It was our second day in Siem Reap. On the previous day we had covered the Banteay Srei and Banteay Samre temples. And now it was time to explore more of the main temples. Based on the advice of our tour guide, we decided to cover the temples around Angkor Thom in the first half.

Angkor Thom was the last capital city of the Khmer Empire. It is said to cover an area of 9 sq. kms. In this are contained several monuments. We entered the complex from the South Gate. For this we had to cross over a bridge of gods and demons. And each side is a body of a seven-headed naga (snake). And as we passed through the gate, we got some interesting lighting and cloud formations above it. Here are some pictures from this gate.

I had seen/read about the “faces” adorning the structures in Cambodia. This was the first time I had actually got to see it. Did you notice them in the above pictures of the South Gate? No? Here is a closer view of it:

They must have been stunning in its original state.

Next we went to the Bayon temple. The temple is located in the middle of the erstwhile capital city. This temple has many smiling stone faces of Buddha on the towers of the temple. Here are some pictures from there.

Next was the visit to the Baphuon. This was a hindu temple that was originally dedicated to Shiva. it was later converted to a Buddhist temple. Visiting the temple required us to climb of a some steps to reach one level and then another set of stairs to reach the upper level. Here are some pictures:

This was followed by the walk to the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King.

Almost all these temples and monuments were close by. So it was just walking from one to another through some nice tree covered paths. It was a lovely way to do so.

Video

Here is a short video to give a better understanding of the place. Check it out

The next main temple was to be the magnificent Ta Prohm, a temple that the jungle had taken over for a long time. Well, that is going to require a dedicated blog post. It is going to be the next one.