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Siem Reap - Bayon - 2006

An interesting view walking around the Bayon complex after full daylight.  It is located directly in the center of the Angkor Thom site.  Evidently many of the bas-relief heads bear a remarkable likeness to the King Jayavarmen VII who had the Bayon built.

Bayon is an intricate complex of passages and buildings that interlink in a square pattern.  Built in the three-level style, it appears that this was a Buddhist rather than a Hindu-inspired structure.

There are many meters of bas-relief carvings in the walls of each level, though generally their condition is not quite up to those at Angkor Wat.

If you look closely at this picture, you see the large face through the passageway, but down below the door frames, you will see carvings of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara as well on the face at the base of the pillars.  The detail is unimaginable.