Temples in Cambodia

The rest of the time was mostly visiting temples. We got a three-day passes to Angkor except me because I was free. We went to the Bayon. The Bayon is a temple with many towers with four faces of Avalokitesvara, one facing each direction. We went through a gate (right) to get there that had four faces of the Avalokitesvara too. My favorite part was the bas-reliefs depicting battles and daily life.

Then, we went to another temple called Ta Prohm. It was overgrown with very tall trees. They grew while the temple was abandoned for nearly 800 years. The workers at the temple haven't removed the trees because if remove the trees, wham! It's a pile of rubble. After Ta Prohm, We went up a temple called Takeo. It had really steep steps, and looked a little like an Aztec pyramid.

That evening, we went to a restaurant that had apsara dancers (right). One dressed up as a golden fish at one point. A person dressed up as Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god, tried to catch the fish and kill it with a knife. I thought that was interesting.

The next day, we got a guide and went to Banteay Srei. It was 35 kilometers away from the other Angkor temples. Banteay Srei is small but it is richly decorated. Inside the temple, there was a group of landmine victims playing music. Dad bought one of their CDs for 10 US dollars.


Finally, we went to the most famous temple in Angkor, Angkor Wat.