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I’ve never been anywhere that I legitimately thought that a poisonous dart would be shot out of the mouth of a statue if I stepped on the wrong stone. This all changed the moment I stepped into the ruins of Beng Mea Lea fifty five kilometers southeast of the main temples of Angkor Wat. Its funny how most people are so completely enamored with the main temples of Angkor, the temples that have the size or the temples that have the charm of having been taken apart and restored to their original splendor. Not me. I shouldn’t say that these monuments were unimpressive in my eyes, but rather I was looking for something more mystifying, more taken by the jungle.
The Temple Of Ta Prohm, which was featured in one of the poorly constructed Tomb Raider movies was closer to what I had envisioned Angkor Wat to be like. It had fifty foot tall trees that were hundreds of years old and growing overtop of temple walls. It was deeper into the jungle than the main temple of Angkor Wat (which is surrounded by a moat) or Bayon (which is protected by the walls of an ancient city). Ta Prohm
was definitely the most enjoyable temple I visited in my first two days, as I convinced the guard at the west gate to allow me to enter even though it was five minutes before closing time. I’d just run through without taking pictures and meet my driver at the east gate. He smiled and let me through knowing full well that I’d take close to an hour wandering around alone and enjoying every minute of the dying daylight.
But if Ta Prohm is the Tomb Raider of temples at Angkor Wat, Beng Mea Lea is hardcore Indiana Jones jungle safari.
Reasons why Indiana Jones is the man:
1) He can wear a bow tie and look dignified but he still kick some Nazi ass when necessary.
2) He carries a whip and a gun but would rather use the whip.
3) He is the only guy that can wear a leather jacket into the desert or the jungle and not sweat to death.
4) Because of these three facts, he always gets the girl...
It took two hours of driving and an hour over breakfast to convince my driver to make the
Even the Buddha is a Phillies Phan!
Pretty sure I'm going to Hell for this picture... trip. I’d watched the sun rise behind Angkor Wat and thought that if we got to Beng Mea Lea early enough, I might not sweat like a fat kid at diet camp. I wasn’t even able to finish the morning ride out through the Cambodian countryside before I was forced to change into the sexy beater as seen in the pictures.
The beauty about Beng Mea Lea is that it’s been left as it was found. They haven’t cut back any of the jungle foliage; they haven’t played with the blocks like legos as they did with many of the other ruins of Angkor. Everyone that makes the trek out to the temple finds it hidden in the jungle (after paying five dollars to discover it) just as it was found by French explorers hundreds of years ago. There has been some minor modifications to the temple in order to allow a movie to be shot there, a wooden walkway was constructed in parts so that cameras could gracefully catch the necessary footage. Some purists might find this walkway to be a foreign intruder but it is practical and makes the adventure a little safer. What it doesn’t do
is take away the sensation that you might find a hidden cavern somewhere that still holds a small priceless golden statue god that is worshiped by the natives.
I wanted to walk through the temple myself but after entering through the exit and walking around the first quarter of the circuit backwards, a Cambodian woman with a limp and a funny tan hat gestured that I should follow her. It would have taken me over a year to navigate my way through the closed doorways and crumbled walls. She pointed out some carvings and spoke a few words we both understood such as the names of the hindu gods that might spit poisonous darts at me and directional words like up and there accompanied with a pointed finger. We finished the circuit much faster than I would have liked and I started to go through the temple again, armed with my video camera and she began to follow me again because I hadn’t tipped her for her expertise. I would tip her before I left, I had more exploring to do. I motioned for her to leave me alone to which she flicked me off and stomped towards the
Destruction
Roots have moved through the stones just like they were moving through water... exit. I should have just paid her.
My second trip through the temple I was alone, completely alone except for the random Japanese tourist who would pop up out of no where and return to oblivion just as fast. I climbed to the top of the collapsed central tower and surveyed the temple to see trees and roots that have run amuck, moving stones out of their growth path as if they were grains of sand. All four of the main gates had long since crumbled, crumbled is a word I will have to use a lot when describing this place because there’s nothing quite like a twelve foot pile of five hundred pound stones lying all around. I suppose the correct word isn’t crumbled as that might indicate a disintegration of material when the only thing that was crumbled was the manmade structures that had once served as the palace for a king long since forgotten.
One of the mystifying features of this temple was that there are no written records of who the king was that built it, what gods it was meant to be in honor of, nothing. No records were found concerning any of
its past history which, I suppose is why they have left it to the jungle. The Jungle claimed it long ago and will not let any man take it back. There was evidence of this as I became lost for the twentieth time inside one of the courtyards. I thought I’d come this way before but walked through a spider web which indicated that I in fact had not walked this path and neither had anyone else for quite some time. The spider web was larger than a volleyball net would be if it were round. In the center of the web was a spider larger than my hand. I may or may not have soiled myself instantly.
If I could, I’d convince Stephen and George to drop plans for an Indy IV and just take my homemade footage of Ben Mea Lea and begin a Pennsylvania John series, but that’s not likely in this lifetime. I can still dream though, and I’m sure I’ll dream about this temple often.
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Emma
non-member comment
Hey stranger! yeah. It sure is an amazing place. Think? I missed Beng Mea Lea though....but I can't really remember, so many great temples. A pity, as Indiana Jones was the theme of mine and Annas trip. haha. Beautiful sunrisepics. Surprised you we're awake that early after all I've read about your sleepinghabits (and I saw the pictures at Royals blog!) man. Africa's next?