Angkor Thom

Well, it's about three months since I got back, and I suppose it's about time to finish up this blog! Here's a re-cap of the last week in Cambodia!

We took a trip to Angkor Thom, a city built to the northwest of Angkor Wat. It is the last capital city of the great Angkor empire before it mysteriously collapsed; scientists still debate the reasons.  What's so interesting about this site is the temple called Bayon, which was designed with extremely large faces of a character. Archeologists debate whether it is Buddha's face, or if it's the Bodisattva ("enlightened one") king who built the temples. This temple is cool because it marks the transition between the Hindu and the Buddhist state -- Jaivarman II built the complex during the 12th century and it is believed that he was responsible for officially changing the state religion to Buddhism due to political pressures from other states. Angkor Thom really blends the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. We walked all around the park, which was nice and cool because of all the forest growth (finally -- a break from the heat. Now that I'm home and I've just made it through one more North Country winter, I'm wishing I was back in the heat!!)

Here are some pictures from our trip!

The North Gate into the city

Tim and I in front of Bayon (I never forget my kroma!)

  

 Here's Tim pretending to be the linga.... the whole temple has hundreds of these linga sites. Most of the vertical pieces have been stolen or looted over the centuries. Bayon was so fun to climb around because there are a bunch of different levels, tunnels, and staircases. Quite an adventure!

Faces in the stone to the left, and apsara dancers to the right. I was supposed to pay $1 for the picture but I snuck away before they caught me!

Here I am with the Bodhisattva!

The wall around the city, lined with elephants whose trunks support the wall

Elephants!

Extremely intricate carvings that line the wall for almost a kilometer! Absolutely stunning

It was a beautiful day as we walked through the forest. It was nice and quiet because there weren't too many tourists outside of Bayon. As usual, we were completely exhausted by noon! We spent the rest of the day hanging around town and in the markets. Another great day!