And we continue exploring the mysterious Angkor Thom...
A statue of the Buddha right at the entrance to Angkor Thom...
A layout of Angkor Thom...
Angkor Thom quite literally means the Great City, was perhaps 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 square kilometres.
Within this perimeter there are several monuments established by Jayavarman and his successors. At the centre of the city is Jayavarman's state temple, the Prasat Bayon, the temple we had visited about an hour back.
The other major sites clustered around the Victory Square immediately to the north.
The building blocks once probably formed the part of a magnificent palace or temple, but today, they lie resting here, all covered up in moss. As they say, they lie here today, biting the dust...
That's the Bapuhon temple that was built in the mid-11th century. The three-tiered temple was built as the state temple of Udayadityavarman II and dedicated to the Hindu god, Lord Shiva...
In the late 15th century, the Baphuon was converted to a Buddhist temple...
Damaged by years of abandon and strife, the temple was finally restored in 2011 after 51 years of painstaking effort...
Ruins everyone...
Heading towards the Terrace of the Elephants...
Ruins of the Phimeanakas temple...
The Elephat Terrace...
I shudder to think that the cities we live in today may reach such a fate in a thousand years. And people then would wonder what the structures were meant to be...
Terrace of the Leper King...
This is believed to have been a royal cremation site...
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