While I wrote about the more famous Angkor Wat visit earlier in
part one of this series, this post is about a series of temples & monuments that we visited after seeing the majestic sunrise at Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom, which in Khmer means "Royal City" is a group of temples and monuments, close to Angkor Wat.
Bayon - The Temple of a Thousand Faces
Bayon is instantly recognizable by the multitude of serene and benevolent faces carved on it's towers.
 |
| Bayon |
 |
| Another view of Bayon |
These faces are numerous around the temple, and some authors and historians refer to this as the "Temple of a Thousand Faces". The real number of faces could be closer to a few hundred though, by my reckoning, but that does not make it less impressive. Each of these depict a set of four faces, oriented facing the four cardinal directions. Each face has a benevolent and compassionate smile. It could be that these faces represent Brahma, but it was mentioned by our guide that these represented the king who sanctioned the building of this temple (
Jayavarman VII).
 |
| Another view of the face of Jayavarman II. |
