“I don’t know why they think the statues might be real,” Kong Vireak, director of the National Museum of Cambodia, said in the Phnom Penh Post of the five objects in question.

That's an easy one Mr Vireak! .... They're idiots.

The Green Emerald Buddha was taken from Laos. Until this day Thailand has not made it known to the public.

I heard it might actually be jade.

It's actually Jasper

" Jasper, an aggregate of microquartz and/or chalcedony and other mineral phases,^[1][2] is an opaque,^[3] impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue."

Of course they will say: "We are returning to you exactly what we uncovered"...." We are not the people that stole them in the first place "

Nothing more to discuss in their minds.

Cheers

the cry babies have spoken. now go complain about some thing else. that's what your purpose is.

i think THAI VISA, should be The judge and jury for the Thai Government.....get rid of the cronies on top.

Surely it's the thought that counts?

You have to define exactly what they were thinking

These fools are now really screwing up wherever and whatever they can get their hands on.... Do they really think everyone's is as stupid as they think ? Just yet another proofen fact of how arrogant they really are....

Fantastic way of building a relationship with your neighbors

someone went to Chatuchak market before going to Cambodia

The Green Emerald Buddha was taken from Laos. Until this day Thailand has not made it known to the public.

I heard it might actually be jade.

It's actually Jasper

" Jasper, an aggregate of microquartz and/or chalcedony and other mineral phases,^[1][2] is an opaque,^[3] impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue."

So it is really Temple of the Jasper Buddha?

Thanks for returning totally fake 'relics,' Cambodia says

Ahh ! Cambodian sarcasm ! I like it............................

Hmmm . . . . This gives me pause to think that the Thai lady last night was faking it?

Hmmm . . . . Are you sure it was a lady?

I wonder if they can find some Myanmar suspects to take the blame for the switch?

OOPS !!

The Green Emerald Buddha was taken from Laos. Until this day Thailand has not made it known to the public.

Hey you are right. Learn something every day.. Do you think Thailand will

return it ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Buddha

"In 1779, the Thai General Chao Phraya Chakri put down an insurrection, captured Vientiane and looted the Emerald Buddha to Siam, taking it with him to Thonburi. "

Probably at about the same time as the UK returns Gibraltar to Spain or the US returns Guantanamo Bay to Cuba.

This thread sucks

So they kept them for a while, made copies of them, then sent the copies thinking Cambodia are just as dull as them, NO

Surely it's the thought that counts?

You have to define exactly what they were thinking

That something was better than nothing, I guess

"expert relic hunters helped choose the five particular objects"

Are these hunters still in Thailand?

Deja Vu nothing else matters.

Mother Faker!!

All part of the rich tapestry of Thainess.

Did they 'accidentally' return the infamous fake Blue Diamond along with those relics, too?

I wouldn't be surprised if the real statues have found a discreet home with the real blue diamond

Maybe Pongpat Chayaphan didn´t know a lot about art and antique´s and bought a lot of cheap sh*t tinking he made good deals.

trump over spade

The Green Emerald Buddha was taken from Laos. Until this day Thailand has not made it known to the public.

Hey you are right. Learn something every day.. Do you think Thailand will

return it ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Buddha

"In 1779, the Thai General Chao Phraya Chakri put down an insurrection, captured Vientiane and looted the Emerald Buddha to Siam, taking it with him to Thonburi. "

The article you linked to says that it was previously in Chiang Mai before being removed to Laos:

However, it's rightful owners may be the Burmese. Supposedly, it was a gift from Sri Lanka to Burma, but the ship it was on was wrecked in Cambodia (not sure, geographically, how that happens!!), then the Thais swiped it from the Cambodians. Then it ends up in Laos before being seized (again) by the Thais. The Lao claim may not be the strongest...

The Green Emerald Buddha was taken from Laos. Until this day Thailand has not made it known to the public.

I heard it might actually be jade.

Think it is nephrite - therefore neither Jade or emerald.

The Green Emerald Buddha was taken from Laos. Until this day Thailand has not made it known to the public.

Hey you are right. Learn something every day.. Do you think Thailand will

return it ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Buddha

"In 1779, the Thai General Chao Phraya Chakri put down an insurrection, captured Vientiane and looted the Emerald Buddha to Siam, taking it with him to Thonburi. "

If your going to cut and paste at least cut and paste the other relevant part "The Emerald Buddha remained in Chiang Mai until 1552, when it was taken to Luang Prabang, then the capital of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang."

There is a decent amount of history there and before it ever went to Lao it was first in Chiang Mai.

So who's is it really? I don't see England giving up any of their Egyptian treasures or Indian or any treasures that were looted from the colonized countries. So why should anyone else have too?

Looks like it really started off in Cambodia.

"When the Thais captured Angkor Wat in 1432 (following the ravage of the bubonic plague), the Emerald Buddha was taken to Ayutthaya,Kamphaeng Phet, Laos and finally Chiang Rai, where the ruler of the city hid it."

It does appear that the statue went voluntarily to Vientiane, but went back to Thailand

involuntarily.... :-) Hopefully the Cambodians will not ask for it back.

And yes, without doing research , then cut and paste, my understanding was that

England did in fact return some of the antiquities they had looted from Egypt under

international pressure.

Regarding the OP, am still fascinated as to why they were fakes. So either Pongpat

was an idiot, or a switch was done at some point. Thailand of course knew that,

or they would not have done their out of the blue offer to return them if they were

worth millions of dollars. But of course everybody already knows that...

Hmmm . . . . This gives me pause to think that the Thai lady last night was faking it?

More likely a fake lady ?

The Green Emerald Buddha was taken from Laos. Until this day Thailand has not made it known to the public.

Hey you are right. Learn something every day.. Do you think Thailand will

return it ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Buddha

"In 1779, the Thai General Chao Phraya Chakri put down an insurrection, captured Vientiane and looted the Emerald Buddha to Siam, taking it with him to Thonburi. "

Probably at about the same time as the UK returns Gibraltar to Spain or the US returns Guantanamo Bay to Cuba.

Not quite the same as about 95 % of Gibraltans want to remain British, so do you believe in democracy ?

Could it at all be possible that someone switch the real statues for these fake ones.

Repeat of the Saudi jewels, guess they are just too dumb to learn.