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[ Thunder rumbling, suspenseful music plays ]

GATES: Oh, my God!

That was like some power of God [bleep]

Oh, my God.

Look at this!

I recently read a report

about the discovery of a lost city

deep in the jungles of Cambodia,

and I jumped at the chance to investigate.

I want to tell you a story

that begins over a thousand years ago.

It's 802 A.D. in Southeast Asia,

and a mysterious ruler named Jayavarman II

appears on the scene.

Inscriptions say he founded a city in the mountains,

where he conducted a strange ritual.

Supposedly, a mystical priest used spells and powerful magic

to give a sacred stone artifact, known as a linga,

the divine powers of the Hindu god Shiva.

The king or anyone else who controlled the stone

would have the ability to incinerate his enemies.

You remember the Sankara Stones

from "Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom"?

Yep. Those were lingas.

And I think we all remember how that turned out.

[ Thunder crashes, woman screams ]

So, it all sounds crazy, right?

But here's the thing --

This ritual might just have worked.

Because the so-called god-king

succeeded in kick-starting a dynasty that went on to become

one of the most advanced civilizations

in the ancient world.

Oh, and his lost city?

It just got found.

Using high-tech laser scanners known as lidar,

archaeologists have stripped back the jungle

and pinpointed the ruins.

So I'm setting off for Southeast Asia

to see the lost city for myself.

My ultimate goal --

immersing myself in Cambodia's past

to discover if the legend of the linga is real.

More importantly, could it hold a potentially lethal power?

[ Birds squawking ]

My name is Josh Gates.

With a degree in archaeology and a passion for exploration,

I have a tendency to end up in some very strange situations.

There has got to be a better way to make a living.

My travels have taken me to the ends of the Earth

as I investigate the greatest legends in history.

We're good to fly. Let's go.

This is...

Early afternoon in the city of Phnom Penh.

Shouldering the banks of the mighty Mekong River,

it is a confusing and beautiful assault on the senses.

I'm here to begin my journey to reach the lost city,

but with a few hours to kill before meeting my first contact,

I've got time to soak up the capital.

Southeast Asian markets are kind of a one-stop shop for anything.

We got fruit, we got flowers, we got religious offerings,

dodgy stacks of foreign currency --

You name it.

The seafood couldn't get any fresher.

Pick them up?

Like, what are those?

Whoa!

Tried to escape.

[ Laughs ]

But the appetizers here can be a challenge.

What in the holy hell is this thing?

I mean, this is from another planet.

A water cockroach --

Of course, delicious in the hot afternoon sun.

A lot of protein.

Lot of protein in this.

[ Woman laughs ]

And if the city doesn't overwhelm you,

there's always the heat.

Let's talk about the temperature for a second.

I wish there was a way for me to communicate this.

Picture being inside a wood-burning oven

that is inside a volcano

that is on the surface of the sun.

That's roughly where we're at right now

in terms of temperature.

It's warm.

There have been many landlords here,

and most did little to impress their tenants.

In the past 100 years alone, this has been French Indochina,

a Japanese-occupied territory,

and a kingdom torn apart by civil war.

In the middle of town sits Tuol Svay Pray High School,

which was turned into a detention center

during the country's darkest chapter.

From 1975 to 1979,

Cambodia fell under the thumb of the Khmer Rouge,

a radical communist party

that longed to return to the glory of the Khmer empire

and to exercise their own godlike powers.

They tried, in a sense, to turn back time

by emptying the cities and forcing the population

into primitive agricultural slavery.

The sick, the educated -- Anyone who spoke out was killed.

When it was all over,

more than two million people died in the Cambodian genocide.

Today they stare back at visitors

in a stunned, collective silence.

A lot of these people knew, when the photo was taken,

that they were gonna be executed.

This young kid, they got a chain around his neck,

and he's about to be killed.

Apologies.

Some things are just too insane to make sense of.

[ Birds chirping ]

But against the odds,

hope has proved irrepressible in Cambodia,

and today life goes on.

[ Speaking Cambodian ]

What are these guys?

BOY: For good luck.

I need some good luck.

