- "Did you read the part about certain doom for those who enter?"
- ―Indiana Jones[src]
The Temple of Yearning was a temple complex built by the King of Chiang Mai in the 14th century near the southern edge of the modern day province of Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand. It was located on the jungle-covered flat lands near some mountains, and next to a river with a waterfall. It was rumored to be full of treasures, placed by the king, which could be reached by pulling a series of levers in the correct combination, and risking "certain doom". Over time, the complex became slightly overgrown with the rain forest flora.
Locals to the area were unaware of the temple's presence, but Indiana Jones found a description of the temple and how to enter it in a set of faded ancient writings. A college intern, Clifford, read Jones' translations and combination to enter the treasury and decided to seek out the riches himself. Moving up his trip to beat Clifford, Jones hired a local boy, Bhakdi to help him, even though the boy did not know of the temple's existence.
Clifford reached the temple, and when Jones and Bhakdi approached, he drew his pistol on the pair. Believing he held the upper hand, Clifford waved his copy of Jones' entry combination, but Bhakdi snatched it. After Clifford fired at the fleeing boy, Jones stepped in and punched Clifford down, and took his gun. Reminding Clifford that entering would mean certain doom, even if he had the combination, Jones and Bhakdi left, with Jones planning to return to the site in the spring, with a full team. Clifford gloated that he secretly had a second copy of Jones' combination, and began to pull levers. "Certain doom", in the form of a giant statue of a Thai guardian, grabbed Clifford while Jones and Bhakdi were off in the distance.
Behind the scenes[]
Since the temple complex is named only by the title of the adventure, it is not clear whether the name "Temple of Yearning" is what the structure was actually called.