Category Archives: travel

June 29, 2026 · 5:35 am

Cambodia — Arriving to Bayon Temple

Our next, and final, stop on this busy, busy day was Bayon, a Theravada Buddhist Temple dating back to the late 12th century. It was the state temple of the man considered the greatest Cambodian king — Jayavarman VII — who ruled the Khmer Empire from 1181 until his death sometime around 1218/1219. He is the same ruler responsible for the subject of last week’s series on Ta Prohm (that series begins here: Cambodia — Arriving to Ta Prohm Temple). As for Bayon, it marked the center of the last great capital of the Khmer Empire, Angkor Thom (which translates to “Great City”). This week’s series will show you the wonders of Bayon, as well as finish up the series on Cambodia and the Siem Reap area. Next week I will introduce you to Bangkok, Thailand, which was our next destination.

Bayon looks huge, but it’s considerably smaller than Angkor Wat

Before our guide released our group to explore, he had some words of caution for us. Stay away from the monkeys! Bayon is teaming with thieving hordes of long-tailed macaques. These little guys are famous for stealing items from tourists and holding them ransom for food offerings. But beware. This proposed swap may end badly, as the macaque are considered dangerous. They will bite, and they’ve been known to swarm lone tourists if they believe the tourist to be an easy mark. The macaque is also a carrier of dangerous diseases, such as the often fatal to humans Herpes B virus.

Once we were released with an agreed upon time and place to meet, Ursula and I headed over to Bayon to begin exploring. One of the outstanding features of Bayon are its numerous “face towers,” upon which 37 of the original 49 remain. On these towers are carvings numbering between two and four faces. And although there is no definitive count, the faces are said to number around 200.

There are at least a couple of theories as to whose face is depicted in these carvings — the Bodhisattva (“the enlighted” in Buddhism) Avalokiteśvara, Jayavarman VII, or a stylized combination of the two. And while these face carvings are a predominant feature here, there are other bas reliefs as well. Here is a depiction of Apsara, nymph-like celestial dancers that feature prominently in both Hindu and Buddhist lore:

In Wednesday’s article I will take you inside Bayon, but for today I leave you with the exterior shots presented below. As you can see, Bayon was undergoing restoration and preservation efforts during this 6 November 2025 visit:

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June 24, 2026 · 5:35 am

Cambodia — Touring Ta Prohm Temple

To say that Ta Prohm is impressive is quite the understatement. The photographic opportunities here are numerous, and the site is not too difficult to navigate. Ursula and I are in our 70s and we had no difficulty. Indeed, it was much easier to walk than Angkor Wat (part one of my three-part Angkor Wat series starts here: Cambodia — Predawn Arrival to Angkor Wat). By the way, the following picture depicts a real anachronistic conundrum. I’ll give you a closeup of what I mean on this week’s Fun Photo Friday, but take a look at this and see if you can spot it:

Can you spot the anachronistic conundrum?

As I mentioned in Monday’s article, portions of Ta Prohm are encased in spung trees:

Where spung trees are not, moss and lichen frequently are. And that vivid green makes for some fun contrast with the gray stones:

And while gray sandstone is used throughout Ta Prohm, you’ll occasionally run across some red sandstone as well:

As stunning as some of today’s images are, they aren’t even among my favorites. You’ll see those on this week’s Fun Photo Friday, as well as a closeup image that may astound you. Until then, here’s a photo gallery/slide show to hold you over:

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June 22, 2026 · 5:35 am

Cambodia — Arriving to Ta Prohm Temple

The next temple on our tour this Thursday, 6 November 2025, was the Buddhist temple of Ta Prohm. If Ta Prohm looks cinematically familiar, here’s a clue as to why: it also goes by two other names — Tomb Raider Temple and Angelina Jolie Temple. Yes, that means this was indeed a location for the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. And looking at the eerie shot above, it’s easy to see why the location was chosen. Portions of the temple is overrun with spung trees (Tetrameles nudiflora). These massive trees can grow to 145 feet/45 meters in height and spread out some 33 feet/10 meters at the base.

All in all, it gives off a creepy (pun intended) vibe as you can see in this shot:

Spung trees have “sprung” up at Ta Prohm

The temple itself is as intriguing as it is spooky, and it takes a short while to explore it.

For one thing, this is a pretty popular location that does draw a crowd:

But it is not so crowded that you won’t be able to get some people-free photos, as long as you’re willing to wait a few moments:

Ta Prohm Temple was completed in 1186, which makes it 840 years old this year, but the site was surrendered to the jungle at the end of the Khmer Empire in the early 15th century. In the early 20th century, when the decision was made to begin restoring the temples of Angkor, Ta Prohm was left mostly alone by the French School of the Far East (EFEO — the organization charged with preserving and restoring Angkor since 1907) because it was, “one of the most imposing [temples] and the one which had best merged with the jungle, but not yet to the point of becoming a part of it.”