Temple 2 & Ta Prohm (The Tomb Raider temple)

the cheeky photo

So we were off to the next temple, which was a bit run down but had some excellent carvings around the window edges. I got a cheeky photo of a monk reading a book next to the Buddha statue. Then I asked him if I could take his photo, he said "yes", so I took the second photo.

After taking the photo I walked around the other side and was genuinely surprised that he wanted to talk to me. He asked me where I was from...and I said the "States, Chicago, IL" then he asked me where I'd travelled to/from to come to Cambodia and if I liked it here. I responded and told him my travel tale...and he seemed genuinely interested. At first, I didn't want to disturb him from his studies, but then I thought...well maybe he just wants to practice his English with someone....:)

A few kids

After sampling to local cuisine close to the temples, we went to Ta Prohm or the Tomb Raider temple. As this temple is high on the list of attractions since it was featured in the film, there were loads of kids outside waiting to sell you something. As soon as I asked "Do you want a crayon?" I was swarmed by loads of kids this time...and by the time I got through the crowd, all the crayons were gone...one little girls even asked for the box. It was nice to see the joy in the kids faces when you gave them something so small. That's ok though, there was another box of crayons...

This temple was a great blend of man conquers nature only to have nature fight back and conquer the man-made structure. Some of the trees were between 300 and 400 hundred years old and would damage the temple if they were removed. It felt like a maze of the same structure built again and again, each different chamber seemed to have more enourmous trees which had become intertwined with the stone structure. This was by far my favorite temple and again something you'll have to see for yourself. I would definitely do this again...:)

The camera doesn't seem to capture it completely..:)