HDR

Tomb raider - Ta Prohm temple .. where the roots take over

Previous post in this series is here..

The sun was still coming out and we had already finished the Bayon temple. We drove past the elephant terrace where the elephant stables were and on to Ta Prohm temple.. aka Tomb Raider temple. The giant roots that take over the ruins of this temple are famous. We used to play a game in the early days of iPhone games where we had to run through the ruins of this temple and collect gold coins. It was called Temple Run.. while the adults used to huff and puff and struggle to get 1000 points, the little one who was probably 3 or 4 at that time would casually grab the phone and hit 100000 points and show it and go “what is the big deal?” We would all stare at it in disbelief.. We were thinking of our not so little one when visiting this temple.

The roots and ruins make an amazing backdrop. We also stopped by the victory gate if I remember it right and took pictures (including Yoga pics). Our driver was okay with me doing yoga poses as long as there was no risk. He also practiced some new techniques we had discussed.. I hope my suggested additions to his tool kit come in handy for future tourists.. The picture below was his idea..

Then he showed me a new trick.. made us walk through the temple and he took a pano shot.. froze in the middle and asked us to walk out and pose again on the other side.. now I have something added to my photo tool kit!

The photo galleries below. Yet again, these photos and videos do not capture the way nature has taken over mans creation when abandoned even for a few hundred years.. we as humans are insignificant.

Portraits gallery. Our driver was right.. This was magnificent and breathtaking like the Bayon temple and at places more interesting..

A video highlight reel..

After we finished this temple, we had one more temple to visit before hitting Angkor Wat. Given our speed, Saruk suggested we go see a bun tea kadai.. so I was thinking we were going to a shop to have some bun and tea and then go see a temple. I was in for a surprise.. that in the next post..

The magnificent Bayon temple at sunrise

When Brahma or Buddha or Shiva or Vishnu closes one door, he opens another..

The previous post in this series is here..

Our driver was good. He took us super fast to the south gate at Angkor Thom complex to see the sunrise above the forest and hit the statutes at the gate. It was an amazing experience. Got a lot of good pictures and got a timelapse of the sun coming up above the forest!

Then there was the short drive to Bayon temple. Every tower had faces of buddha on all four sides and there were 50+ towers. What a temple. What magnificence. There were buddhist monks still praying early in the morning.

Happy with the pictures but you have to be there to see it in all its grandeur. There is also a set of pictures of San that made my day while editing.. it reminded me of the little one from an earlier time..

The photo gallery in portrait format..

landscape gallery

A video highlights reel of this part of the trip..

Thoroughly enjoyed the sunrise over the forest and the light show in Bayon temple.. It was still early morning and our driver said it was time to go visit one more major temple in the area before the crowds moved in, and then we could go to Angkor Wat temple for the tour.

He said it would be “better” and that piqued our interest.. Better than this?! That in the next post.. There are 500+ photos from that stop.. will work on them tomorrow.

The temple that kept going - Ta Som

Previous post in this series is here..

It was almost 4 PM. We had visited six places since morning. Given our schedule, our driver told us we had three more temples to see before sunset.

The next temple stop was back in the Agnkor complex or close to it. The Ta Som temple built by Jayavarman VII who appeased both Hindus and Buddhists by building temples for both. This one was a Hindu temple and kept going.. from one entrance to the other we walked past at least a dozen doorways and corridors.

At some point when it was a functioning temple, this must have been like the Aavudaiyaar kovil we saw in Tamilnadu two years ago. Just magnificent.

Our drivers artistic photography was taking a hit by now. We were tired. San managed the occasional smile. I could not carry my heavy SLR anymore and took only my iPhone with me. Not a lot of photos but the video tells you everything. Most of the temple was shaded and that was a big plus. We walked all the way to the other end to see the 4 headed Brahma on the gate and walked back.

Our driver had the right concept for this one.. he just had to get more depth to get me in focus instead fo the web.. still I give him A+ for effort..

The video highlight reel.. (the photos really don’t show the grandeur of the temple in terms of distance).

After this we were off to another temple…. the temples, they kept on coming..