Photos from Cambodia 4: Angkor Thon

I think I mentioned that Angkor Wat is just one of the many temples in the Siem Reap collection. I am now in a different complex, this time a city, called Angkor Thon.

This is at one of the gates to the city (they have a grand gate at each of the 4 cardinal directions), guarded by demons and gods, although it's very hard to tell which is which! These would have been decapitated over the years, but reconstructed in replica.

This is in the cenral temple in the middle of the city. This was my favorite temple in all of Angkor. It's called Bayon and from every angle, there are huge faces looking down at you.
Here are several of the faces all at once... how many can you find?
Two in one... so picturesque!
Here I am in front of one face... see how enormous they all are!



Now I'm in another complex at Siem Reap. It's the next day, and I'm exploring Ta Prohm, which was a temple being absorbed by the jungle.

This is the famous Tomb Raider tree. It was underneath this tree that Angelina Jolie disappeared into the ground.
A whole corridor collapsed and this was the result... you can see exactly where the pillars would have been... I wonder if it all fell on one spectacular day! Look at the beautiful colors!

This is where a little sculpture was peeking from behind the tree roots. It looks remarkably similar to the one in Ayuthaya in Thailand, but much smaller.

Like water flowing from above, or a hand gripping Angkor's history in its fist!

This was an intact corridor... the moss and lines and colors certainly made it seem other-worldy, and it was hard to picture what it would have been like in its heyday.