On our last day in Siem Reap, Cambodia, we were up early with our guide, Ohm. We were originally scheduled to visit Ta Prohm (the lost temple) on the bicycle ride day but we would have been there in the afternoon … and it would have been extremely crowded. Ohm recommended we get up early on our last day and visit it just as the sun was coming up … this way we could avoid the major crowds and take some awesome pictures.
We were very fortunate to have Ohm as our guide … he is very well connected in the area, being a film set manager. If I understood correctly, he worked on both Tomb Raider and the Indiana Jones movies. Not only that, he is actually a Monk. So he knows the history of the temples plus details about the movies. We didn’t take the normal tour route … we walked in through the gate used in Tomb Raider (after taking some great pictures).
When you walk through this opening and look up you realize the heads are hollow on the inside. Here’s a picture looking up through the heads in the picture above.
We walked through the moat area and then into the temple via one of the walls. This afforded us a chance to get some great pictures before the crowd showed up. Check out these awesome images.
It’s just astonishing the workmanship and craftsmanship that went into this structure … from the 12th century! Of course, even more amazing was the way all the roots/trees had tried to assume control again.
We were finishing our tour walking out the front gate as the throngs were coming in. If you get the chance, definitely start early and don’t always follow the crowd.
We were back at the hotel and on to the airport for our next destination: Luang Prabang, Laos! We thoroughly enjoyed this portion of our tour … Cambodia was worth the effort.
Stumblingpiper
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