Angkor temples lure Chinese visitors

With its world-famous cultural relics, Cambodia draws a lot of Chinese traveling in Southeast Asia.[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Bayon Temple

Another must-visit is the Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom, built over the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

In contrast to the grand sprawl of Angkor Wat, the Bayon temple is compact, and its iconic giant smiling stone faces carved onto the towers of the temple are distinctive compared with other temples in the country, and are awe-inspiring.

There were once about 200 smiling stone faces carved into about 50 towers, but now there are only 37 towers left, and unfortunately, some of the smiling faces have faded.

The bas-reliefs of Bayon are also distinct, and depict scenes of daily life and religious mythology in Angkorian Cambodia.

Visitors are advised to enter the complex through the east gate, and tour in a clockwise direction, so the carvings present themselves in order of the storylines, with vivid scenes and details.

Banteay Srei, or the "Citadel of the Women", is a small square temple, but is also a must-visit, thanks to its high-quality carvings on pinkish sandstone. The carvings, covering almost every available inch of the sandstone, are very beautiful and intricate.