Monday, February 16, 2015

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?

Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 2 - Breakfast
#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.

Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 2 - Angkor Thom South Gate 01
#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 

Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 2 - Angkor Thom South Gate 02
#3: South Gate Tower crowned with four giant faces

Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 2 - Angkor Thom South Gate 03
#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.

Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 2 - Bayon Temple 01
#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.

2013 Cambodia, Siem Reap 01
#6: A group photo is a must before we officially went and venture the temple 

DSC_4772
#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.

Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 2 - Royal Palace of Angkor Thom
#9: Phimeanakas Temple 

Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 2 - Phimeanakas Temple
#10: The view from the top of Phimeanakas Temple

Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 2 - Temple in Angkor Thom
#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.

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

To be continued...

11 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. All so beautiful! I always find their temple so fascinating!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Diana Teo.. quit long did't show up here hehehee..
    Cambodia.. a place that i need to repeat again.. my first time experience just so little..
    By the way nice picture :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's nostalgic! It has been more than 10 years ago when I went (I went to 2004)... there weren't any elephant rides at that time!
    Nice photos as always :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ur pictures all so nice. I visited Angkor Wat complex last few weeks so reading post related to that country makes me excited.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Replies
    1. Publish comment too fast until forget to wish you. Haha... Diana, Happy Chinese New Year!!

      Delete
  7. What a nice guest house that prepared food at 4:00am! I have been hearing that most of their hotels and guest houses prepared delicious meals too. I also had very good and unforgetable breakfasts prepared by their European chefs wearing top hats. They even came out every morning to greet the dining guests! I love it.

    Just to share with you that the #2 are the Protectors of Heavens, similar to our Four Heavenly Kings or "Sei Tai Thin Wong".

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to share what's on your mind & thoughts.
Thanks for the comments and I'm truly appreciate that.
[All comments are moderated. Your comment may not show up immediately. Please do not spam and keep it on topic.]