Cambodia's tarnished capital

is, today, in the midst of a rebirth.

You ready for this?

Yeah.

Here we go.

[ Pleasant music plays ]

Everywhere you look, life is returning to normal.

This I can get used to, seriously.

RAY: Sure.

Cheers.

My first mission is to sit down with my old friend Nick Ray,

one of the first journalists to jump on the story

of the lost city whose name I can barely pronounce.

It's called Mahendraparvata.

Mahendraparvata.

Exactly.

And basically, using this new technology called lidar,

this sort of military-grade high technology

that can pierce through the earth and the jungle canopy,

they suddenly found out that this was a much bigger city,

a vast, vast complex up on this jungle plateau.

It's the birthplace of the Khmer Empire.

It's where, in 802, Jayavarman II,

he invoked the power of the Hindu god Shiva.

So, how does one become a god-king.

What's the move?

He takes a linga.

Linga in Hinduism is a phallic symbol.

And this holy priest uses these magic rituals

to bring this power of Shiva down into this object,

which is then put into a yoni, or a female fertility symbol.

And this gives Jayavarman II the power of Shiva on Earth

to make him the most powerful king

Southeast Asia had ever seen.

Is there a lot of local lore and legend

about the mountain itself?

Definitely so.

There's certainly belief

that there could be the ghost of the god-king himself.

It's a place of real, real mystery.

From here, the ruins are 200 miles away.

Nick suggests I travel from Phnom Penh by 4x4

through the city of Battambang

and then to the ancient capital of Siem Reap,

which is just 30 miles from the dig site.

Once you're in Siem Reap,

you're okay to go up by dirt bike or four-wheel drive

to get to the main part of the mountain,

but then your problems start.

The roads are gonna be a big issue because --

Well, there aren't any roads.

[ Laughs ]

And then there's the land mines.

Why is it so mined?

Because the Khmer Rouge, when they were overthrown,

pretty much from '79 until the late 1990s,

they hid up there,

and to defend it against the government,

they planted mines everywhere.

And how much of that mountain do you think has been cleared?

None of them have been demined.

Do not stray from the path.

Josh, you want me to give you a top-off?

Oh, yeah. I'll tell you one thing --

I'm never gonna find this lost city

if we keep drinking.

[ Chuckles ]

[ Insects calling ]

By the light of a new day, I'm leaving Phnom Penh

and following Nick's directions to the north.

So, it should be about an eight-hour drive

up to Siem Reap through the city of Battambang.

In Battambang, I plan to meet with an expert

who knows more about the legendary power of the linga.

Driving here is not for the faint of heart,

as lanes are merely suggestions,

and other drivers crowd the road with slightly oversized loads.

But beyond the grip of the city, the traffic thins,

and my Cambodian road trip is finally getting underway.

It's a bit like driving in a time machine.

With each passing mile,

the trappings of the modern world fade

and give way to a landscape and ways of life

that haven't changed much in the last thousand years.

♪ I traveled far away ♪

♪ To places I've not been before ♪

Soon as you get outside of the cities,

it all just drops away --

tons of rice paddies, lot of agriculture, very rural.

Nearly six hours into the drive, however, it's back to reality.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Well, I was making really good time.

And now I am driving in a field.

Okay, this is not good.

With the construction backed up for miles and no other road,

I'm going to have to find another way

to get to Battambang.

Next.

Luckily, there's a train here --

sort of.

All aboard the bamboo railroad.

A bullet train it is not, but it gets the job done.

When the French abandoned their stake in Cambodia in 1953,

they took their trains, but left behind the tracks.

Is there a bathroom on this?

No.

So the enterprising locals made their own locomotives,

also known as a creaking wooden platform

powered by a rubber belt and an outboard motor.

The tracks are barely aligned,

and the bridges aren't exactly up to code.

Dodgy bride.

Generally, the whole thing feels like an open-air deathtrap,

which is to say it's pretty [bleep] awesome.

For me?

Oh, thank you very much.

Yes, I look like a middle-aged woman

on an "Eat, Pray, Love" tour,

but considering the 115-degree heat,

I'm cool with that.

