Siam Reap: Part 2 - Angkor Temples - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Continued from the previous post about our tour to Angkor Site. Since, there were plenty of temples and the history to be told, i split the post into 2. btw, the fee for the tour guide is rather cheap, USD18.

The tuk tuk took us to the next temple, the Angkor Thom area. Also known as the great city.

We started with Bayon Temple. The most well known temple.

Some history about Bayon Temple extracted from Angkorguide

Bayon Temple

• Date: Late 12th century to early 13th century
• Reign of construction: Jayavarman VII (1181-1220)
• Cult: Buddhist Mahayanism
• Art Style: Bayon
• Clearance work: G. Commaille (1911-1913)
• Excavation: G. Trouvé 1933
• Anastylosis: M. Glaize 1939-1946

The Bayon, is the exact centre of the town of Angkor Thom. Having to power after the burning of the capital by a Cham fleet, he rebuilt the city and surrounded it with a strong wall. This rampart constitutes the outer enclosure of the Bayon, it is a wide, provided the earth for the enormous embankment which support it, and makes a boulevard 25m wide, with four little temples at the corners, called "Prasat Chrung": the north-east one which is the best preserved, can be reached after charming walk along the top of the rampart in the thick forest.

view from outside the temple

There were 4 gates of all. So, please remember which gate you used when entered the temple. if not, you will end up circling the temple to find your tuk tuk driver.

Below, some pics taken at the 2nd temple in the Angkor Thom site. Prasat Baphuon.

Extracted from Tourism Cambodia website

North o f the Golden Tower [Bayon]. rises the Tower of Branze [Baphuon] higher even than the Golden Tower : a truly astonishing spectacle , with more than ten chambers at its base. Prasat Baphuon is located 200 metres (656 feet) northwest of the Bayon and south of Phimeanakas. 
A enter and leave at the east.

Baphuon is a single sanctuary temple-mountain situated on a high base. It is a symbolical representation of Mount Meru. A rectangular sandstone wall measuring 425 by 125 metres (1394 by 410 feet) encloses the temple (1). A long sandstone elevated approach (200 metres, 656 feet) at the east entrance (3) forms a bridge to the main temple. It is supported by three rows of short columns.

It's a bit tiring climbing the stairs but the price worth the effort. From the top, we enjoyed the beautiful greeny scenery surrounding the temple. Just be careful with the stairs especially when stepping down from the top.

During the reconstruction time, the engineers numbered most of the rock used to rebuild the temple as future reference.

Leper King Terrace

Terrace of the Leper King is located immediately north of the Terrace of the Elephants and it can be accessed from the main road. It was built at end of the 12th century by king Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181-1220)

Somewhere near the Elephant Terrace

  The tuk tuk driver drove us to another amazing temple. the Chau Say Tevoda. This temple was restored under conversation programme between Cambodia and China.

Some summary extracted from Wikipedia

Chau Say Tevoda (Khmer: ប្រាសាទចៅសាយទេវតា)is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia. It is located just east of Angkor Thom, directly south ofThommanon across the Victory Way (it pre-dates the former and post-dates the latter). Built in the mid-12th century, it is a Hindu temple in the Angkor Wat style. From 2000 to 2009 access was restricted as the temple was under restoration in a project initiated by the People's Republic of China.

Chau Say Tevoda reopened in late 2009 and is now fully accessible.

  Opposite the Tevoda temple is the Thommanon Temple

 Thommanon is one of a pair of Hindu temples built during the reign of Suryavarman II at Angkor, Cambodia. This small and elegant temple is located east of the Gate of Victory of Angkor Thom and north of Chau Say Tevoda.

Next we moved to another temple, Ta Keo Temple

 Ta Keo is under construction. So, we just passed by this one.

Sellers selling clothes and souvenirs but rather expensive 

My lunch

Another temple under cooperation between Cambodia and India. The Ta Prohm Temple aka Tomb Raider

Pic before reconstruction

Before and after reconstruction

The Angelina Jolie's tree

This temple is still under reconstruction phase. So, you can expect a lot of noise from the construction work nearby. 

Last but not least, the most anticipating activity of the day, the Elephant ride. we have been eyeing to ride the elephant since in Bangkok but due to time constraint, we decided to let go the ride. 

We approached the elephant ride agent and ask about the ride. Sad sad sad. Elephant ride had to be put on hold temporarily. Papa Phants were tired carrying tourist around Ta Phrom temple.

But, we never give up. We beg, beg the agent to get us ride Papa Phant event for a few minutes. He agreed.
We were allowed to ride Papa Phant for less than 5 minutes and than take picture. For short riding, they charged USD3 and another USD2 for 2 photos taken from their cams.

Elephant Ride - Checked.

Papa Phant looked exhausted but he is nice and friendly elephant.

That's it. Our first encounter to Angkor Wat, the historic site with great architecture.

Enjoy reading.