An extraordinary morning at Ta Prohm, Angkor Complex, Cambodia

It was an extraordinary morning. We were out by 5:15 am to Ta Prohm, which appears in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Tomb Raiders. We were there before even the ticket checkers and, but for a lone sweet, stray dog who followed Paula through the temple, we were alone. Ta Prohm is famous for the trees that are taking over and growing through the walls. As we walked through the jungle by flashlight, the jungle was coming awake, and we could hear birds, lizards, monkeys and amazingly loud cicadas. Then, as the light started coming up in the sky and we entered the Temple ruins, we could hear the Buddhist monks in a nearby temple beginning their morning chants. We watched the dawn light fill this ruin that is incredibly spooky and haunting in the daytime, when full of people, when the monks aren’t chanting in the distance, and we felt we could almost hear the ghosts of 9th century Angkorans, lamenting the loss of their once-mighty empire. It was a morning that defined why we travel. Profound.