The bamboo railroad is an ingenious system.

That is, until you realize that these tracks are used

to travel in both directions.

Uh-oh.

We're gonna die.

GATES: I'm crossing Cambodia

to reach a lost city deep in the jungle.

I was headed to interview an expert

who I hope can give me more information

on the supernatural artifact

that could be hiding in the ruins

when, suddenly, I encounter an oncoming train.

Uh-oh.

We're gonna die.

[ Brakes squeak ]

Hi.

One, two, three, four, five, six

versus one, two, three, four, five.

Okay, we lose.

Standoffs along the bamboo railroad

are solved without argument.

The arbiter? Simple math.

The train with more passengers wins.

Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi.

And the losers have to disassemble their locomotive

and move the whole contraption further down the line.

[ Straining ] Okay.

Good?

Okay, we're back.

All aboard.

Next stop Battambang!

After several more kilometers of ass-busting travel,

we sputter our way into Battambang.

Though the rail yards here have seen better days,

this is, in many ways,

the heart and soul of the country.

It is a patchwork quilt of history --

remnants of war, signs of peace.

Just another confusing day in Cambodia.

[ Chicken clucking ]

I have a few hours

before my meeting with an antiquities expert,

so I hike up to the edge of a remote mountain

for a glimpse of something magical.

Every night at sunset, about a million bats

supposedly shoot out of this cave,

going out to feed for the night.

This should be quite a show.

[ Bats chittering ]

[ Dramatic music plays ]

As the sun sets, I sit down with the expert

who has insider information about the lost city.

He has agreed to be interviewed only if we hide his identity,

since the ruins could be targeted by tomb raiders --

not the hot girl from the video game,

but actual real-life tomb raiders.

So, if I want to buy a relic,

I want to buy a small sandstone statue from a dig,

how much do you think?

Wow.

Yeah.

And so, what about this lost city?

Is this a place that looters are targeting.

Yes.

What do they hope to find there?

Mm-hmm.

Do the looters know where the dig site is yet?

You think they do know?

Yeah.

Early the next morning,

I'm renewing my efforts to reach Siem Reap,

the gateway to the lost city.

I've taken the bamboo railroad to its last stop,

so I'm switching to Cambodia's original highway system.

It's a six-hour steam from Battambang to Siem Reap,

with my route taking me across the great Tonle Sap Lake.

It was once the lifeblood of the ancient Khmer Empire,

and for countless modern Cambodians, it still is.

So, this is the floating village.

You've got 5,000, 10,000 people living out here

in hundreds of these floating homes.

It's basically a totally self-sufficient ecosystem.

They've got markets, gas stations,

restaurants, schools, churches -- You name it.

Pretty amazing.

It even has its own version of a 7-Eleven.

Hey, I want something to drink.

Do you have beer?

MAN: One dollar.

One.

I mean, you know...

I could get used to this.

[ Birds chirping ]

New day, new city.

I finally made it to the edge of Siem Reap,

but now I have to face

the biggest threat to my journey -- land mines.

I'm at the nearby Cambodian Landmine Museum

to meet with Aki Ra, one of the world's foremost authorities

on their disposal.

Aki Ra.

Hi.

Hello.

Hey, hello.

Nice to see you.

Nice to see you, too.

Thank you very much for talking with me.

I appreciate it.

Yeah.

How long have you been clearing land mines?

How many land mines are left in Cambodia?

Four or five million?

Yeah.

Active land mines?

Yeah.

And how old were you when you became Khmer Rouge?

Aki Ra was recruited as a child soldier

after the Khmer Rouge murdered both of his parents.

Under their command,

he personally laid thousands of mines.

Now he's on a mission of redemption,

personally removing every explosive he can find.

How many do you think that you've cleared?

And will you show me how to spot them?

Will it be safe?

Aki Ra agrees to teach me how to avoid mines

by taking me along for a firsthand look

at the terrifying reality

that all Cambodians have to live with.

This is not a good sign.

This minefield was discovered right next to a village

and has not been fully cleared.

What is this gonna do?

The protective suits

aren't exactly out of "The Hurt Locker."

Great.

