Day Four: Angkor Thom

After Angkor Wat, we headed to nearby Angkor Thom, which has several temples and other sights within a single complex.  Some pictures of the South Gate of Angkor Thom:

The first temple we saw in the Angkor Thom complex was Bayon.  It was very different from all of the other temples and one of our favorites!  Large faces were carved in all of the towers.

Though built as a Buddhist temple, many of the depictions of Buddha were removed when the Khmer empire became Hindu in the 13th century.  For example, the carvings below originally were of Buddha, but were later altered to depict a Hindu god.

I wasn't entirely sure what our tour guide was telling me when he told me to sit up on this ledge--until I saw the picture!  Eskimo kisses!

Can you tell how hot and humid it was?  Not withstanding the weather, my long skirt was necessary because in several of the temples I was required to have my legs and shoulders covered.  

Friendly little monk in the background...

The next temple we saw was Baphuon, which was built as a Hindu temple in the 11th century.

The last temple we saw in Angkor Thom was Phimeanakas, built as a Hindu temple in the 10th century.

Next, we moved on to the Terrace of the Elephants.  Our tour guide told us that the King and others would stand on the terrace and watch elephants (which were trained for use in the military) march below.

Right next to the Terrace of the Elephants is the Terrace of the Leper King (which may have been a royal cremation site).  Our guide suggested the King himself had leprocy, which seems not to quite match up with online sources, so I'll just share the picture without further commentary:

On our way out of Angkor Thom, we stopped by this wooden monastery:

(Notice how the monastery is built on stilts?  Many Cambodian private homes are constructed similarly, with hammocks hanging from the stilts.  Our driver explained that because homes don't have air conditioning and the temps hit 110+ degrees in the summer, many people--including him--sleep in the hammocks under the homes to stay cool at night.)

At the monastery we saw a young woman having bad spirits washed away by a monk:

 

As we were leaving the monastery, we also saw a family bringing a baby to the monastery to have the monk do some sort of cleansing to keep the baby from crying all night.  (Potentially useful strategy for all you new moms out there . . . )


By mid-afternoon, we were exhausted from the long, hot day of walking!  And we were still adjusting to the time difference--it took us a full week to kill the jetlag.  After the temples, we headed back to the hotel to rest before going out on a sunset boat ride at a nearby lake.  More on that next time!