Sacred Wonders

Episode 1

Angkor, Cambodia

Cleaning plants from Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious complexes, is a never-ending form of devotion, fulfilling for whole Buddhist families, while millions flock there, mainly just to admire. Javier is one of 264 throne carrier for Malaga's Virgen de Esperanza, a massive load of gold and gilded wood carried through he city annually, as part of the Spanish Passion season during Lent. Modern Indian Patel volunteers building sweets displays in London's Classical Hindu temple, part of the mountain of food offering for the new year. In thrice-holy City Jeruzalem, Palestinian paramedic volunteers' devotion takes the form of evacuating people fainted or wounded in the pushing, sneaking and sometimes fighting around the Dome of the Rock mosque on Temple Mountain. In the original Shao-lin temple monastery, in mountainous Dengfeng (Henan), aspirant monks train for years to earn admission in a ruthless exam in both kungfu and reciting Buddhist mantras.