[ Animals calling ]

Not safe, not safe, safe.

[ Speaking Cambodian ]

GATES: Did he find something?

Yeah, here.

He found a mine?

Yeah.

This is about three feet from where I'd been walking

not five minutes ago.

So, he's just found a land mine back there.

He's gonna reveal it a little bit,

and then they're gonna get ready to detonate it.

GATES: If you stepped on that, it would take off your leg.

RA: Yeah.

Are there any other things I should avoid,

places I should not go?

With leaf cover, uh-huh.

Yeah.

And what else?

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

So anywhere there's a tree, right there is pretty safe.

Yeah.

Okay.

Having spent some time learning critical skills

on where to step in these booby-trapped jungles,

it's time to detonate this mine from a safe distance.

The mine is transported by hand to a safe detonation place,

which seems...insane.

And so now what happens? You're gonna blow it up here?

Yeah, destroy it here.

Sounds...

sketchy.

Let's do it.

Think you have a tough job?

This is a dangerous job.

Uh-huh.

...will come like this.

Get this in place?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You have to close your neck

because a lot of fragment come, yeah.

Okay, so this goes up here, yes?

Okay, and then straight on, you do.

Got it.

Okay, the device is armed.

Stand by.

RA: Stand by!

And...

firing now!

GATES: While investigating an active minefield in Cambodia,

a powerful explosive has been discovered just a few feet away.

Disposing of these mines requires moving them by hand

before rigging them with a detonator.

Stand by.

And...

firing now!

[ Detonator beeps ]

Whew.

Unbelievable.

30-foot-by-60-foot explosion

just from this one little device.

One more down, four or five million to go.

Thank you, Aki Ra.

Thank you.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

After seeing what one mine is capable of,

I'm heading into the city of Siem Reap

with a new appreciation for the dangers beneath my feet.

Legend says that, on a nearby mountain,

King Jayavarman II used powerful magic,

placing a sacred stone relic known as a linga

into a pedestal called a yoni,

allowing him to tap into the power of the gods.

And down here in Siem Reap,

there is compelling evidence of that power.

This town was little more than a provincial outpost

when French explorers pushed through the dense jungles

in the 19th century on a mission to rediscover lost temples.

What they found was far beyond anything they could've imagined.

Nearly 50 years after taking power,

Jayavarman II passed away,

his city swallowed by the jungle.

But the empire he started only grew.

Future kings moved down the mountain

and used the same magic and rituals,

and what they built here

does seem beyond the ability of mortal men.

From the overgrown ruins of Ta Prohm

to the majestic stone gates of Angkor Thom,

each king attempted to outdo his predecessor

on a scale that's almost unimaginable.

One god-king constructs a sandstone temple,

another installs a 2,000-foot-long royal bathtub.

One even plastered 216 massive carvings of his own face

on the soaring Bayon Temple.

And at the center of it all sits Angkor Wat,

the largest religious structure in the world.

A 600-foot-wide hand-dug moat

kept back the cloying vines of the jungle,

preserving the mother of all temples.

It is quite literally heaven on earth,

a representation of the home of the Hindu gods

and, of course, the king.

John Miksic is an expert on the Khmer Empire

and knows the exact coordinates of the ruins,

but I also want his opinion on the linga

before risking my life on a wild-goose chase.

Tell me about Phnom Kulen, the holy mountain.

This is where Jayavarman II became a god-king?

Yes.

For hundreds of years thereafter,

they always refer to that ritual.

Makes it a pretty potent object, I would assume.

That's right.

It could instantly turn you into ashes.

So, what do you think happened to Jayavarman II's linga?

What do you think happened to this potent image of Shiva?

Could it still be up there in the jungle?

It could well be.

I would not put it out of the range of possibility.

It's only now being cleared off.

Anxious to reach the remote dig site,

I decide to take a direct route to the mountain.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

John agrees to drop me off

as close as possible to the lost city.

Our flight plan will take us 30 miles north of Siem Reap

to a remote village on the mountain.

From there, I'll use John's coordinates

to reach the dig site by motorbike.

In terms of these dig sites,

what are they actively digging up right now?

