Siem Reap Pt.2

Next stop Ta Prohm Temple, this temple is being reconstructed with the help of the Indian Government.

In and amongst these ruins’ trees have grown over the years within and around some of these buildings, you will see this at various locations.

We continued to follow the road passing some temple site until we came across Ta  Prohm Temple where we stopped.

The above is the location where Angelina Jolie played Lara Croft in Tomb Raider stood on the wall behind.

Ta Prohm Khmer language: ប្រាសាទតាព្រហ្ម, Romanization of Khmer: Ta Prôhm, Tā Brahm “Ancestor” is the modern name of a temple near the city of Siem Reap, Cambodia, approximately one kilometre east of Angkor Thom and on the southern edge of the East Baray. It was built in the Bayon style largely in the late 12^th Century and early 13^th Century and was originally called Rajavihara Khmer Language: រាជវិហារ, Romanization of Khmer: Réachvĭhar, (“Royal Monastery”). It was founded by the Khmer Empire King Jayavaman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and center of learning dedicated to his mother. Almost 80,000 people were required to live in or visit the temple, including over 2,700 officials and 615 dancers.

The temple is referred to as the “Tomb Raider Temple” or the “Angelina Jolie Temple” due to its depiction in the film Lara Croft Tomb Raider film (2001).

The temple was built without mortar and, after it was abandoned, trees took root in the loosened stones. The trees growing out of the ruins and the Jungle surroundings have made it one of the most popular temples with visitors to the area. It has been on the UNESCO “World Heritage List” since 1992. (Wikipedia)

Next, we continued onto Takeo Temple.

Ta Keo Khmer language: ប្រាសាទតាកែវ, Prasat Ta Kêv is a Temple Mountain in Angkor, Cambodia, possibly the first to be built entirely of Sandstone by the Khmer Empire. (Wikipedia)

Just a note: Pol Pot had some of these ruins destroyed as he wanted to start afresh from nothing, meaning he did not want any previous history to remain in his “Utopian Vision” of the future.

After two days visiting these different ruins, and we visited more than what is shown here, we decided a change would be in order, on the third day we visited The Landmine Museum. We returned our scooters and hired a car and driver for this trip as there was a good chance of rain.

Some of the unexploded munitions were left over from the Vietnam war, America bombed both sides of the border to try and bomb the Viet Cong that were crossing back and forth. Pol Pot also installed mines around the land perimeter of Cambodia to stop Cambodians from leaving and foreigners from entering.

 

Next: Visit from Family & Friends