Well-kept and tidy

The main shrine of the northwest Prasat Chrung with a ruined small building in front

A pediment with a standing Lokeshvara minus its face and a group of acolytes

It's Prasat Chrung time again, this time the northwest one, sitting in the overhead sun with little shade, though tidy and well-kept, located at one of the corners of the walled city of Angkor Thom. The view over the wall looked out onto fields and cows to both right and left, though I could just make out the sandstone blocks that used to act as the wall of the long-gone moat. The track from the North Gate was straightforward except one massive break in the wall that had made the path at that point difficult to negotiate on my mountain bike. The devata in niches on the walls of the central shrine were in reasonable condition and a standing Lokeshvara, minus its face, pediment was still in situ above a grinning kala lintel. Any of the four shrines in the corner of the great city could double-up as a picnic venue, so keep that in mind if you fancy a day's walking trek along the walls of Angkor Thom. Next stop would be the West Gate that used to be the most evocative of the city's gates until the authorities decided to make it safe with enough timber to make a small forest.

The gentle track that leads to Prasat Chrung from the North Gate

A massive break in the laterite wall made this section hard to cross

Below the wall, green fields and grazing cows with some sandstone slabs at the foot of the treesA reassembled pediment on the ground showing a re-formed linga and two acolytes

The east entrance to the main shrine with its Lokeshvara pediment

A grinning kala lintel with vegetal scrolling below the pediment

This devata over time has lost her feet which now look stunted

An uncrowned simple-styled devata in a niche

Two crowned devata, the left holding a lotus blossom

The devata of the northwest Prasat Chrung are well developed though their decoration has worn over time

The main shrine of Prasat Chrung with its many devata, windows with blinds and different colours on it walls