At the heart of Angkor Thom is the 12thcentury Bayon, the mesmerising, if slightly mindbending, state temple of Jayavarman VII. It epitomises the creative genius and inflated ego of Cambodia’s most celebrated king. Its 54 Gothic towers are decorated with 216 gargantuan smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara, and it is adorned with 1.2km of extraordinary basreliefs incorporating more than 11,000 figures.