[Click on the photos to enlarge them!] The Bayon is part of the Angkor Wat region – just up the road from Angkor Wat proper. It’s inside an area called Angkor Thom.
What makes it noteworthy are the scores of faces carved on towers. A common hypothesis is that these are composites of Buddha’s face and that of the king who had the temple built.
To me, one of the striking aspects of the faces is that they all look outward from a great height. The interior of the ruins contains a variety of decorations – but none of these visages.
If you click on the following photo, you’ll see (more clearly) a statue of the Buddha that people pray and leave offerings at today.
The following video gives a sense of what it’s like for someone with attention-deficit disorder to walk on a lower level. The high-pitched noise was created by insects.
The spectacular number of face towers makes it easy to overlook the romantic mysteries of the interior.
Lingam and yoni:
In the spirit of the king forcing people to look at his image, here I am.
Indonesian observations 
Wow, Tracy, very cool (and nice to see you and R)! How are you doing without Krispy Kremes? and the insect noise, incredible. I think I would need tranquilizers. Happy Holidays!
Hey, Berta,
Thanks for looking at the blog. Jakarta, amazingly enough, has Krispy Kremes and many, many Dunkin Donuts shops. The only major deprivation we face is an utter lack of Reese’s – which shops in Cambodia carry!
Those insects only got louder, as another blog post will demonstrate. I imagined the incessant noise and heat driving someone to run amok.