in August 1296 and leaving the following July. On his return, he wrote a memoir of his visit, a unique eye-witness account of Angkor under the reign of King Indravarman III. Exactly 253 years later, the Portuguese historian Diogo do Couto recorded reports from missionaries of a largely abandoned city overtaken by the jungle and occupied as he reported, by wild beasts. A few decades later, in 1586, the monk Antonio da Magdalena wrote: ‘The city is square, with four principal gates. It is surrounded by a moat, crossed by five bridges. They have on each side a cordon held by