I, Tanner Croddy, went to four movie sets so far this trip. The first movie set was on Castaway Island in Fiji, where the movie Castaway, starring Tom Hanks, was filmed. The second movie set was the Hobbiton, in Matamata, New Zealand, where The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were filmed. The third was in Halong Bay, Vietnam where King Kong, Skull Island and the next King Kong movie were filmed. The fourth was the Ta Prohm temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, called by most the Tomb Raider temple, where Lara Croft Tomb Raider was filmed. I have been to four movie sets and I will tell you which of them is best and why, and describe them to you as clear as I can.
The first movie set I went to was Castaway Island. It was a very small Island. On one side there was a small triangle of soft white sand beach along a sapphire blue horizon. On the other side of the island there was a small and dense forest that went from the beach up to the side of a small hill of rock moss and light green ferns. There is a small hike along the small coastline. Also on the flat part of the beach a SOS had been written in large coconuts, which was from the scene in Castaway. Also, the snorkeling was great and the visibility was spectacular. In all, this is my second favorite but I recommend that you go to Hobbiton first.
The second movie set that I went to was the spectacular, detailed and unreal Hobbitton. I love Hobitton. It brings the novel to the real world. It would have made J.R.R. Tolkien proud. It all starts at the Shire store. At the Shire store you book your tour, grab a souvenir like a shirt with a map of middle earth on it like the one I’m wearing now, or a bite to eat.
A bus then takes you through the sheep farm where they made the Shire. The Shire was made to look as if it was straight out of the book. Peter Jackson was very strict about detail. For example, Peter made a painter paint 200,000 leaves on a fake tree above Bag End 10 days before filming. Also, in the very first movies in the Lord of the Rings series it was a different movie set. They did not know how the movies would do in the box office, so they built Hobitton out of materials that would only last temporarily. When they filmed the Hobbit series, they decided to rebuild Hobbiton permanently to film the next few movies and open tours to go through it. There are 48 Hobbit holes. None, however, have a furnished inside. All of the Hobbit Holes outside were decorated to represent what job and class they had amongst the Hobbits. The higher your Hobbit hole was, the richer you were and higher class. Bilbo Baggins’ Hobbit hole was at the top. There was the cheese maker, wine maker, honey maker, the baker, the lumber jack, the gardener and so many more. There is a live garden. There are apple trees, but Peter decided to take of all the apples and leaves and replace them with wired apples put exactly where he wanted them to set the scene for three seconds of the movie. He also hired someone to take all the frogs out of his man made pond and bring them five miles away because they made too much noise during filming. Then at the bottom of the hill was the Green Dragon Inn. It was fully furnished on the inside and you could dress up in the costumes and drink some ginger beer or ale and eat a chicken pot pie as I did. In all, I would recommend that you go to Hobbiton first.
The third movie set was Halong Bay, where they filmed King Kong, Skull Island. In the movie the scene looks to be very scary. But it is quite the opposite. It is very peaceful and calm. You could easily imagine there being a huge hand print in one of the many karsts like in the movie. I took a cruise through Ha Long Bay and it was amazing. I kayaked through a cave and around the karsts made out of limestone and covered with a golden green moss and massive trees. On the top of one was a large pagoda. Deep down in another karst there was a really cool cave with long stalactites were you could imagine Kong sleeping. In all, Ha Long bay is my third overall recommendation.
The fourth movie set was the Tomb Raider Temple, Ta Prohm, in Angkor Wat, Cambodia. More on that in a future update.
Great job, Tanner Croddy, I love your post.
Wow, love your exciting story! So happy, too, to finally hear from you. Be sure to write more often. Your friends going back to a very hot, boring 7th grade writing about what they did on their summer vacation sure can’t beat that. Definitely worth an A+! Love and big hugs to all… 💙
Tanner, What a great description. It is so cool to see art up close and gain a better understanding of the film making process. You will never watch those movies the same. Brendan is a HUGE Hobbit fan. I am of course not going to tell him about your blog post or he will make us all sit down for another Lord Of The Rings marathon, followed by watching the Hobbit. I will let Patrick read it afterschool. Your post makes me want to travel and see it in person. Katherine would have a blast running thru the shire, and Elizabeth would most likely try to see how many new words she can make with the SOS coconuts. We just got back from our trip to Pleasanton. We wish you were still in town. It felt strange not having you there. We admire your adventurous spirit and wish you well with the ups and downs of traveling. I know iis not always so easy. Keep posting updates so we can follow along in your travels.
They all sound fantastic! I have a number of friends who’ve been to Hobbiton and love it as much as you do. I think I’d like the Castaway island. You make it sound so beautiful!