Siem Reap, Cambodia - Ta Prohm Temple (Wednesday, November 9th, 2016)

It's election day at home (we are 14 hours ahead in Cambodia so November 8th in the US is November 9th here!), and we're in a different country.  Kind of weird, but that's why they have absentee ballots, right? 

First stop this morning, breakfast.  As with all of our hotels, breakfast is complimentary with our room.  


There is always a huge variety for breakfast, including an omelet bar, but most of the options are Asian with spring rolls, stir fried vegetables and soup.  Today we decided to have some noodle soup for breakfast. 

Our friend Helen is a pro at twirling her noodles on a spoon with chop sticks.  Its fascinating to watch her, so we decided to give it a try.  It's harder than it looks, and to be honest, this was my only successful attempt.  Steve's just hanging on for dear life.

Steve finally gave up and just went for it.

View of the pool from our balcony

The bus is almost full and were ready to head out to the temples.

A local guide, Sam, was hired for us today, so that he could give us all the details about the Temples we would be visiting.  

Our first stop was to pick up our temple passes which would be good for the whole day for all three temples.  

The ancient city of Angkor was the original capital of Cambodia and the ancient Khmer Empire.   This sprawling city, built by Khmer Kings was one of the largest cities in the world and once home to more than one million people at the height of the empire.
It covered about 600 square kilometers and was destroyed by Siamese troops in 1431.  

In it's history, Cambodia has gone back and forth between the Hindu and Buddhist religions, depending which king was in power, so some of the temples are Hindu and some are Buddhist.  Hindu temples are tall, allowing the king to climb to the highest point and bring the spirit of their god to the people below.  Buddhist temples are flat and spread out, allowing all of the people to enter and be as close as possible to their god.

The stone used to build these temples is from north east of Siem Reap.  Using elephants and man power, they put the stone on bamboo rafts and floated it down the river.  

After the defeat of the Khmer Empire, the ancient city of Angkor remained concealed under the dense tropical jungle until the end of the 19th century when it was rediscovered by French naturalist Henri Mouhot. In 1992 the entire territory of Angkor was taken under the protection of UNESCO.

The first Angkor temple we visited today was the Ta Prohm Temple, built in the mid 12th to early 13th centuries by King Jayavarman VII. When it was discovered in 1992, it had become over grown by the ficus and silk trees of the jungle, and remains in that state today.  It is best known for it's appearance in the movie Tomb Raiders with Angelina Jolie. 

The Cambodian people are very proud of this movie and having Angelina Jolie in their country.  Angelina adopted her first child Mac from one of the villages near the ancient city of Angkor while she was working on this movie.  While she was in Cambodia, she also purchased 48 acres along the Laos border to be preserved as a wildlife park.

Ta Prohm is a buddhist temple.  The beauty of this temple is how it has become one with the jungle over time.  And although it looks like ruins, it is still considered to be a holy place and is still visited by monks and buddhists as a place of worship.  We were required to cover our knees and shoulders while visiting all three of the temples today.

Notice the tree growing out of the roof of this building

This is a relief, carved in the stone on one of the buildings

Tree roots coming through the foundation of the building

The yellow crane is for some restoration work they are doing

Thin pieces of stone are stacked alternating directions in the doorway to make it strong

Stones and trees living in harmony

The next picture was made famous by the movie Tomb Raiders.

The buildings have tall skylights and carved windows to let light into the structures

As we waited for our group to finish up in the Ta Prohm Temple, we enjoyed a quick rest before we made our way back to the bus.

Chris and Helen pulled up the nearest tree root for a mid morning rest

This was an incredibly beautiful temple, and one of those times where you have to ask yourself, how did they do this.  Its structures have been standing since the 12th century and have withstood the moisture, plants and animals of the Cambodian jungle.  This is a must see for anyone visiting Siem Reap.