That's incredible.

Soaring high above the jungles,

the country seems to unfold like an endless green map.

And soon, the ground rises up as we approach our destination.

There it is?

There's Phnom Kulen,

the holy mountain.

So it's still heavily forested, still land mines.

Beautiful.

Okay, I can see a nice place to put us down.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

GATES: I'm on my way to find a lost Cambodian city

that's rumored to hold a mystical and powerful artifact

that has the power to turn men into gods.

The pilot descends onto a clearing in a mountain village.

John has given me the coordinates

to find the lost city

and has dropped me as close as possible to the dig site.

I've finally reached the holy mountain of the god-king.

Granted, it wasn't my most subtle entrance.

Sues-day.

Sues-day, sues-day.

Whole village turned out.

[ Indistinct shouting ]

Now it gets really hard.

This is the village of Preah Ang Thom.

It's the absolute end of the line for most

since it's impossible to drive a 4x4

any deeper into the interior.

It's also home to a mystical temple

where visitors come to stock up on spiritual protection

for the journey ahead.

[ Gong crashes ]

Whew!

It's hot, and that's a lot of stairs.

Okay.

[ Mystical music plays, monks chanting in Cambodian ]

Amidst the smoke, the monks,

and their religious relics is this...

[ Chanting in Cambodian ]

...a stone linga-and-yoni pedestal,

and they're still being used in sacred rituals.

This is essentially a modern version

of what has evolved from the original ceremony

that Jayavarman II did in 802 A.D.

[ Birds chirping ]

A Hindu priest blesses supplicants with water,

which is made holy by flowing around the linga...

[ Thunder rumbling ]

...and through the yoni.

And while I'm not sure this particular rock

is going to turn me into a god-king,

considering I'm about to go into a deadly jungle,

I'll take all the help I can get.

At a bare minimum,

it's the first shower I've had in three days.

[ Both speaking Cambodian ]

I head back into the village

for the most challenging part of my trip.

To reach the archaeologists at the dig site,

I'll have to navigate through a heavily land-mined jungle.

To do that, I need some wheels.

I need a bike. I need a motorcycle for rent.

Okay, you can...

I can rent? Yeah?

This one comes with half a bottle of water,

which is good, and this one has a sweet basket.

This guy looks pretty beat up. I don't want this.

What about that bike?

And then I saw her,

the marginally least-crappy bike in the fleet.

This -- You're hiding the good bike.

This is the good one, yeah?

This is number one.

Right. Number one.

Okay, I'll take this one.

A momentary pit stop

in the rural Cambodian version of a gas station

for a quick fill-up.

Give me the high-octane. Give me the Fanta.

That's the high-test stuff, right?

Cambodian gas station fuel is in an old soda bottle.

Feels like there's a little bit of potential

for some dangerous confusion there, but, hey, it works.

And then it's time to head into the unknown.

[ Engine revving ]

My goal is close at hand,

to be one of the first outsiders to document the lost city

and look for evidence

that the story of Jayavarman's ceremony

is more than just a myth.

Lost city, here I come.

On either side of these narrow trails,

the mountain is littered with deadly explosives,

and staying upright is something of a challenge.

This is some [bleep] road.

Whoa! I almost went down there.

Ohh!

Can somebody get a machete back here, please?

After a punishing ride,

I spot a clearing and pull the bike over.

What I see next takes my breath away.

Look at this!

I have finally reached the edge

of the lost city of Mahendraparvata.

No tourists, no people.

If you want to talk about real discovery, real adventure,

this is it.

There's nobody up here. Nobody comes up here.

These stone temples are a thousand years old

and were first spotted by French archaeologists

in the 1930s.

Amazing.

However, the full extent of the ruins remained elusive

until just recently.

Unbelievable. Look at that.

So cool.

Nearby, there's more evidence

that I'm headed toward the heart of the lost city.

So, at one time, this was a road

that would've gone all the way down to the valley below,

down to where Angkor Wat is today.

And people would've made a pilgrimage up here

to the holy mountain.

And they've carved

these incredible stone animals up here.

Over the hill, I discover something else -- people.

