Visiting the Bayon Temple

The Siem Reap Trip Series

The Making of our DIY Family Trip to Siem Reap-HCMC
Trip to Siem Reap
First Glimpse of Angkor and the South Gate of Angkor Thom

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27-December-2011, Tuesday.

Angkor Thom, literally translated as ‘big city’ or ‘great city’, is the capital city of the Khmer Empire during the reign of Jayavarman VII.

From the South Gate of Angkor Thom, we drove on to the next temple. From the road, we saw what seemed to be a majestic stone mountain.

The Bayon Temple.

Heang said it was the Bayon Temple, the state temple of Jayavarman VII. He told us there were originally 54 peaks on the Bayon, now there are only 37. If there’s one thing I regret not doing before this trip, it is me not reading more about the Angkor temples. I only knew Bayon as the temple with a lot of face towers. I didn’t know it has a number of important bas reliefs, which I unfortunately didn’t find and take pictures of during our trip!

The good thing about this, though, is that I now have one reason to go back to Angkor.

Bayon face towers.

Smiling face. Bayon.

Reclining Buddha. Bayon.

Going inside the Bayon Temple.

Dancing apsaras carved on one of the pillars in Bayon.

Side view of one of the galleries in Bayon.

What remains of what was once, probably, a hallway. Bayon.

One advise. Read before you visit. The bas reliefs, as I’ve seen from the book I bought after my visit, are amazing.

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