Most people come to see Angkor Wat, the most famous and biggest of the temples. But as we found out there are many other beautiful temples to see. Roads connect the temples and you can be transported from one temple to the next by tuk-tuk, car/van or bicycle. Our guide book said you could walk from temple to temple but I am not sure where they got that idea.
The biggest temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom(actually not just one temple), are located fairly close together. The other temples are spread out around them. We did two days with a guide, which was a great way to get information about the temples and what life was like during the Angkor period. The Khmer Empire flourished from the 9th to 13th centuries. No one outside of the area knew about the Angkor Temples till around 1900. From the early 1900's to 1979 work was done by various countries who brought people to the temples to help restore them. With the Khmer Rouge take over of Cambodia and the Cambodian civil war, no work was completed on the temples from 1979-1990. Now most of the bigger temples restoration processes are funded by foreign countries and overseen by UNESCO. UNESCO is an organization that overseas many world heritage sights. I asked our guide how much of the ticket money that is paid actually helps to restore the temples. He said only about 10-15%. Cambodian greed and corruption at work!
The early temples were built out of brick and the later ones built out of sandstone. The sandstone was brought from nearby mountains.
Angkor Thom, shown below, was actually a "city" with a population of almost 1 million people. It has four gates facing north, south, east and west. There is a wall around the city and a moat on the outside. On the inside are several temples and structures that were the center of life in Angkor Thom.
A view of the south gate of Angkor Thom from the outside. One side of the road is statues of gods and one side is demons. Many of the temples were built to honor the Hindu gods, Vishnu and Shiva. The king who built Angkor Wat changed the religion to Buddhism around 1150. After his death, his successor changed the religion back to Hinduism. Needless to say there was a lot of face swapping and other changes made to the temples during the time of the Khmer Empire.
The moat surrounding Angkor Thom.
View of the south gate of Angkor Thom from the inside of the city.
The Bayon. The biggest temple and most important in Angkor Thom. There were originally 49 face towers but only 37 are standing today. Each face had a different look and as you moved you could see some faces almost side by side. It is very difficult to show with pictures the vastness of this temple.
Almost all the temples had carvings depicting the daily life of the people and their battles against aggressors.
Look closely and you can see some of the faces in the towers.
I really thought the hallways that were created inside the temples were cool. Depending on the time of day, you would get different types of light coming in from the outside.
Here you could get in position to see three faces together.
Sue's idea. Cambodia is like Thailand in that people bow with the hands in a prayer-like gesture when they greet you and when you leave.
Many of the temples also contained statues used for offerings to the gods.
The foundations of the temples was made using volcanic stone like you see here.
The rest of the temple was made from sandstone that could be easily carved into and shaped as the builder wanted.
Outside Bayon Temple.
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