Finally. The other temple I wanted to see. I insisted this be the last one on the day, because frankly, the monkey took my water and I was fading in this heat.
But here we are, the ‘Tomb Raider’ Temple.
Built in the late 12th century, it was called ‘Rajavihara’ or Royal monastery, founded by King Javavarman VII and dedicated to his mother.
All children should do amazing things and dedicate them to their mother. Just dropping the hint.
It took almost 80,000 people to maintain or attend at the temple, including over 2,700 officials and 615 dancers.
As long as one of them is not the mother, I’m okay with that.
The temple was built without mortar, which I suppose is odd for the time, but after it was abandoned (as all these temples were) trees took root in the loosened stones and grew through the temple.
Which looks really cool. All old and abandoned and ruined and such. Which is why it was a prime location for the Laura Croft Tomb Raider movie, and why so many people like this temple the best.
Having said that, this was a very confusing temple to get around. I believe because when they decided to work on restoration, they left Ta Prohm largely as it was because it was the temple that best merged with the jungle, but was still not entirely consumed by it.
That leaves halls that are dead ends, paths that go nowhere, and no sense of front, back or sideways after you pass through the first door.
Honestly, there were some wooden walkways and platforms to stay on, but what I did not know going into this temple was that it had 2 exits. The others appeared to have one way in and one way out, or I just walked all the way around them and didn’t know I had bypassed a different exit.
I discovered my predicament when I walked down the very long path to leave the site, and realized the path was different. The sign above might have been helpful before I did that, but honestly, the area with all the red dots is a confusing mess of people going every which way.
I knew I was in the wrong place when I saw the crane, but I had no idea or desire how to fight my way back through the crowds to figure out how to get back to my starting point.
So, I walked. I found a nice man at the outer wall who helped me call my driver. It turned out they were good friends and had a good laugh about it, but my driver, thankfully, came and picked me up at the other entrance.
I found this big cock and entertained myself while I waited. By taking pictures of it. Get your mind out of the gutter. It was entirely too hot to be anywhere near a gutter.
And statements like that are the reason I was done for the day. Too hot. Brain melted. Not processing anything.
Thankfully he agreed and took me back to my hotel, where I thought it would be nice to go for a swim in the amazing pool.
Nope. It was even too hot to swim.
Air conditioning. Ice cream. Sleep. It was a good day.
