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Published: August 21st 2006
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Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom is the great city of Angkor. It was built from 1181 to 1219 by Angkor’s greatest king, Jayavarman VII. There are five gates or entrances to the city. All of them have long roads that cross the man made moat that surrounds the city. On each side of the road there is a large snake that is held by 54 statues. On the right there are 54 demons and on the left there are 54 gods.
Walking down the warn dirt road of the east gate to the city, many of demons and gods head’s are missing. The large statues hold the broken fragments of the huge snake and are covered with moss and hints of the grandeur that they use to portray. In the entrance you will also see the large faces and at the base of either side a huge elephant with three trunks. Some of the trunks have missing fragments and are deteriorating.
Inside of the city walls there are a number of other overwhelming ancient remains. We stumbled upon old temples and even new ones that had been built with in the last 100 years.
Baphuon
First we
went to Baphuon, which was built almost in the shape of a pyramid. It was constructed between the years 1049-65. It marked the center of the city that was previously in existence before Angkor Thom. Standing back to admire the complexity of the structures, you can’t help but stand in awe of the fact that all of these buildings were erected by human labor. They did not have heavy machinery to lift those profound boulders. They had to carry each stone and then place them one on top of the other, all the way until the end of its construction at 43 meters high. All of this was done by the hands of the people during that time.
The incredible thing about these structures in particular is that during the civil war the temple was taken apart piece by piece in attempt to renovate it. All of the records were destroyed which left the reconstruction of the temple a large project of piecing together the old bricks and stones.
Bayon
After Baphuon, we had lunch and then went to Bayon, which more like a pile of rubble from a distance. Bayon is the temple of faces. There
are 216 faces that stare down from 54 towers. Our guide kept refereeing to them as the faces of Buddha, or of god, however the Lonely Planet says that they are indeed the faces of King Jayavarman VII. Inside its walls there are many halls and stairways. The halls are carved with the stories of the past including battles between ancient Hindu gods, civil war, military processions, and even a circus. Some of these cavings are simply historical, some are serious, and others hold hinds of humor. Our guided pointed out one image of a woman holding a turtle and the turtle was biting the man’s butt in front of her and the man thought it was the woman.
There are three levels to the structure. Standing under any doorway or walking down any flight of stairs, the faces are always present. They glare at those who pass through today, just as they glared across Jayavarman VII’s empire when it was first constructed.
We left Angkor Thom through the South gate, where the heads of the statues have been restored and the crumbling trunks of the elephant have been replaced.
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sarah
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dern
Bekah, Dern girl, some more amazing pictures...and you even did your homework with this one :) Honestly, south east asia has so much more than I ever knew..it's like a fariy tale world.. I hope you still have more blogs to come.. and hey, email me and let me know how the hell you're doing...isn't it almost time to move in at MC? And if you end the blogs, you have to do a goodbye blog..it brings closure to your readers :) I LOVE YOU srh