Angkor Thom & Bayon

Angkor Thom was the world's largest city in the 12th century.  At the city's height it may have supported a population of one million people in the surrounding region.  It is enclosed by a square wall (jayagiri) 8 m high and 12 km in length and is encircled by a 100 m wide moat (jayasindhu.)  It is suppose to emulate Mt. Meru surrounded by the oceans. 

This is the Victory Gate of Angkor Thom.  The road is flanked by a representation of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk - 54 demons and 54 gods in an epic tug of war.

Stan found an interesting use for his bandana - a carrier for Ayla.

The bas-reliefs include 1.2 km of carvings depicting more than 11,000 figures.  The carvings on the outer wall of the irst level show vivid scenes of everyday life in 12th century Cambodia.  Our guide explained what stories many of them were telling.  At some point I may come back to this post and explain the ones I have chosen here. 

The guidebook states, "At Bayon there are 54 Gothic-style towers decorated with 216 coldly smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara that bear more than a passing resemblance to the great king, Jayavarman VII.  These huge heads glare down from every angle, exuding power and control with a hint of humanity - this was precisely the blend required to hold sway over such a vast empire, ensuring the desperate and far-flung population yielded to his magnanimous will."

It started to rain so everyone at the temple took refuge in any corridors they could find.

We decided there was too much to see and we didn't mind getting wet in the rain so we headed to our next site.  Solin, our guide, ran to get the van on the other side of the temple.  We waited patiently under a tree, or in Mike's case under a hat.