Everyone likes seeing a friendly face while traveling. Our Instagram followers definitely understand that. This week, this beautiful picture from Cambodia was your favorite of the bunch. The Bayon Temples are the marquee attraction of this region once populated by the Khmer people. Built during the 12th and 13th century by King Jayavaram VII, this temple served as the center of Angkor Thom, the capital city of Khmer. Built nearly 100 years after Angkor Wat, it shows a century's worth of evolution in artistic styles within the Buddhist faith. While Buddhism was the main motivator for construction of the temple, a variety of local deities can be found evidenced in the temples carvings and bas reliefs.
Travelers pour in from all over the world to get a friendly smile from the faces constructed out of large stone bricks. Usually, clear pictures of the faces are difficult to come by, with so many other tourists competing for photo opportunities. Global Basecamps' Cambodia tours offer a different experience, howeve. By taking their time in reaching the temple complex until the afternoon, our guides ensure that our travelers enjoy a relatively calm and quiet time at Bayon. As the sun sets, the stones come alive in red, and the faces get ready for cool night temperatures.
