Angkor Thom literally means "the great capital". Built under the supervision of the sovereign Jayavarman VII at the end of the 12th century, it is delimited by an enclosure wall of 3 km by 3 and 8 m high. Five doors allow to penetrate there, one at each cardinal point and "the door of the victory", in the northeast. If this one was reserved for the great military parades, the tourist circuit today prefers to enter Angkor Thom by the southern one, the best preserved. On each of the gates are four massive faces, and it is not clear whether they represent the Buddha, the king himself, or perhaps the guardians of the cardinal points. At the entrance to the gates, stone bridges span the moat on which are depicted an episode from the myth of the "churning of the sea of milk": the Devas, deities of the Hindu pantheon, have lost their immortality; to regain it, they therefore decide to ally with the Asuras (demons) to create amrita, the nectar of immortality. To do this, they must spin Mount Mandara, which will turn the Sea of Milk and produce the elixir of eternal life. The Devas, with the help of Vishnu and Shiva, then seize the amrita at the expense of the Asuras. On each side of the bridge, we can still see giants pulling a snake as in this episode. Unfortunately, many thefts and lootings took place, and only the one of the south gate is still in good condition.
Once inside the walls of Angkor Thom, we discover the remains of the largest city of the Middle Ages; in addition to the royal palace and magnificent temples, including the Bayon, built in the center of the city, we can admire the ingenuity of Khmer architects. The multiple irrigation canals and the natural slope of the site allowed a remarkable circulation of water, to irrigate the numerous rice fields feeding the hundreds of thousands of people who lived there. As the majority of the houses were made of wood, only the stone constructions remain; in addition to the Bayon, one must see the Baphuon, the Phimeanakas, the Preah Palilay, the Tep Pranam, the Preah Pitu, the North and South Kleang, as well as the terraces of the Leper King and the Elephants. Most of them are must-sees when visiting Angkor and many of them are crowded with tourists as soon as the sun rises. It will be necessary to alternate between sites preserved from the agitation and those which accomodate the thousands of curious people who came from all over the world to admire this jewel of the Khmer civilization.