Within a few decades, the Cham attacked and sacked Angkor. The Cham were eventually conquered and incorporated into the Khmer Empire by Jayavarman VII, and much of Angkor was rebuilt. Jayavarman VII went on to build Angkor Thom (“Large City”)- a massive walled and moated city 9 square kilometer in size that is 1.7 kms north of the Angkor Wat complex. The city is surrounded by a moat 100 meters wide and a thick 8-meter-high stone wall. with four gateways in.

Entering Angkor Thom – The main entrance to the city is down a long causeway over a bridge that crosses the moat, and requires an entrant to the city to run the gauntlet between good and evil — between a row of 54 God’s heads on the left and a row of 54 Demons on the right — and through a gate under the watchful eyes of a large face over the entrance.

The face over the gate, which appears again 4 times on each of the 54 towers in the Temple, is thought to represent Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara — who is, in Mahayana Buddhism, the “Buddha-to-be” of infinite compassion and mercy. The face is believed to resemble Jayavarman VII, who saw himself as the incarnation of the Buddha, and built his own mausoleum/temple – the Bayon (as the French named it)— in the tradition of Mahayana Buddhism.

Bayon Temple — The Temple, built in the exact center of the city, features 54 towers, each with four large stone faces – identical to the face over the gate – aimed in the four directions — perhaps getting the point across to his Khmer subjects that their benevolent God-king had his eye on everything going on in the city. The significance of the number 54 is unknown – some suggest it may relate to the 54 provinces the King watched over in the Khmer Empire.

Most impressive feature of the Bayon Temple is the magnificent mural of bas relief carvings that goes around the outside of the wall on the first level. The carvings depict a variety of scenes from everyday life as well as the progress of the war with the Cham, including the sacking of Angkor in 1177 by the Cham forces, a naval battle in the Tanle Sap, and the routing and conquest of the Cham in 1181.

Angkor Thom – At its peak the city served nearly 1 million people. In addition to wooden houses and other buildings, the city included a lot of stone structures – the evidence of which remains today: many temples, a palace, reservoirs, and even 2 very large swimming pools – one for the King’s wives and concubines and the other for himself, and a stadium with a large oval track for games and celebrations, including elephant races and elephant fights.

Ta Prohm — After the decline of the Khmer Empire in the late 14th century and the destruction of Angkor in 1431 by Siamese invaders, the Angkor area was abandoned and local people thereafter were too spooked to go near it. The crumbling temples were overrun through the centuries by the jungle, and by the time the French “discovered” them in the 1860s, they were clouded in mystery and covered in vines and trees.

Ta Prohm temple today still captures some of the feel of a lost temple emerging out of the jungle overgrowth (although it has been cleaned up quite a bit). Devotees of the movie Laura Croft: Tomb Raider flock here to see the setting that was filmed for part of that movie.

The Temple was built as a Buddhist temple and monastery to the king, in 1186 to honor Jaravarman VII’s mother. Today, the distinguishing feature for this temple is the artistry of the roots of the trees growing out of the temple ruins.

Banteay Srei – the Pink Temple – This temple is noteworthy for the pink sandstone that it was built with and the quality of the filigree carvings. The craftsmanship in the fine carving is unlike any other decorative work found in Angkor.

Banteay Srei is a small Hindu temple dedicated to the god Shiva, located 21 kms north of Angkor Thom. Built by a Brahmin (not a King) in the 10th Century, it predates the capital city itself by 200 years. We know this because carvings on the frame of the gateway to the temple grounds explain in Sanskrit and Old Khmer who sponsored the Temple and when it was built.

The temple is a marvel to behold. Each corner turned opens a new vista of remarkable carving. The most magnificent are carvings that tell stories from the Ramayana that are on the lintels over the doors. Banteay Srei is truly the jewel of the Angkor temples.

Epilogue – Like all great empires, the end eventually came for the Khmer Empire. The decline started in the 14th century with an outmigration of population from Angkor. Historians speculate that the building boom of the 12th and 13th centuries depleted resources — water, lumber and sandstone – and pushed the limits of the population (most of whom were compelled to work on the construction – an estimated workforce of 500,000 at one point). There was also prolonged drought in the region at that time. It became clear that the Khmer Empire was overextended and beginning to fray at the edges.

For Angkor, the end came when the Thai from Ayutthaya who had been subjects and mercenaries for the Khmer, marched on Angkor Thom in 1431 and sacked it, taking home as slaves many of the artisans, performers, and intelligentsia. People began migrating south to the village of Phnom Penh, which eventually became the capital for the Khmer. The area around Angkor was then abandoned until the mid-19th century when the French appeared and found the ruins of the once-great city,

The Future – The Siem Reap/Angkor area has become one of the leading tourist destinations in the world. Tourism to Cambodia has increased by 500 percent over the last 15 years — and tourists to Angkor Wat alone numbered 2.6 million a year by last count, more than half of these from China and neighboring SE Asia countries. Hotel and restaurant density in Siem Reap is heavy and growing fast. There are currently 280 hotels and resorts and over 150 restaurants in the immediate Siem Reap area, and 100 hotels under construction, many of these large cheap tourist hotels to meet the demand from Chinese tourists. Already locals complain that the concentration of tourists and tourist businesses are changing the character of both Siem Reap and the Angkor temples.

The huge drop off in tourism this year due to the coronavirus and Chinese cancellation of foreign travel made it possible for us to enjoy uncrowded Angkor treasurers at a leisurely pace without the overwhelming push of large tour groups. It is a tremendous economic hardship, however, for the region that depends heavily on tourist revenues. Keeping the tourist experience enjoyable for the tourists and manageable for those who are visited will be a major challenge as more of the world population develops the financial resources to satisfy their yen for travel.

Next and Final Post: Heading home: Reflections on the experience – what we most enjoyed and what we learned.