Angkor Wat, Siem Reap

P001 Arriving late at Siem Reap Airport

P002 The Bayon temple, Angkor Thom (means Great City), capital city of the Khmer empire.

P003 The Bayon temple, built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII.

P004 The Bayon stands at the center of Jayavarman

P005 The Bayon was the centrepiece of Jayavarman VII

P006 The Bayon was the last state temple to be built at Angkor.

P007 The Bayon

P008 The curious smiling image, thought by many to be a portrait of Jayavarman VII himself.

P009 The similing image has been dubbed by some the

P010 The Bayon is surrounded by two long walls bearing an extraordinary collection of bas-relief scenes of legendary and historical events.

P011 A total of more than 11,000 carved figures over 1.2 km of wall.

P012 A lot of the carved figures were probably originally painted and gilded, but this has long since faded.

P013 Fine and detail work made around 1190...

P014 During the reign of Jayavarman VIII in the mid 13th century, the Khmer empire reverted to Hinduism and its state temple was altered accordingly.

P015 In later centuries, Theravada Buddhism became the dominant religion, leading to still further changes, before the temple was eventually abandoned to the jungle.

P016 There are about 200 huge stone faces belong to the bodhisattva of compassion called Avalokitesvara.

P017 There are large and smaller towers surrounding Bayon, each with two to four faces of its own.

P018 The upper terrace is home to the famous

P019 Time did not bold well for the demise of the Bayon...

P020 Women depicted standing about rather than dancing (Apsaras, divine nymphs or celestial dancing girls, are characters from Indian mythology) are more commonly...