The actual Tomb Raider movie was filmed in the Angkor Wat Archeological Park. If you want to feel like you are a Tomb Raider, then you need to go to Beng Mealea. We met some foreigners who were on holiday in Vietnam from working on a farm in Cambodia. They advised us that there are some amazing temples 60 kms outside of Siem Reap. We decided that to make the 2 hour tuk-tuk trek out to check at least one of the interesting ones out.
We got a bit of a late start and we should have known better. It's monsoon season after all!
At least as we drove the 2 hours in a tuk-tuk going 40 km/hr in a 100 km/hr zone on the shoulder of the road (we weren't the only ones!) we passed all sorts of village Cambodian life. We even saw a Buddhist funeral procession on the road. At least 3 or 4 monks stood with the coffin on a cart. They were preceded by a parade of children, the first of which was holding a picture of the person. The cart was then followed by the rest of the mourners.
The people were also selling some sort of charcoal/bbq bamboo shoots. We have no idea what these were for; however, if we saw 1 person selling them, we must have seen 30 people selling them.
Go figure that 3:30 p.m., just 5 kms outside of Beng Mealea, our tuk-tuk would get caught in a 30 minute thunderstorm. Even though it was still sprinkling outside, we decided that we had already paid for the tuk-tuk and made it this far - talley ho!
The temple was touristy, don't get me wrong. Surprisingly tourist. However, the puddles along the long walkway to the entrance of the temple combed with the light drizzle and heavy clouds overhead to really make you feel like you were in Tomb Raider. This temple was founded by the Hindu Khmer kings as a predecessor to Angkor Wat. It uses the exact same layout as Angkor Wat, just a lot smaller (it's still a good size though). However, if the people hadn't rebuilt the long 800 meter entrance to the temple from the road, you'd never have seen it from the road. This temple reminds you that once/if people disappear from the Earth, that nature will take over all of our buildings.
They had built a walkway so you could get around the ruins. You could see bits and pieces of the various elements of the temple. Mostly you could just hear the songs of the frogs and toads making harmony with the raindrops. You could also see areas where trees had just grown over, in, or around the various stonework. You could see half destroyed figureheads. It was cool. We just wished it wasn't so muddy!
We got a bit of a late start and we should have known better. It's monsoon season after all!
At least as we drove the 2 hours in a tuk-tuk going 40 km/hr in a 100 km/hr zone on the shoulder of the road (we weren't the only ones!) we passed all sorts of village Cambodian life. We even saw a Buddhist funeral procession on the road. At least 3 or 4 monks stood with the coffin on a cart. They were preceded by a parade of children, the first of which was holding a picture of the person. The cart was then followed by the rest of the mourners.
The people were also selling some sort of charcoal/bbq bamboo shoots. We have no idea what these were for; however, if we saw 1 person selling them, we must have seen 30 people selling them.
Go figure that 3:30 p.m., just 5 kms outside of Beng Mealea, our tuk-tuk would get caught in a 30 minute thunderstorm. Even though it was still sprinkling outside, we decided that we had already paid for the tuk-tuk and made it this far - talley ho!
The temple was touristy, don't get me wrong. Surprisingly tourist. However, the puddles along the long walkway to the entrance of the temple combed with the light drizzle and heavy clouds overhead to really make you feel like you were in Tomb Raider. This temple was founded by the Hindu Khmer kings as a predecessor to Angkor Wat. It uses the exact same layout as Angkor Wat, just a lot smaller (it's still a good size though). However, if the people hadn't rebuilt the long 800 meter entrance to the temple from the road, you'd never have seen it from the road. This temple reminds you that once/if people disappear from the Earth, that nature will take over all of our buildings.
They had built a walkway so you could get around the ruins. You could see bits and pieces of the various elements of the temple. Mostly you could just hear the songs of the frogs and toads making harmony with the raindrops. You could also see areas where trees had just grown over, in, or around the various stonework. You could see half destroyed figureheads. It was cool. We just wished it wasn't so muddy!
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