Like the Southern gate, here too was a moat in front of the monument with a bridge over it guarded by the Serpent. After a fair amount of walking, we reached the main gate shaped like Mount Meru. The gate was intricately carved with beautiful Apsaras adorning the walls. Many of those who came to monument were busy taking photographs at the gate itself.
As per the traditional Khmer architecture, Angkor Wat is designed to represent Mount Meru, with a Moat around it depicting the mythical sea where the Samudra manthan was done. The temple complex is huge with the outer wall running more than 3 km long. At the center of the temple is a huge Quincunx of towers with the center one being the tallest. The overall grandeur and intricacy of sculpture of this temple complex has amazed travelers and archeologists for centuries.
This monument was huge even by the Angkor standards. The Central Structure was enclosed inside three concentric rectangular (Oxymoron?) galleries, each inner gallery higher than the other. The walls were the abode of Devas and Apsaras carved magnificently in stone, very much different from the stone carvings I have seen back in India but reminiscent of the Ajanta Paintings. Other than the Celestials, there were scenes from the battles of Ramayana and Mahabharata, we could actually identify vast armies of monkeys annihilating the Asuras.
Once we entered inside, we were on a terrace surrounded by Gallery on all sides. In the middle of this terrace was the Upper Terrace going up to a considerable height. This was the peak of this mountain-temple. Everything was carved, from the walls to the ceiling and even the floor at some places, its difficult to imagine what a Superhuman effort it must have taken. Read somewhere that in the modern times, with all the jazzy equipment, it would have taken 300 years to build this monument !