Here, far from the outside world,

an army of excavators is living and working

deep in the jungle to reveal a city buried for centuries.

With the threat of looters,

few outsiders are allowed to see the site,

and I'm lucky that John called ahead

and secured permission.

Hey.

You Chen?

Welcome.

You must be Josh.

GATES: Nice to meet you.

Yes, nice to meet you.

That is my good friend Darif.

Nice to meet you.

Yeah.

Let's start with this.

Why did you choose to hone in on this area?

So you think that this area we're in now

was part of Jayavarman II's royal enclosure.

SIAN: To the best of our knowledge,

to the best of our information that we have today,

we believe that this is the site.

Tell me a little bit about what the lidar showed up here.

Oh, okay.

Right.

Lidar works by firing bursts of lasers from above.

The beams allow archaeologists

to virtually strip back the jungle canopy

and see not only ruins, but objects hidden underground.

In this case,

the lidar revealed the lost city of Mahendraparvata --

a huge network of roads, structures, and habitations.

All of this was jungle over here,

and it just stripped away,

and you can just see a perfect outline of the site.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

What would you like to find up here?

Isn't it?

Perhaps you find Jayavarman II's linga.

That'd be great.

Just up the trail was Jean-Baptiste Chevance,

the leading archaeologist at the lost city...

Are you J.B.?

...who showed me another major find.

So, you see this block here?

Yes.

It's a laterad block.

Uh-huh.

This is typical of archaeological features.

So you started with just this?

Yeah.

Yeah, show me.

Before the lidar, J.B. spent years up here

excavating individual pieces of the city.

This one stone was a clue that something was nearby.

But it took the lidar to reveal that this may have been

the edge of a massive monastery.

These stone walls and delicate roof tiles

haven't been seen by anyone for a millennium.

And it turns because it continues on this way?

Well, that's just the west -- the east --

Whoa! Scorpion!

[ Scorpion hissing ]

GATES: My long journey to find the lost city of the god-king

has brought me deep into the jungles of Cambodia.

I found spectacular ruins of the city,

as well as the archaeologists

who are revealing it brick by brick.

I'm also learning that this is a place brimming with danger.

Whoa! Scorpion!

Back up! Back up, back up, back up, back up!

[ Scorpion hissing ]

J.B., I just saved your life.

Thanks. Thanks, man.

[ Chuckles ]

You get a lot of these here?

Yeah, yeah.

He looks pissed off, too.

And then how do you get them out of there?

You're Pich?

Yeah.

He just said that you were crazy.

Half crazy?

CHEVANCE: Completely crazy.

What's up?

[Bleep]

No, I don't want it.

[ Scorpion hissing ]

Pich!

You are legitimately an insane person.

You need to be evaluated professionally.

You really do have a crazy assistant.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The trenches that I'd seen were amazing,

but neither seem to be the right fit

for Jayavarman's ceremony site.

To connect with the gods,

he probably used the top of the mountain.

So that's where I needed to get to.

[ Thunder rumbles ]

With night falling and a storm on the horizon,

I was about to pack it in

when I received a surprising offer.

Like a secret place?

A new place?

This is what I came for.

Pich has agreed to take me to a location

that archaeologists are only just beginning to explore.

And we can get there in the dark?

Very bad?

Let's go for it. Come on.

Let's go. Lead the way.

All right.

I'm behind you.

[ Thunder crashes ]

With night upon us and a thunderstorm on the horizon,

this could be a huge mistake.

But Pich drives on,

leading me to an area that is seldom seen by outsiders.

Here?

We're here.

[ Engines shuts off ]

We're near the top of the mountain.

This is ground zero for the legend of Jayavarman.

Could this be the spot where he conducted his mystical ceremony?

[ Thunder crashes ]

With a storm fast approaching,

we immediately begin to search for evidence.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up, back up.

back up, back up.

Snake, snake, snake, snake, snake.

[ Snake hissing ]

Green snake?

It's poisonous, yeah?

Deadly poisonous?

Yeah, deadly poison.

That bites us, what happens?

You may be crazy, but you got a good eye.

