After climbing around the many-faced Bayon temple we hopped onto the Terrace of Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. The Terrace of the Elephants was basically a long, stone platform with elephants everywhere. They were on stairways and carved into walls and there were even huge, life-size elephant heads with trunks on one side of the terrace. Many believe that this terrace was used as a reviewing stand for public ceremonies and parades which basically served the king as his giant viewing station and grand audience hall.
The Terrace of the Leper King is near the Terrace of Elephants and it is cool to look at because of all the meticulously carved figures in several layers that line the walls. The statue on the terrace is actually a copy of the original which is now housed in the national museum in Phnom Penh. Some researchers believe that the statue is of Yama, the god of death and that the site was of a royal crematorium, but others believe that it was of a Khmer ruler who died of leprosy (hence the name).
In many places, and especially in The Terrace of the Leper King, the carvings looked so well-preserved and new that it seemed like they could have been done yesterday. This led Sean and I to wonder, as we had on many of the other temples, how long it would be until there would be more security in and around the temples. Now in Angkor Wat you can climb on anything and go anywhere you want. There is nobody watching what you do or where you go. There will probably come a day when some areas will be off-limits in order to preserve them better for the future. But until then we all get to be Indiana Jones for a day.
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