The Bayon

I was drawn to those mighty roots that have taken over so much stone.

I loved Ta Prohm just as much as I thought I would, but I was surprised that my very favorite temple turned out to be the Bayon.

I loved it so much I went three times.

This temple was built around 1190 AD and has big, huge peaceful faces everywhere you look.

I think there are 51 columns, each with four faces carved in the sides.

It was pretty impressive.

According to one account, the king (King Jayavarman VII) was hoping to be reincarnated as Buddha, so he had his face carved to look very similar to the Buddha ones you see.

Each one is a little bit different.  I can’t even imagine how long it must have taken to carve all those monstrous things.

I posted a few of the entrance of this temple on Lucy’s birthday.  This is the one she got to ride the elephant to (back here), and that’s all she cared about.

But the rest of us were pretty mesmerized by that place!

I loved the entrance…

Can you see all those faces?

The kids pretty much just loved that they could climb everywhere.

This time we hung otu with the monkeys a little.

This picture was taken before we realized they were a little mean and started hissing at Grace.  She got out of there speedy quick!

We had picked up these “elephant pants” for $2.50 the day before from one of the many women begging us to buy.

There we go.

Our friends brought fans which were life-savers in the heat.

Best Cambodian temple dates ever…