The Bapuang Temple in Tongwang City is located about 200 meters northwest of the Bayon Temple. This building is very majestic and existed before the construction of Tongwang City. Since most of the temple buildings have collapsed, there are not many carvings left in the temple, and the many stones may give you a deep impression of it. From the Bayon Temple, there is a 200-meter long walkway leading to the Bapuang Temple, which is supported by three rows of circular low stone pillars. There is a cross-shaped pavilion in the middle of the aisle, and there are ponds on both sides of the aisle. You can see the classic water reflection landscape in Angkor monuments. In the rainy season, walking on the walkway full of water on both sides will give you a feeling of walking in the water. Before arriving at the temple, there were thousands of stones that originally belonged to the temple building, and they could no longer be restored. Looking up at the temple, the pyramid-shaped Mount Sumeru Temple consists of three layers of platform bases, which are very high and the stairs are quite steep. It is conceivable how devout pilgrims were at that time. The stairs before and after the main tower are closed, and visitors need to take the newly built wooden escalator on the side to climb, which is also very steep and can be used with both hands and feet. There is a closed cloister on each plinth of the temple, and there are towers in the middle and four corners of the four sides of the cloister. Climbing up to the top, you can see a small stone pagoda, which used to be the golden copper roof of the Ba Puang Temple, but now it has been damaged beyond recognition. There are four hollow stone gates on the top of the stone tower, which is fascinating. The stone tower is forbidden for tourists to climb, so you can only watch it from here. Standing on the top floor of Bapuang Temple and watching the surrounding scenery, it is very enjoyable. Looking down, you can also see the hundreds of stone pillars in the temple that used to support the causeway, but the causeway no longer exists. Going down from the top floor, walking to the back of the temple, looking up, there is a reclining Buddha with a length of more than 70 meters and a height of 9 meters on the parapet of the second-floor platform, which is very rare in the ancient ruins of Angkor. This was built later when the Ba Puang Temple was transformed into a Buddhist temple. Unfortunately, most of them have collapsed or have not been completed, and it is difficult to see its overall appearance and demeanor. The head of the reclining Buddha is on the north side of the wall, while the positions of the arms, legs, feet, etc. require you to continue to imagine and guess.
Dr BP
