16th August, 2012 (our 37th wedding anniversary).
Still gasping from amazement, heat exhaustion and physical exertion, after visiting three temples, a bridge and a gate, all of which involved varying degrees of walking and climbing in the heat, we clambered aboard our minibuses and set off again, this time for Ta Prohm, one of the most famous of the temples of Angkor, also known as the Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, or Tree Temple.
Ta Prohm is about a kilometre or so to the east of Angkor Thom. We drove through what was like a big and pleasant park, where a series of towers had been built, like friendly haunted houses out of a children’s fairy story. Our guide told us that Apsara dancers used to dance on tightropes stretched between the towers.
Not a career option you’d like your daughters to take up.
On the way in to the temple, we passed a Cambodian Land Mine Victims orchestra playing traditional instruments – a poignant reminder of some of the atrocities these people have endured in their very recent lifetime.
A YouTube clip made on another day of this group.
Our group, having just arrived at Ta Prohm, with our guide (with his little Gate 1 sign).
We were pleased to see that Ta Prohm appeared to be all on the one level.
Ta Prohm was built from 1186 as a Buddhist temple, dedicated to the mother of Jayavarman VII.
After the fall of the Khmer empire in the 15th century, the temple of Ta Prohm was abandoned and neglected for centuries, and was only rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century.
Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm has been left in much the same condition in which it was found: the photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings have made it one of Angkor's most popular temples with visitors.
The trees growing out of the ruins are perhaps the most distinctive feature of Ta Prohm, and "have prompted more writers to descriptive excess than any other feature of Angkor."
Here are some examples, from the Lonely Planet guide alone:
“Ta Prohm is cloaked in dappled shadows, its crumbling towers and walls locked in the slow muscular embrace of vast root systems” (Lonely Planet).
“If Angkor Wat, the Bayon and other temples are testimony to the genius of the ancient Khmers, Ta Prohm reminds us equally of the awesome fecundity and power of the jungle” (Lonely Planet).
“There is a poetic cycle to this venerable ruin, with humanity first conquering nature to rapidly create, and nature once again conquering humanity to slowly destroy” (Lonely Planet).
“Ancient trees tower overhead, their leaves filtering the sunlight and casting a greenish pall over the whole scene” (Lonely Planet).
“It is the closest most of us will get to feeling the magic of the explorers of old” (Lonely Planet).
UNESCO inscribed Ta Prohm on the World Heritage List in 1992.
Ta Prohm is one of the most visited complexes in Cambodia’s Angkor region.
In this echoing chamber, you could beat your chest and the sound would reverberate. There’s a bit of chest-beating going on here. I also think it was around here somewhere that I dropped my hat.
The ladies are beating their chests: Woodley doesn’t need to.
The temple of Ta Prohm was used as a location in the film Tomb Raider. Although the film took visual liberties with other Angkorian temples, its scenes of Ta Prohm were quite faithful to the temple's actual appearance, and made use of its eerie qualities.
What an amazing morning! We had seen four temples, a bridge and a gate – talk about sensory (and physical) overload.
We then drove back to Siem Reap for lunch, knowing that we still had the biggie, Angkor Wat, to go.
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