Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom – literally: “Great City”
It was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by King Jayavarman VII, and covers an area of 9 sq km.
Angkor Thom is in the Bayon style. This manifests itself in the large scale of the construction, in the widespread use of laterite, in the face-towers at each of the entrances to the city and in the naga-carrying giant figures which accompany each of the towers.
The faces on the 23 m towers at the city gates, which are later additions to the main structure, take after those of the Bayon and pose the same problems of interpretation. They may represent the king himself, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, guardians of the empire’s cardinal points, or some combination of these.
One story I read and loved on a a travel went like this:
A girl came up to us and said, “did you notice that the layout of this temple (we were at Angkor Thom) is just like Temple Run?” –it’s a popular game for the iPad,
Amazing how the ancient Khmer could foretell the future, and model a temple on the layout in an iPad game.
One of the monkeys had three babies, but only one came out to play
No matter how much you warn people that monkeys are agressive little thieves, some just don’t learn. A boy was walking through the temple nibbling on a corn cob, but not for long.
The Elephant Terrace
The Terrace of the Elephants in the Angkor area is a huge 2.5m high, 300m long platform with five staircases, three in the middle and one at each end.
Dedicated to Buddhism and a replica of the Bayon art style, the terrace was used by King Jayavarman VII to follow games and celebrations.
In the middle of the terrace is a rostrum decorated with elephants and a lotus seat.
Just across from the Elephant Terrace were a series of small temples:
Lunch at another grimy little hovel:
A story about the roses. It was Valentines Day as well as Sue and Pete’s 40th Wedding Anniversary. Pete, the big romantic, asked if he could buy a rose for Sue. They answered ‘Sorry they are plastic and arranged’. When we got back to the bus Vuttha suddenly appeared with a single red rose (a real one) for Pete to give to Sue. Somehow I think he lied in his translation, but a nice lie, and indicative of how he treated us.