We Started Our Day After Breakfast At The Hotel,

our first full day here,

our hotel, 
 

the local equivalent of a 7-11,

today there were about 8 of us in the mini bus,

our first port of call was to Ta Prohm Temple,
 

although the entrance does not look that grand, looks can be deceiving,

as we made our way into the complex a band was playing contemporary Cambodian music, the musicians are all disabled in some way, all from land mines, a donation is always appreciated,

 

as we made our way to the temple there were lots of stones laid out, many of the temples were deliberately destroyed in the time of Pol Pot, but also some were taken down to be rebuilt, but again in the time of Pol Pot the master plans were destroyed,

one of the side buildings,

as this is all a National Park, logging is prohibited,

this is good news for the trees as many have been here literally hundreds of years,

like this one,

its roots growing over the stone work till a weak spot is found,

it was lovely here in the cool of the morning,

with dappled sunlight illuminating the scene,

we had to have a pose as well,

although it looks dead the tree is in fact alive, but it is a dormant time of the year for it,

another huge tree, also a treat for me, orchids growing as they normally would, look at the first branch on the right,

here they are,

another huge jungle giant,

we then make our way into the temple proper, nature has claimed its territory back,

and the trees are winning,


I visited here about 8 years ago with Mark, there were no walk ways as there are now, which spoils things a bit, but I guess tourists safety must come first,

tree roots everywhere,

what at first glance just looks like a hole in the ground,

turns out to be a man made pool,

with a stone work lip still in place,

reconstitution is a never ending job here,

the walk way goes round the trees,

work will start here soon,

work is in progress at various sites, but the whole area is so huge with so many temples needing restoration,

it is still early in the morning as you can see from Diana's shadow,

there are passage ways at 90 degrees both sides on the main thoroughfare,

some of which have to be shored up,

to heavy for me!,

this door way is of reasonable height, but as you venture into the temple they become smaller making sure that everyone has to stoop to make reverence to the deity at the temple,

this tree root really has got a strangle hold on the stone work here,

the slightest weak point is exploited,

the weight of the roots pushing the stone work to the ground,

this part of the temple is being sort of left as it is, so the trees have won at least this battle,

but I wonder how long it will be before this stone work is pushed over or covered by tree roots,

I do not have a clue as to what all of these buildings were used for,

Diana poses by on of the smaller doorways,

we make our way through to another courtyard,

with more corridors from the main walkway,

tree roots in profusion,

well we had to get in on the act!

some of the stone work is well preserved,

like this one,

it is easy to get away from the crowds of tourist, I saw this ruined courtyard,

in the corner this statue set in the wall,

back to the tourist trail,

for me it still seems a shame to cover up the ground with planks but I have to say there were so many more tourist here than the last time I visited,

we make our way deeper into the temple,

along with Jeff and Da,

one of the temple guardians resting in the cool shade,

how many tourists has he seen?

our guide Mr. Johny gives some idea of scale,

as does Diana,

the girls,

almost everywhere you look there are trees or their roots growing,

slowly pushing some of the buildings over,

this one I think will be left,

like many of these others,

as long as there is no danger of building collapsing nothing will be down to harm the trees,

this one growing over an outer wall,

these are a couple of before renovation and after pictures,

what difference,

another group of musicians,

our tour of the temple is now nearly over,

as we make our way through a renovated part of the temple to the car park,

this is where you will be asked to buy any manner of things from books to DVDs and musical instruments,

the starting price is always $1 but the moment you show interest the price is suddenly $10 so be prepared to haggle! then we were on our way to our next venue.