Cambodia: Angkor Thom’s Bayon

We started our first day as early as 5am in the morning. Since Angkor Wat has been getting a lot of tourist lately, I thought that we should avoid the crowds as much as possible. Especially those bus loads of tourist that can easily block your composition view. In this series, I won’t be delving much on the history of each temple as there are a lot of resources in the internet which has detailed information on each temple. What I would focus on more are my favorite temples and my impressions of them. And more importantly the photos. So here we go.

The first step into our exploration is to acquire an Admission Pass. In each temple there are security points and they are very strict on inspecting these passes. If you don’t posses one you will have to get back to the main entrance toll gate where you can acquire a pass. The price is quite hefty but I assure you it’ll be worth it, US$20 for a day pass, US$40 for a three day pass and US$60 for for days to a week’s Pass. For a three day passes or more, a photo is required. If you are acquiring a ticket at a peak hour, it’s better if you have a passport ID picture with you. Fortunately we were early and we manage to get a pass easily. I don’t have a photo so they just took a quick camera snap at the counter. Getting a pass doesn’t take more than 5 minutes in all. Don’t forget to smile.

Once we got our pass, our Tuk-tuk went on rolling and off we go to see our first temple at Angkor Thom also known as the “Great City“. On the way though, we passed by Angkor Wat, although it’s tempting to see it early at that time we sped past it and headed north by the west road until we were greeted by a gopura at the South Gate. We decided to leave Angkor Wat for the moment and just build on the momentum by visiting the other minor temples first. Hell, from the South Gate itself I think we spent more than 30 minutes of photo frenzy and we haven’t got into the city yet and our driver is waiting on the other side of the wall, sleeping.

After pulling ourselves from the gate we rode the Tuk-tuk again for quite a distance, about 1.5 km from the gate to the heart of the city where we can find the temple of Bayon. And yey, there’s no people yet. Initially I had the idea that the temples here are walking distance from each other, I was so wrong. The whole Angkor Archaeological Park is so vast that you couldn’t cover much just by walking. Biking probably may. We ate a quick breakfast at one of the stalls there and waited for some morning light to hit the structure and off we go exploring the temple.

Among all the structures in the park, Bayon seems to be the most enigmatic and puzzling in Angkor. The main foundation of the temple is certainly Hindu in origin which post dates Angkor Wat by a century. But during King Jayavarman VII time, he built structures on top of it representing symbols of Buddhism. There are 54 towers there with 200 serene stone faces on every side of the tower. It was believed that these stone faces represents Bodhisattva, but further research and comparison, the stone faces is closer to the image of the one who ordered its construction, King Jayavarman VII.

Don’t you think that King Jayavarman VII is one vain king to have his image carved in all sides of the temple? Hehe. Anyways, kidding aside, walking along the top level where these towers are located, you can’t help but feel an eerie omnipresence watching you from all sides which is very interesting. Aside from the stone faces, the hallways and the door entrances are adorned with designs.

At the center of the top level of the temple, you’ll find a large structure which resembles a mountain which the temple was said to symbolize. I wanted to find a door or stairway up to the upper levels of the structure but I can’t seem to find one. The woman by the door, seems to be a Buddhist standing by an altar. She would constantly hail visitors to light up an incense at the altar. I don’t know if you have to pay for those incense since I didn’t try it. There are lots of these Buddhist altars spread through out the temples. Not only in Bayon but in all the temples in Angkor Archaeological Park as well.

In every temple you’ll usually see a lot of monks doing their rounds in the altars. Their bright red-orange robes indeed seems to stand out among the ruins and is a perfect subject to any photography. These guys also seems to be used to these kind of things. They don’t mind being photographed and won’t ask for a donation or money.

As the first temple we visited, Bayon was a great start. It’s not a huge temple and can be explored in less then two hours. I enjoyed walking along the grounds surrounded by these impressive stone faced towers. It literally represents the saying “I am watching you” and you could certainly feel that mighty presence here along with that monumental mountain like structures representing power and might. Among all the temples we visited, Bayon is one my faves here.