Angkor Thom is more than just Bayon. In fact, if you have the luxury of time, and you got the 5-day pass, you can spend an entire day in Angkor Thom and still not be able to explore all of it.
(And hello from Palawan! By the time this is posted, I am likely to be in the middle of the sun, sea and sky in beautiful El Nido!)
So we are still in Angkor Thom, and a short walk away brings us to Prasat Baphuon (pronounced “bapun”).
Located 200m north of Bayon, this enormous “mountain temple” is also referred to as the Tower of Bronze.
To get to the temple itself, you have to enter it through the East entrance, which is accessible via a causeway that is 172 metres long.
In the middle of the causeway, you’ll pass through a ruined pavilion before reaching the five-tiered temple itself. Below, you can catch a glimpse of the five-tiered Baphuon.
By the way, Baphuon supposedly has 10 chambers. When you reach it, you can climb to the third enclosure, which surrounds the entire pyramid.
The place was so quiet when we got there, and not too crowded. Only less than 10 other people, which let us take photos unhindered. Visitors are allowed to continue up to the first enclosure on the top level.
If you have vertigo, heed the warning.
Here’s a view of the 172-m causeway, with a clear shot at the ruined pavilion in the middle, and the moat on the right. And at the end of the causeway is the gopura of the 3rd enclosure. This gopura is also deemed as the most elaborate of all gopuras of Baphuon, and it has three wide entrances.
While we were taking photos with this view, there was a group of 2 Australian guys (in their 50s, I would guess) and their guide hanging around, talking. Then they overheard us conversing (in our dialect, not Filipino or Tagalog), and one of them asked where we came from, since they heard Spanish words spoken. We had to launch into a short spiel on how Spanish figures in our culture.
The climb down and exit from Baphuon is via a stairway on the South side. After that, there’s going to be a bit more of walking through a wooded area.
And then we arrived at Phimeanakas & The Royal Palace. This is the site where Survayarman I built his royal palace. The most prominent building, of course is the temple, Phimeanakas, itself. It’s a relatively modest pyramid that rises up to 3 levels. All four sides have stairs that lead to the top, but the one visitors are allowed to use is the West staircase.
The staircase is flanked with guardian lions. Can you see the one in the pic above? The corners, on the other hand, have elephants. At least that’s what I read. But they look more like cows to me. What do you think?
According to legend, it is in this sanctuary that the Khmer king lay every night with a woman who is the incarnation of a nine-headed naga (sacred serpent). This woman is so powerful she had control over the lands of the kingdom.
And then we walked around to the east side of the temple. And passed the large pond of the palace.
Walking further along, we came upon Preah Palilay, the ruins of a small Buddhist sanctuary, made of sandstone.
A bit further on is Tep Pranam or the Worshipping God, where we found the large seated Buddha waiting.
By this time, it was already past one. More walking then led us to the East. Before arriving at the East gate, we came upon some concessionaires. We realized we were hungry, so we had “lunch”.
Refreshing coconuts. They call it “nog”. We call it “niyog”. I call it expensive.
After that, we walked to the East Gate, where Sarat was waiting to take us to our next destinations. We passed by the Elephant Terrace.
Note the three-headed elephants and their trunks on the sides of the stairs leading up to the promenade. And on the sides of the walls are carved figures of garudas (men with heads of birds) and lion-headed figures.
All in all, it was such a great morning! Except for the unrelenting heat, we weren’t tired at all!
(Featured image at the beginning of the post is credited to Lorelei)
Next post: Tomb-raiding, sans Lara Croft, at Ta Prohm.
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