The Bayon
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| The Bayon temple aka the temple of 300 faces |
With many temples in the Siem Reap area, we opted for the 3-day pass to give us time to see most of them. The first day we went to the least popular temples to avoid the crowd at Angkor Wat. Our guide Robinhood (his nickname), sketched the day out for us and took us on a great excursion, walking through unbeaten paths not usually taken by tourists, through the forest from temple to temple. He took us to his favorite temple, one he refers to as the temple of 300 faces. As he explained, the Bayon temple was built around the 12th or 13th century and is referred to as the temple of 300 hundred faces because each of the many towers is four-sided with a smiling face on each. This temple is a Buddhist temple but was later converted to a Hindu temple with the removal of all Budha status. The temple marks the center of what used to be the Jayavarman's capital.
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| 4-sided tower |
The temple also boasts some intricate and detailed stone carvings such as the one seen below.
Ta Prohm Temple
Ta Prohm is a vast Buddhist Monastery and University on the south side of what was the Jayavarman's capital. It is said to have had 1000 Buddhist professors at its peak and was the place for Buddhist teachings.
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| The Library |
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| Holding the light |
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