Cambodia: South Gate & The Bayon

This is M&M here and I am going to tell you about my experience of the South Gate and The Bayon. The South Gate is one of the four gates that lead into Angkor Thom. The South Gate was the most and best preserved gate that leads into Angkor Thom. This was a very popular tourist spot, so there was a lot of traffic. 

We divided to walk and meet our driver on the other side of the gate. After getting out, we were standing next to tons of carvings of people. The people were an old Cambodian story of when warriors faced a giant snake and carried it with 54 men to slay it. There were 54 men and it was interesting to see their expressions. Most of the faces were in ruins but some were taken and restored. 

As we were about to walk through the South Gate we noticed a small walkway directly to the right.  We went right and were able to see the last statue in more detail and see the river that the road runs over.  The last statue had more than one face.  We were able to take lots of pictures than walk through the gate to meet our driver. 

Our next stop was the Bayon. Our tour guide told us that there was 49 towers in all in the Bayon. The king ordered that 49 towers should be built to represent his age. The Bayon was finished in his 49th year.  The Bayon was absolutely huge.  It was unbelievable how big the Bayon was.

When we first walked into the Bayon we were in a large courtyard there were doorways and a better view of the towers.  It was different then Angkor Wat.  It seemed less restored and more rough. 

We also learned that there were about 200 faces in all in the Bayon too. There was originally 216, but they collapsed and now about 200 remain. We were able to take lots of cool pictures of the faces everywhere. 

The Bayon was neat because we were able to walk in all the archway, walk up all the staircases and just explore everywhere.  There were some really cool awnings and some crazy steep staircases.  We weren't able to go in the highest tower, because I'm too young and you had to be 12 or older, but by this point we were all very hot and there were so many people at the top of the Bayon, so we decided to head back.  Mom and Dad said they really wanted to come back and explore the Bayon more, but we never had a chance.  I'm glad we were able to see what we did.