Right across the Terrace of the Leper King and the Terrace of the Elephants is the huge royal square. This is where performances like parades and dances were held back then. It essentially serves the same function as the modern day squares of many great cities.
Bordering the royal square are a set of towers called the Prasat Suor Prat. These towers are unlike the temple-mountain types that I have seen before. But they are more like observation towers. Their position in the royal square also seems to suggest that these served as observation decks for politicians during parades and other official events.
There are a total of twelve of these towers bordering the square all in different stages of decay. It doesn’t seem possible to be able to climb the towers though.
Behind the Prasat Suor Prat what is known as Khleang. The structures are suggested to be some sort of royal guest house, although it is still uncertain was the true purpose was.
To the left of the Prasat Suor Prat is an elegant temple-mountain called Preah Pithu. Within the temple complex only the main structure remains while the rest lay in ruins. This spot is a little more shaded and thus more comfortable than outside in the blazing sun.
At this point, I realized it was a terrible time to be taking pictures of the Prasats since the sun was almost directly above. After I took a few token shots of the towers, I quickly went underneath a tree for some shelter. I’m not going to get any good shots like this. Then, out of nowhere, a group of cows came out and started to graze. I thought that was pretty strange to have such animals roaming in the Archaeological Park. Then I remembered that people do live within the park and something like this is normal.
After we rested, we went back to the our waiting driver, way back at the Bayon, who is now fast asleep. I needed to go to the bathroom so I asked where it was. He pointed in the direction where we came from and I figured that it shouldn’t be that far. I was wrong. The bathroom was somewhere beyond the Preah Pithu and it took me 20 minutes just to get there. I was furious that our driver didn’t say it was that far. Neither did he offer to take us there, since he was our driver after all. Oh well, after 40 minutes I was back at our tuk-tuk. On the way out of Angkor Thom we passed through the Victory Gate after a few snaps we set off for lunch.
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