Day 2 in Siam Reap
The Smiley Temple -- Bayon Temple and Ta Phrom
After visiting Angkor Wat, we were all exhausted and requested for a break. Tour guide brought us to a restaurant nearby Angkor Wat for breakfast. Breakfast in Siam Reap is simple, they either have porridge, noodles or baguette. I ordered a bowl of maggie with soup, served with chicken. The soup is rather salty and in addition to the saltiness of maggie, this is a very very salty bowl of noodle.
Ta-daa! The bowl of noodle. It looks simple and the taste is rather unique.
If it were to be less salty, it would be a tasty bowl of noodle. XD How to describe the taste? I can't find a way to describe it. Just like how we can't describe the taste of durian.
After breakfast, we proceed to Bayon Temple, another must-visit temple in Angkor area.
The Bayon is located in the centre of the city of Angkor Thom, roughly 1500 meters from the south gate. Prasat Bayon was built in late 12th century to early 13th century, by the King Jayavarman VII, dedicated to Buddhist. The Bayon was built nearly 100 years after Angkor Wat. The basic structure and earliest part of the temple are not known. Since it was located at the centre of the royal city, it seems possible that the Bayon would have originally been a temple-mountain conforming to the symbolism of a microcosm of Mount Meru. The middle part of the temple was extended during the second phase of building. The Bayon of today belong to the third and last phase of the art style.
The architectural scale and composition of the Bayon exude grandness in every aspects. Its elements juxtapose each other to create balance and harmony. Over 2000 large aces carved on the 54 towers give this temple its majestic character. The faces with slightly curving lips, eyes placed in shadow by the lowered lids utter not a word and yet force you to guess much, wrote P Jennerat de Beerski in the 1920s. It is generally accepted that four faces on each of the tower are images of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and that they signify the omnipresence of the king. The characteristics of this faces - a broad forehead, downcast eyes, wild nostrils, thick lips that curl upwards slightly at the ends-combine to reflect the famous "Smile of Angkor" ~~~~ information from tourismcambodia.
Bayon Temple is my favourite temple out of all temples I've visited during my stay in Siam Reap. I like its uniqueness that there are so many smiley faces. All the faces are exactly the same and it really amazed me. According to the tour guide, the people carved the stone on the ground and then move the pieces one by one to the temple area and stacked them up to be towers like what we see today.
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!
Let the photos tell the story of the short tour at The Bayon. =)
You may find Bayon nothing much different from Angkor Wat in this photo.
But if you zoom in, you can see the difference.
Zoomed in! See the smiley faces?
How to not do a jump shot in front of such beautiful temple?!
And the historical frames
This is one of the favourite photo.
Visited Bayon at 12pm and hence the sky is perfect for photoshoot. Clear, blue sky!! I've sacrificed my skin for these.
Me and the smiley face carving.
And this was captured by my tour guide!
He asked me to look to my right and smile. I have no idea what he wants to take at first until he showed me the photo. I didn't know there's a face behind me. Such a surprise! Thank you! Love this photo so much!!!
Under the hot sun but still want to take a bit more tourist photos. =)
Before leaving........ I'll miss you dearly Bayon.
What's next?? Ta Prohm (Prasat Ta Prohm) ! The famous temple as it was used as a location in the film Tomb Raider.
The Jungle Temple
Ta Prohm's state of ruin is a state of beauty, which is investigated with delight and left with regret. The ruin refers to the trees that grown on the temple and spoilt its structure.
Ta Prohm is located southwest of the East Mebon and east of Angkor Thom. It is the undisputed capital of the kingdom of the Trees'. It has been left untouched by the archaeologits, except for the clearing of a path for visitors and structural strengthening to stave of further deterioration. Because of its natural state, it is possible to experience at this temple the wonder of the early explorers when they came upon these monuments in the middle of the 19th century. Shrouded in dense jungle, the temple of Ta Prohm is ethereal in aspect and conjures up a romantic aura. Fig, banyan, kapok trees spread their gigantic roots over stones, probing walls and terraces apart, as their branches and leaves intertwine to form a roof over the structures. Trunks of trees twist amongst stone pillars.
Ta Prohm was built about mid-12th century to early 13th century (1186) by the King Jayavarman VII, dedicated to the mother of the king (Buddhist) replica to Bayon style of art. ~~~ Information from touristcambodia.com
The Gigantic Tree with Gigantic Roots!
The trees can spoil the temple. This shows how strong is the architecture as it can stand the strength of such a big trees growing on top. Good old days with great minds and hands.
Standing in between the gigantic roots. How breathtaking.
The temple still held together strongly though there's trees that can destroy them.
Last look at Ta Prohm before leaving.
I'm really amazed with this building. How can this building be so strong and our buildings nowadays are so fragile? Something to think about.........
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