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Angkor Archaeological Park’s admission passes were sold at the main entrance on the road to Angkor Wat. Cost USD20 for one day visit, USD40 for three day visit and USD60 for seven day visit. One-day passes could only be purchased at the secondary tollgate on airport road entrance near Angkor Wat and Banteay Srey. Visiting hours are from 5am – 6pm for Angkor Wat and other major temples… Actually the best time to visit the site is at the wee hours. That’s when there are fewer visitors. The place will be really quiet and you can watch the sunrise. Too bad we went after the sun was up already.
A passport-sized photo in order to purchase the three or seven day pass. Anyhow, the one day visit passes were already included in our travel package. Keep the pass safe coz you might have to show it to the officers at every park entry of major temples… and at the entrance to the loo :P.
Talking bout loo, there are no (and will not be any in the future) toilets to relief yourself once you venture in Angkor Thom. Why, you ask? Well, this is to ensure that the natural surrounding of the site is well preserved and not damaged… *no toilet?! i wonder where those people pee pee last time?? Not to worry, there is a public toilet before the entrance, so we went and did our businesses there before going in *wakaka.
Nice big tree near the loo
Elephant ride into Angkor Thom
At the South Gate, there were elephant rides available but we decided venture on foot.
Statue of Ancient Gods on the left guarding entrance towards Angkor Thom
Heavenly pic of pond on the front side of Angkor Thom
Statue of Ancient Devils on the right guarding entrance before Angkor Thom
This is why i named him NotSoCandidKelvin @@. SweetToothTim on the right
Finally there ==> South Gate
So postcard! So worth it…
Each gate of Angkor Thom was crowned with 4 giant faces of the king himself. It’s suppose to represent the king as a guardian of his empire. Angkor Thom is just the big entrance to to site. There are small temples located inside.
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Bayon Temple lies in the heart of Angkor Thom. I was utterly in awe with the stone temple *how anyone could have built it in the past… The carvings on the building were very well preserved. Very beautifully crafted and the details of the carving were amazing. Bayon was initially built as a Buddhist temple but was augmented into Hinduism style, so there were combination of both styles on the site.
I couldn’t get enough of the stone faces. If viewed from the side angle, you can see the structure of the face, the protruding nose… *wow...
Entrance to Bayon temple
See the face behind..the nose…
Carvings so well preserved after decades
Carvings on walls depicting scenes from everyday life and great battles
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Baphuon is another temple worth visiting but it’s still under-construction. Expected to be completed by year 2010! Apparently the reconstruction was disrupted by civil war or something. However, now work had resumed. After it’s done, it’s gonna be huge! We could only walk across the terrace and view from outside for now… *oh well
MicrophoneChiang dancing on the terrace :P
Under contruction
Crazy mob family racing to get to the top. Whoever wins gets to wipe out our enemy!
Look at the stairs! Can’t even fit our foot… Have to climb sideways… Pretty dangerous. There were signboards saying ‘climb at your own risks’ at the site. Sorry i didn’t go up. I’m not crazy….and i’m afraid of heights… *oops!
DrugLaw waves hi! ..so high on cocaine O_o
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The Terrace of the Elephants was used by the king as a platform to view his victorious returning army. It was attached to a palace which was already ruined. The terrace was also used as something like a grand stand for public ceremonies for the king. There were big carvings of elephants. *i guess they don ride tanks to war last time :P. Anyway, if seen clearly there were also carvings of garudas (half man half bird) and animal deity from the Hindu influence.
Elephants! I like!
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The Terrace of the Leper King is a double terrace wall at the north end of Terrace of the Elephants. It was given this name because according to Khmer legend, it is believed that the king died of leprosy *uh-huh. There were suppose to be a replica of the statue of the king (i found out later) but i didn’t see one. The real one is in a museum in Phnom Penh.
The terrace has lines of carvings of weird demons and creatures. Some look really evil. I saw carvings of women without torsos! According to PuppyEyes, they use to force criminals to walk along this terrace. Those who were guilty would feel freaked out… *creepy
Terrace of the Leper King..on the left => snake with 7 heads is called “naga”
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Note: All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members :P
