Bayon

It's hard to pick favourites.  But I did anyway.

Perhaps it was the heat, or time of the day, perhaps it was because I did this one - the largest - after the others and I found places in the woods where it was silent and I could contemplate what I was looking at without hawkers, or loud fellow tourists.  (The signs all over that say "please be quiet" need to be translated into Mandarin).

I suspect it might be the huge gates with this friendly fellow looking down at all who pass into the city of Bayon. It once housed a million people, and was built after Angkor Wat in a case of royal one-upmanship.  In the west, the only comparable would be Rome, with ruins intact, and strewn about, all being tell-tale signs of what took place before.  The detail work that you see on almost literally every surface speaks to the artisans that made the places.

Bayon isn't all standing. Much of it, is fine, like the Elephant terraces and royal pools (the bgger one for concubines) still hold water, but much is falling as well.  It's 35/100 degrees now in winter and this place was made so long ago that the fact it still remains is testament to the thought, quality and ingenuity of it's makers.

 Indeed I like Bayon the best, because off the main temple there are other monuments and relics of the royal palace where no one else is.  You hear the jungle and wonder at what lies in front of you - or you're standing higher than the trees, 10 storeys in the air.  It boggles the mind a little. It's humbling.