Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom (which means Great City) is a walled city inside the Angkor which was the capital of the Khmer empire.  It was built sometime in the 12th century and where the priests, and the palace and military officials lived. Now, the walled city is a huge complex with several ancient ruins. 

We entered the walled city of Angkor Thom via the South Gate.  There was traffic when we reached the gate.

Whoa...all roads lead to Angkor Thom

Traffic at the south gate

Near the gate, there are elephants which can be rented to take the guests around.

Yang Min, making sure I wont be able to run away from the elephant

The south gate has very interesting details. Giant faces, each showing different expressions, line up the road to the gate.  On the left side (if you are entering the city and facing the gate) are 54 figures of gods, whose expressions are either smiling, serious or serene. On the left side are 54 demons, with grimace on their faces. The gods are holding /pulling the head of a snake, while the demons are pulling its tail.

The demon gods

Rekha is not scared of them..

The south gate is an elegant entry tower. At the top of the tower are giant faces facing the four directions. The lower half are elephant statues with the figure of god sitting on each of the elephants.

The south gate is a lovely, elegant entry tower.  However, after I entered the walled city, I had to get out of it again. Work got in the way of my tour and I received a call to go back to the hotel for a short meeting about the workshop arrangements.  The tour guide was kind enough to ask the driver to take to the hotel, wait and take me back again to the Angkor Wat (and I only needed to add USD5 for the gas). What that meant however was me, missing the tour of the Elephant Court  and the other temples in the Angkor Thom. 

The good news was, when I came back, I was right on time for the Bayon temple ( well our kind tour guide has arranged for it so that I will be able to join the Bayon tour..shhhh).