Angkor Wat - Bayon Temple

Exiting Ta Prohm through its eastern gate, the next 9mi (14km) was spent walking through the countryside, past rice fields, ruined temples and reservoirs heading towards Preah Khan temple.

Preah Khan was built by Jayavarman VII in honour of his father. Just like Ta Prohm it has been left with trees and vegetation growing out of the ruins with only stabilisation works undertaken. The highlight here was the two-storied building supported by numerous circular columns. No other building like it exists within Angkor. Intricately built, no one knows its purpose and although I’d like to imagine it as a library, it is speculated that it might have been a granary.

A mile later, I re-entered Angkor Thom through its northern gate. The largest complex of all the temples, it has an 8 mi (13 km) perimeter wall with five gates, surrounded by a moat. Within its walls are several magnificent stone temples and the beautifully carved Terrace of the Elephants. The 1150ft (350m) long terrace was used as the King’s viewing and ceremonial platform. The detailed elephant reliefs run along the sides of a staircase that is flanked by elephant trunk carvings and lion sculptures atop it.

In the centre is the splendid yet tightly packed Bayon Temple. Built as a Buddhist temple it also has elements of Hindu iconography. There are four giant faces embedded on each of the 54 towers rising from the galleried enclosures and upper terrace. It is theorised that the face is meant to depict Buddha but given its arrangement of four faces per tower others argue that it is the face of Brahma, a Hindu God, who according to ancient texts is meant to be shown with four heads. Many scholars also see a striking resemblance to King Jayavarman VII, the builder. With different schools of thought, some concluded that the theories need not be mutually exclusive. Jayavarman was a Buddhist but he followed the God-King traditions set before him by his Hindu predecessors.

Bayon was the last temple built in Angkor. After Jayavarman’s death in the early 13thC. many other building projects were met with limited success. Bayon Temple marked the end of monument building even though the capital continued to carry on until its final demise.

Standing in the temple’s presence, tranquillity came to mind. It was quiet and calm as if the faces were emitting a peaceful energy. The crowds were moving softly, lots of nooks presented themselves for peaceful contemplation. I stopped here for a while immersing myself in some stillness and mindfulness.


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Angkor Wat - Ta Prohm

It was with great anticipation that I arrived at Ta Prohm temple. Possibly the most photographed temple in Angkor due to its unique appearance and subsequent rise to fame when it was used as a location setting for the 2001 Tomb Raider feature film. It’s not every day that you see trees growing out of ruins but that’s exactly what the jungle did during Angkor’s dormant centuries.

Ta Prohm was built by King Jayavarman VII around the late 12th century in honour of his family. He was the most prolific Khmer builder, constructing hundreds of monuments in as little as 40 years. The complex with the temple at its centre is made up of five wall enclosures. The outer wall is significantly larger and surrounded by a moat. Much of the internal space is now forested but this area once teemed with life when the complex had as many as 12,000 people living within its walls.

The three inner enclosures are galleried. With a low roofline, the interior passageways are very dark with little light filtering through the windows from outside. Some of the external walls have carved decorations of deities, meditating monks and temple guardians.

When restoration works began on the complex it was decided to leave it untouched allowing the trees to co-exist with the buildings they have grown over. Whilst it provides a fascinating view, the concerns are that the trees weigh heavily upon these fragile buildings. Although conservationists have added iron supports in some of the passageways, many of the ceilings in unprotected sections have collapsed under the weight.

Wooden walkways have been installed to protect the temples and as I walked around the complex I marvelled at the huge trees, snaking their roots along the temples’ roofline, spilling down the side like a fan. As nature strangles the narrow passageways it lets it be known that at any time it can reclaim itself and anything within it.



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