Cambodia, Day 3, Part 6: The Overgrown Temples of Ta Prohm, Ta Som, and Preah Khan

I ended my third day in Cambodia with a series of awesomely overgrown temples.

Ta Prohm was utterly amazing with massive trees that seemed not to differentiate stone architecture from soil. I also enjoyed seeing a long stream of red ants traversing one of the cables there for the temple's structural support.

Walls were no barriers to the adaptable roots of the jungle trees...

...nor were buildings.

There was a long slow line of tourists getting their pictures taken in front of this massive tree, so I opted to just take a picture with other people in it.

I loved the way the roots snaked along the grooves in the stone roof. 

 Continuing down the road sent me back past Pre Rup and Eastern Mebon, and this time I continued on the loop around Eastern baray, a now-dry artificial lake that once held about 50,000,000 cubic meters of water. The dominant theory as to why the Khmer society collapsed is that years of drought prevented their incredible water control systems from maintaining the region year round.

One the North side of the former body of water was the temple Ta Som, which also had some impressive trees on it...

... As did Preah Khan:

I also enjoyed the carvings and statues at Preah Khan. 

I finished the loop at Angkor Thom's North gate, and so traveled back through the walled city for one last look at Bayon as the sun started to set. 

Back in Siem Reap, I ate dinner at the overpriced (for Cambodia) Sugar Palm. I enjoyed pork with dripping veggies and fried spring rolls before an evening of journaling.

Cambodia Day 3, Part 5: Baphuon, Prasat Suor Prat towers, Chau Say Tevaoda, Thommonon, and Ta Keo

While Bayon is the center of Angkor Thom and the main temple, Baphuon is the main palace that take up much of the city's West half. 

The procession to the palace was slightly raised, probably over what was once a pond, since the Khmer thrived in the region due to their water management. 

The palace was being reconstructed during my visit, so sadly my access was limited to a viewing area outside the work zone. Tourists were not permitted to clamber over the ruin the way the workers were.

 I was growing restless and impatient, probably because I was unable to enter the palace and I was frustrated with the lack of signage, though perhaps I was just hungry. I biked up to some of the twelve unlabeled and unexplained towers. I could find no information about them while in Cambodia, but Wikipedia has some fascinating tidbits. 

I biked out the North gate to look at its decorations, which were certainly numerous if not nearly as impressive as the South gate. I then biked back to (successfully) search for noodle stalls in the central square of Angkor Thom. A more recent Buddhist pavilion was also in the area. 

I went out the East gate and to the two temples on either side of the road just outside Angkor Thom's walls: Chau Say Tevodo and Thommanon.

At the carts between these two temples, I enjoyed an expertly peeled and sliced mango and talked with some Korean tourists in my broken Korean and their notably better English. I continued out the road from the East gate to Ta Keo, and was proud of myself for arriving considerably more quickly by bicycle than the Koreans did in their tour bus.

There I climbed super steep stairs with a Dutch woman of Chinese decent, who I'd met earlier because she was staying at the guest house where I rented my bike. We chatted as we watched out for each other on the treacherous ladder-like stairs and enjoyed the view from the top.

Despite actually taking my time on this trip far more than my usual manic travelling pace, I was way ahead of schedule, so I continued on towards Ta Prohm. 

Cambodia Day 3, Part 4: Terrace of Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King

From Bayon I explored further into Angkor Thom. I came to a wall around a palace. I began with the front of the wall, and hence the most decorated section. 

The first area of note was the Terrace of Elephants. It was an impressive combination of bas relief frieze and statues jutting out from the wall. 

There were elephant heads both at the ground level and up on the terrace.

The frieze continued onward and transitioned from elephants into scenes of demons.

The next major section is known as the Terrace of the Leper King. The god of the dead was honored with a double row of little figures on tall walls.

The statue of the Leper King is kept decorated with fresh flowers and cloth.

Cambodia Day 3, Part 3: Bayon Stone Faces

The centerpiece of Angkor Thom is Bayon, which is one of the coolest things I've ever seen anywhere. Bayon is exactly what temples in the jungle should look like: spires with four heads each rise like a mountain. The edifice has a regular pattern but avoids being boringly square.

Every surface is ornately carved.

The temple had some chambers between the walkways and under the spires.

Dinotopia has a page in a jungle covered temple based on Bayon and other Khmer face-covered temples, only the stone faces are of dinosaurs. I still thought this was awesome even if the faces were merely human.

Stairs lead down to a maze of passageways. These areas lower down that were nearly empty, unlike the crowded pathways above.

The lower areas are no less decorative, though.

From the ground level, the view was as if looking up at mountains from a steep canyon.