ta prohm in the morning

i climbed into the tuk-tuk, yawning, ready to fall back to sleep. it was a chilly monday morning, and at 6am, the siem reap sky still looked dark.

but that's what happens when you're on a tour. thia, our guide, advised us to get up really early so we could catch the sunrise at ta prohm, also known as the tomb raider temple.

i shivered as our tuk-tuk roared in the direction of the temple, the wind piercing my cheeks. a tiny frog managed to hitch a ride with us, but it slipped through a crack and bounced on the road.

we reach the temple in around 30 minutes, a lot longer than the time it takes to get to angkor thom, even though ta prohm is just supposed to be a kilometer away. we were greeted by an arch topped by another buddha face. no matter how many of these i see, i never seem to get enough.

thia led us into the forest, and after five minutes of walking, we finally saw the first set of ruins. even with all the rubble, the temples still look amazing. my mind couldn't even contemplate how magnificent it must have been when it was newly-built.

i probably shot more than a hundred photos just going around ta prohm. the day before, i was still able to exercise some restraint, just taking photos of things that i knew would be of interest. but at this temple, it was hard to do that. aside from the fact that my camera was fully charged that morning, i found the jungle element really fascinating--roots were interwoven so intricately with most of the stone structures. it was hard to turn away without snapping a photo.

we probably stayed there for about two hours, just exploring, playing lara croft, and having thia take our pictures with tree roots. we never did get to catch the sunrise, but there was no sense of loss on our part. just seeing these temples, actually being there, was enough for us.

see more photos of my ta prohm adventure.