First Day of Temple-Hopping

The East Gate to Ta Prohm, a temple that is half overrun by jungle. Also where some scenes from Tomb Raider were shot.
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Our introduction to the thousands of temples at Angkor Wat was Ta Prohm, also known as the jungle temple but now more familiar to most folks as where they filmed the first Tomb Raider. It was built in the 10^th century by a Buddhist king and was once an extremely powerful monastery. After many years and a few wars, the temple was all but forgotten and covered by the jungle. Now it’s half cleared out, but there are huge roots growing over, around and through everything, which makes a simple walk through the temple feel like a spooky adventure.

trees taking over one of the temple buildings.
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We entered through the East Gate and walked through the jungle and over the moat to the main area, passing huge spiders, monkeys and various other jungle bugs on our way. There are huge trees called sprung all over the temple grounds. Some are supporting the temples as they now stand; others have crushed buildings and now grow over piles of rock.

1000 year old temples

Our guide, Polen (pronounced like the country, Poland) was quick to point out the Kodak moments, Tomb Raider shots and Lonely Planet covers.  Every where you turn is another amazing view, so we were all snapping away like Japanese tourists – it’s amazing how digital cameras have changed tourism for all of us.

Me at the entrance to a luck room, where when you beat your hand on your chest you get a huge echo and good luck. We definitely had amazing luck on the trip.
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Next we headed to Angkor Tom, a temple city. We drove past the Elephant Terrace, where the king would sit to watch acrobats and tightrope-walking (the national sport?). The Bayon temple was huge – 54 towers to represent the 54 districts of Angkor Wat. (By the Way, Wat means temple, and Angkor means capital city) Each tower has one face on each of its four sides to represent compassion, knowledge, equality and simplicity. My untrained eye couldn’t tell the difference between the vague smiles on any of the faces but they were still awesome to look at.

the entrace to Ta Prohm, from the inside. We waited forever for all the people to clear out.
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The lower wall of the temple has bas-reliefs telling the history of the Khmer people up through the 10^th century. The level of detail in the carving is unbelievable! They represent daily life and various wars and celebrations in a somewhat chronological order.

We tried to take tons of pictures and really enjoy the temple, but April is the hottest month of the year here and I spent a lot of time looking for shade within hearing distance of our guide.

Sara and I had lunch at the Buddha Lounge. She gave a little street kid our bottle of water and made a lifelong friend who quickly became a nuisance. Eventually one of the waiters chased him off. Later a mine amputee ambled by and really appreciated the samosas she offered.

more roots and temple ruins
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After our little siesta we headed out to the Banteay Srey, the citadel of the women. It’s a Hindi temple where almost every surface was intricately carved. Unfortunately the sun was in the worst possible place for pictures, but it really highlighted the beauty of the pink sandstone color.

On the way back, we stopped at a traditional Khmer home where they made palm candy and wine. It’s a very detailed process. First you have to climb up the side of a fairly pliant palm tree, then use what looks like tongs to squeeze the palm fruits, then use a funnel shaped bag to bring down the juice from the fruit – all of this while balanced precariously on a ladder that feels like it will either give or fall over any minute. Once you get the liquid, it’s boiled then shaped and allowed to harden. The palm candy is really good – it tastes sort of like a sour maple sugar candy.  They package a row of the candies in a sliding envelope made of palm fronds.

The elephant terrace, where the king would watch theatrical performances.
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From the palm candy village, we headed to yet another temple – this time to try and catch the sunset. Pre Rup is thought to be a funerary temple, or at least that’s the angle our self-appointed tour guide took. As soon as we arrived, all of these adorable little kids approached with drinks and trinkets and whatever else we might need to buy. We bought beer and water to enjoy with the sunset, and then started exploring the temple by picking our way up from the base to the top. It’s all a bit worn down, but we think the various rooms and temples may have been crematoriums, or just regular shrines/temples. From our ledge near the top, we had expansive views of the countryside and could even see a very faint outline of Angkor Wat over some trees. While we were waiting for sunset, we bought all the kids’ beer and tried to keep them entertained once it ran out. I can’t tell you how amazing these kids are: full of factoids about all the likely tourist countries, jokes, and never-ending smiles. After the mediocre sunset, while we carefully climbed down the eroding steps, one by one, the kids ran right down, picked flowers for us, and ran back up, offering their hands. It was amazing!