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Government control of the countryside was far from perfect in 1994 as ex Khmer Rouge guerrillas became bandits living off the local people. Looting archaeological sites to sell sculptures in Thailand was such a temptation for these bandits that the government had to resort to mining the sites they could not protect otherwise for lack of police personnel and budgets!
Preah Khan is enclosed by a 700 by 800 metre wall surrounded by a moat. It was built by Jayavarman VII around 1190 as a Buddhist temple dedicated to his father
This is the western entrance.
From this vestibule one can see the Lingam of the central sanctuary through a succession of halls and doorways.
Lintel incorporated into the western entry tower.
Below left, lingam representing Shiva in the inner sanctum central sanctuary. On the right, powerful trees growing over the enclosing wall.
Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Khmer empire, was also built by Jayavarman VII at the turn of the 13th century. . It was a 3 km by 3 km fortified city in the centre of which is the Bayon temple, the royal palace and some minor monuments built of stone. Nothing remains of the rest of the city which was built of wood.
This is the southern gate through the outside fortifications.
The Bayon temple is in the exact centre of the fortified city.
I wish it had not been raining, I would have taken more photos and they would have been better!
In this photo of the south east gallery, you can see the shallow corbeled arch construction used by the Khmer. The Mayas and the Egyptians also used corbeled arches but with less overhang so their arches were much higher.
Below left, the eastern entrance to the second level of the temple. Below on the right, a statue of Buddha in the inner sanctum with the modest offerings of the local people.
This photo taken on the roof of the temple shows how the massive stones of the Khmer corbeled aches were closely fitted together. Not bad, they did survive eight centuries!
Below, four of the huge Buddha faces that characterise the Bayon style. There are four of these faces on each of the four corner towers.
Immediately north from the Bayon is a wide esplanade with a dozen minor shrines on the east and the royal palace on a raised platform on the west behind this wall called the Terrace of the Elephants.
The wall north of the Terrace of the Elephants, called the Terrace of the Leper King is also covered with beautifully executed sculptures.
I enjoyed my visit in spite of the bad weather and left the fortified city of Angkor Thom by the northern gate.
Long Dim drove me to my guest house in Siem Riep and the next day, I flew back to Phnom Penh where I spent another couple of days before flying to Saigon.
