Cambodia Day 1 – The temple of four faces, Bayon Temple

This is part of my adventures in Cambodia.  If you are interested in other posts, please click here.

After we headed back on the road with our tuk tuk, we conferred about where to head next.  The driver suggested that we could see Bayon and Baphuon temples and still have plenty of time to catch the sunset that evening.  We bumped until over the dirt road until we came to Bayon Temple.

In Chinese it is called 四面佛，or “temple of  the four faces” which to me makes a lot more sense than “Bayon”, but perhaps in Khmer, that is what it means?

Before we headed into the main area we perched on some of the boulder sized pieces of rock casually laid in front of the ruin as if someone was storing them for a new building project.

Getting ready to explore Bayon Temple

Entering the temple grounds

Upon entering we saw the faces everywhere.  The towered over us, looking down with ancient eyes.  Once again because we were there at an off time, we were able to wander and climb almost in peace.

Gazing up in awe

Look who’s watching?

Li wanted to catch the right light for photos so we headed into the blaring sunshine and viewed the front of the temple.

First full view of the faces

Ta da! Observed by many eyes – who’s looking at Li?

It was worth it to see the front with the sun and blue sky.  We laughed and explored, snapping photo after photo until we finally  saw it all. Almost.

Because there was so much more to see we finally pulled ourselves away and walked to Baphuon temple to continue exploring.

Which face calls to you? Why do you think they put the faces on the temples there? Stay tuned for more adventures in Cambodia.