Lara Croft, Eat Your Heart Out

Apparently Bayon is where Lara Croft does her thing in one of the Tomb Raider movies.  More relevantly, it's the temple at the center of Angkor Thom, the walled "Great City" which served as the capital of Angkor in its glory years.  Slightly less publicized (and therefore slightly less crowded) than Angkor Wat, Bayon captures all the mystery of the Khmer civilizations.  The eerie giant faces, carved in the image of King Jayavaraman (the second dude to preside over the temple-cities at Angkor), seem poised to come to life at a moment's notice - with plenty of help from the Japanese government, which is largely responsible for the lion's share of immaculate restorations of the temples.

A depiction of a temple, pre- and post- Japanese restoration

Our traveler candidly enjoying some Cambodian sun at Bayon

Angkor Thom (and specifically Bayon) is also where I feel the most intense combination of awe and inspiration; as I would discover, the remainder of the temples would form a sort of orderly denouement for my journey through the temples, dotted with a few highlights.  However, for all I wanted to, I could not shed my own nagging acknowledgment that the Hindu-cum-Buddhist temples were to me, rather than a world-shatteringly unique homage to mysterious and mighty Gods, instead an inverted tribute to the ingenuity and perseverance of the men who made them.

At this temple:

I try to focus on the the fact my donation of US5 in exchange for a red cloth bracelet [edit:  in Thailand, a Buddhist friend tells me my bracelet means I am married] will go a long way to feed/clothe the women tying it for me, as opposed to the fact that they cunningly asked me for my donation AFTER giving me the bracelet, reminding me of the all-too-familiar feeling of being taken for a ride here in East Asia.  I assure myself that the breadth and depth of poverty in Cambodia is so great that any tourist dollar, regardless of whether it is spent generously, shrewdly, or recklessly, is needed.  Whether this is accurate or just a rationalization is something I can't afford to contemplate for the sake of my sanity.  

A couple highlights from the remainder of the day:

• Running into some fellow Georgetown Hoyas in Ta Prohm, identifiable by their JT3 game-day t-shirts; they're on vacation, after doing their final semester of Biz school in Saigon
• A dramatic separation and reunion with my tuk-tuk guide, Mr. Bora outside of Ta Prohm
• 2 bungled attempts by non-commissioned tour-guides (read: 13-year-old kids) to get me to sneak off the trails and get a "behind the scenes" tour of some temples.  Whether they were trying to get me alone for some sort of mugging, or they were legitimately trying to cut their teeth on the tour-guide circuit, they were not very good.  Thanks anyway.  
• A few more breathtaking photo opportunities:  

Peace be to Ta Prohm