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Published: August 17th 2006
We awoke the next morning to the roaring fan ahead, viciously swirling the cool night’s air with the brutal heat that poured in through our guesthouse window. It was only 6:30 am when our day began.
We met our English friend down the hall and went for coffee at guesthouse’s restaurant. Despite the heat, it was quite a dreary day, overcast but still dry. When we went to meet the Tuk-Tuk (the go cart/taxi) driver we found that the tour guide had not yet arrived. After waiting 20 minutes we were ready to move along without, but the driver called him and insisted that he was only two minutes away. Ten minutes later he arrived, and we all piled in the Tuk-Tuk and headed to the Temples of Angkor.
Driving past the five-star hotels and other luxurious companies catering to the desires of wealthy tourists, the shocking reality of Cambodia’s poverty haunted the forefront of my mind. The fences that stood along these structures barricaded out the world the visitors were supposedly coming to experience. Unfortunately, it isn’t present Cambodia that people come to see. They don’t come to know about the tragic recent history, the wars, the government
Royal Faces
Preserved even by naturecontrol and the fact that the people of Cambodia are in extreme poverty. This would be too much to bear, so they focus their eyes on the past, on the inspirational power of religion and majesty that was prevalent during the Khmer Empire.
The driver took us down the dusty road passing many other structures and temples. We gasped in awe as we simply drove by other large ruins, and our driver acted as though they were nothing. Our tour guide would laugh at us and say, “This is one star. I take to a five star!”
We first went to Ta Prohm. We took the 200-meter walk in and listened to our guide talk about random, uninteresting facts that seemed to have little to do with the real history of the construct itself.
We walked onto a terrace, where a large tree stood in its center. In the near distance we could see Ta Prohm. Our guide told us about how this was once the royal court and originally a Buddhist temple that was dedicated to the mother of Jayavarman VII. He answered some of our questions and was content standing still and letting out all
of the information he had as we restlessly waited to get a closer view of the magnificent architecture and handcrafted walls.
Ta Prohm was built in 1186, actually later than Angkor Vat. Its age may fool the eyes as you can see that it has been reclaimed by the trees and life that once stood before its existence. We were also told later by our guide that these ruins which were also considered the “Monastery of the King,” were built on a foundation that was far less solid than the one of Angkor, allowing it to collapse and appear older.
The walls held to their strength as we passed below them—as they have stood strong against the tests of time. We entered under the shadow of the most renowned tree, which had sprouted its roots around the most eastern entrance pavilion hundreds of years ago. The squidlike arms grasped onto the rubble as though they were the source of its life. The roots poured down the ruins and touched the earth as though the soil itself was alien.
Many other trees stood claiming the temple and pouring their roots in ownership. The long corridors were countless, and
the walls were covered by moss and other small shrubs. The rubble filled the courtyards and on the sills of the terraces still sat diminishing vases and pots.
Though on first glance the temple seemed a dead ruin, it was full of life. The trees were not the only proof; many large spiders had spun their webs in the open windows and small caterpillars and farms of ants had also made Ta Prohm their home. Walking down the moist empty corridors that echoed with silence, it was common to see butterflies floating in and out of the beams of sunlight that fell through the cracks of this ancient structure.
Ta Prohm is also known as the Tomb Raider Temple. It gained a more international interest when the Hollywood movie was filmed and the eerie mysteries of Angkor were developed into a larger-than-life story. As for us, we found contentment in the solitude of its complex, yet simple existence.
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Abby
non-member comment
Breathtaking
I recently visited Siem Reap last March and was BLOWN AWAY. If you get a chance to travel anywhere near Cambodia, you MUST make a quick stop here! It only takes about a day to see everything at Angkor Wat and it's so worth it! You feel like you're in the "Jungle Book".