[ Laughs ]

Holy [bleep]

Look at this.

Big overhang, yeah?

[ Rain pattering ]

Oh, my God.

Look at this.

Oh, my God.

These carvings look to be about 1,200 years old

and are beautifully preserved.

This is an incredible find and has been seen by few outsiders.

And the inscriptions indicate

that this site was likely used for rituals.

[ Thunder rumbles ]

Look at this.

Pich.

This is the world's worst bridge.

It looks very safe.

Pich, I've seen a lot of bad bridges before.

This may be the worst.

The worst one ever.

[ Bridge creaks ]

Pich, I've seen a lot of bad bridges before.

This may be the worst.

The worst one ever.

[ Bridge creaks ]

Oh, my God.

Okay, I'm across.

Are you coming over?

I weigh twice as much as you.

If it didn't collapse for me, you should be fine.

[ Thunder rumbles ]

Oh, look at this!

Huge yoni.

GATES: Pich has led us to a perfectly preserved stone yoni.

Look at the size of this thing.

Yeah.

It's just like the one I saw at the temple in Preah Ang Thom

except 1,200 years old.

This ancient sandstone vessel once held a linga.

Though the relic is missing,

the yoni is further evidence that this mountain

was once the site of mystical ceremonies

and could even have been the location

where Jayavarman became a living god.

I've seen more than enough to convince me

that Jayavarman's ceremony actually took place,

though his magic is still a mystery.

We decide to push on,

and ominously, the weather pushes back.

Even I'm starting to get wrapped up

in the legend of the god-king.

Locals think this whole mountain is basically haunted.

They say that the spirit of Jayavarman is up here.

I have to say, with the rain and the thunder and the lightning,

it's -- It is a very freaky place.

[ Thunder crashes ]

It looks like old footholds?

Old steps.

Yeah.

[ Rain pattering ]

[ Thunder crashes ]

That was the craziest bolt of lightning I have ever seen.

That was like some power of God [bleep]

[ Thunder crashes ]

Finally the lightning strikes and thunderclaps

feel like they're right on top of us.

[ Thunder crashes ]

We quickly head back to the bikes

to end our investigation and escape the storm.

[ Thunder crashes ]

Come on.

Come on.

Unfortunately, the rain has turned the trails to mud,

and it is now dangerous going on the mountain.

We make it down as far as the village,

but with the rain coming down in sheets,

we take shelter in Pich's jungle home.

So, we're about halfway down the mountain.

Yes.

Now what?

Beer time. Yeah.

Okay, let's take a load off.

I can reassess my life decisions at this point.

Though my drinking companions

are mostly former Khmer Rouge soldiers

and one crazy local guide,

I am happy to have a roof over my head

and a bit of light in an otherwise imposing jungle.

Pich, is this light on a generator?

Is all the power on a generator?

What time does it go off?

[ Thunder crashes ]

[ Birds chirping ]

By the light of a new day,

I head down the mountain and back towards civilization.

There's obviously more to be found here,

but it will take years to fully excavate the city.

I got to get some coffee.

History tells us that the quest for absolute power

is a dangerous desire.

For the god-kings of the Khmer empire,

the power of the linga,

or at least the perception of that power,

allowed them to build artistic achievements without equal.

For the Khmer Rouge, absolute power gave rise

to the very darkest and most deadly aspects of human nature.

In truth, this country has always been a puzzle to me,

not because of the history,

but because of the people who keep picking themselves up

and dusting themselves off.

They have adapted.

They have endured.

And they are, despite everything,

filled with hope for the future.

The story of Cambodia is still being written

from both ends of the book.

At this very moment, on a heavily land-mined mountain,

daring archaeologists are discovering

the very first chapter.

We now know that the story of Jayavarman is more than a myth.

His city has been revealed by 21st century technology,

and the jungle is giving up his long-held secrets.

Having found a ceremonial yoni,

there may well be a linga here, too.

But does it wield the fearsome power of the gods?

As archaeologists continue to shift this ancient soil,

new discoveries will be made,

and the lost artifact of power could be next,

waiting just beneath our feet. Subtitles End: mo.dbxdb.com