Ta Prohm: man-made temple vs mother nature!

The Ta Prohm temple is just incredible. It is impossible not to bring out the inner explorer in you! It is raw, mysterious, wild, and it takes you into another world and time.

The temple was neglected and swallowed by the jungle of Cambodia for centuries. Today, it looks very much in the same state as when the French explorers stumbled upon it more than a century ago. Efforts were made to reclaim the temple from the jungle, but the jungle would not completely let go. It embraces the temple tightly like a possessive claw.

 

 

 

Built around late 12th by King Javayarman VII, who dedicated the temple to his mother, the temple is nicknamed today the Tomb Raider’s Temple, thanks to its appearance in Angelina Jolie’s movie.
The temple’s most prominent feature are the massive tree roots that are sprawling all over the temple. Gigantic trees grow from the towers and corridors of the temple. They are just so intertwined with the temple that it would destroy them both if you tried to remove them. So it was deliberately left for mother nature to claim it, giving it a really different, authentic , a bit eerie yet magical feeling.
It was weird how these trees grew over the walls. And as I marveled over how majestic nature could be, I took a moment to appreciate and be grateful for this experience.