About 300 miles Northwest of Phnom Penh, you’ll find Siem Reap. In this region is where you’ll find temples abound for you to explore. Angkor Watt is perhaps the most famous of these temples which Suzy and I have explored last year, but this year we find ourselves drawn back to one of our favorites. First let me explain the terminology as the temples are usually called several different names. To get it correct, the area in which these temples 
are built, is called “Angkor Thom”, which when translated means; “Great City”. The city is surrounded by great walls which in circumference is about five miles long. The outside walls of this Great City are surrounded by a moat. The only way inside the city is from 5 entryways, all of which have a long bridge across the moat. Now along the sides of these bridges are huge statues, 54 in all, and are quite frightening to look at. I suppose they are there to scare away all those not invited. Banyan Temple, our favorite temple, is the largest and last temple to be built by the great Khmer empire. It also stands smack in the center of the city. Banyan Temple was built in the 12th Century and is very different from most other temples. You’ll find magnificent etchings on the outside walls of the Temple that depict great battles and also ordinary life but there are no inscriptions as to explain the etching. 
In fact, the only inscriptions are in the outside of the chamber walls describing what God was inside. This also is the only Temple to display great huge faces, sometimes thought to refer to King Jayavarman VII, but has not been verified. You can spend quite some time at this Temple. Everywhere you turn you’ll find another item of interest. You’ll also find yourself asking: How did they accomplish building this Temple in the 12th century? The blocks are absolutely huge. What Suzy and I enjoy and marvel at most is the intricate etchings on the outside walls. We found parts of the Temple to be in shambles because of its age, yet the engravings are still sharp, intricate and deeply cut. They are not at all weather beaten. Suzy and I enjoy the adventure of discovery. Banyan Temple is one we can come back to again and again.
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