Siem Reap, Cambodia (2013) Day 2: Part 2 - Angkor Thom; South Gate & Bayon Temple

NOTE: I can' believe my last entry for my Siem Reap travelogue was in October 2014, it's like five months ago. Now the momentum of blogging is back and hopefully I could blog this finish as soon as possible cause I have plenty of backlog travelogues. 

Date Visited: 2nd March 2013

Once we done with one the top list to do in Siem Reap which was watching the sunrise from Angkor Wat, we had quick breakfast which prepared by the guesthouse before moving on to the destination. They prepared the breakfast as early as 4 am before we eventually went out to from the guest house. How thoughtful they were?

#1: Simple breakfast but enough to satisfy our hungry tummy 

Not far away from the Angkor Wat, we came upon the South Gate of Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom is a walled and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. One of the most well-known and greatest temple, Bayon Temple was built right in the center of the city. There are five gates to the city with four are at the cardinal points and the other one was leading to the Royal Palace area. And because each of these gate is crowned with four giant faces, sometimes I was confused which gate was standing in front of me. Among all the gates, the South Gate is often the first stop on a tour before entering the Angkor Thom. No wonder it was pretty crowded when we were there.

#2: A long causeway leading to each entry tower is flanked by a row of 54 stone figures on each side – demons on the right and gods on the left-to make a total of 108 mythical beings guarding the city of Angkor Thom - Source 

#3: South Gate Tower crowned with four giant faces

#4: Elephants passing through the South Gate tower

Bayon Temple is another iconic and richly decorated Khmer temple in Cambodia, besides Angkor Wat. Honestly to say, I can see that my friends were more impressed with the design of this temple comparing to the latter one. By looking at their impression, I could see that they were completely blew away with the architecture.

#5: Bayon Temple, standing gracefully right in the center city of Angkor Thom 

Can't deny that the most unique feature of Bayon Temple is the incredibly huge and massive stone faces of Buddha on the countless towers. Hence, it is known as Face Temple as well. Similar to the five gates tower, each of the tower of Bayon temple is sculptured with four giant faces - the remarkable architecture.

#6: A group photo is a must before we officially went and venture the temple 

#8: The iconic four giant faces of Buddha [Photo credit to kming]

Bayon Temple is not the only temple within Angkor Thom. There are quite number of temples but if you are in rush, you might just skip them apparently.

#9: Phimeanakas Temple 

#10: The view from the top of Phimeanakas Temple

#11

After spending more than 6 hours visited those amazing and incredible temples, we informed our driver to drive back to our guest house for lunch break for continue to the next pitstop.

#12: It was amazingly scrumptious - just like my mom's cooking! Price wise, they were kinda affordable - ranging US$2-3

To be continued...