Oooh, concentric circles, my Indiana Jones FoA geek-sense is tingling.

Skipweasel, even though it's Thai :)

If this is true it adds more weight to the phrase "tight assed."

No worries, I know the pain Alex :)

Vietnam is not Cambodia...

Elephants seem to be quite popular helpers (willing or not, who knows?) in human torture/execution. Thai prisons of the 17-1800's employed elephants. First the prisoner was placed inside a bamboo ball, which had iron spikes driven through the bamboo. The prisoner was then placed inside the ball, and the elephants and their mahouts engaged in a bit of morbid football. The prisoner rarely,if ever got out of that ball alive.

It may not be "abandoned" in the real sense of the word, maybe "forgotten" might be better. Alot of beautiful old buildings of this architectual style and period were left to The King in wills of the origianl owners or as gifts when they became unused. There are many delapidated yet gorgeous old houses like this dotted around Bangkok (particularly along the river) - I suppose that royal family can't keep up with them all...

It's spelt "Gurn" in my neck of the woods too (Australia that is)

I've been here, and my favourite thing (apart from the glorious tigers themselves) was a prominently placed sign outside the temple entrance that explained the only rule for visitors, "DO NOT WEAR RED."