angkor
the three day pass to visit the temples of angkor cost $40, which is the financial equivalent of cyanide in the eyeballs for budget backpacker bicrom. after just one day however, it already seems totally worth it. i went prepared for disappointment, and yet was continually stunned despite myself. i'm imposing an auto-hyperboleator on the following descriptions: however amazing i try to make it sound, it will never do justice to just how majestic the major structures are.angkor wat is the biggy, and at first glance it is just that: big. for a lot of things sheer size is enough, but for the wat (as, er, noone but lazy bloggers call it) the intricate details all along the walls and carved on the towering spires are just as awe inspiring. there were a fair few package tourists about (why do the japanese insist on fulfilling every sterotype and run around making inconceivable amounts of noise in temples?), but the joy of da wat (that works even less well) is that it's so big, you can always find yourself some solitude amongst the ruins.
the baphuon meanwhile is the temple that is bedecked with hundreds of peaceful faces gently smiling down at you... i found myself a nook and took in their serenity, emerging an hour later feeling more relaxed then i have done for years.
what's really bizarre, and i find myself thinking this in india too, is how these civilizations crumbled so completely: the fall from the pinnacle of global achievement to third world poverty is complete. blaming imperialism is the easy route, but it doesn't explain how the people got so weak as to be colonised in the first place. it just makes you realise how cyclical national (this is an anachronistic term, but used for convenience) power can be. maybe in a few millenia it will be africa sending aid to the states... and if they are i hope they send nothing but leaflets encouraging contraception laden sexual promiscuity, and condoms.
anyway, that's it, i haven't really got the lexical prowess to do these places justice: you'll just have to wait for the photos. i also cycled over 50kms today, mostly over dirt tracks, on a bike with no suspension, so i'm feeling more sorry for myelf than verbose.
off to some of the more remote temples tomorrow, where the line between monument and jungle has become blurred. was all set for a 4.30am start, but received wisdom is that there is nowhere to catch a decent sunrise: the brief reccy that i had today seemed to confirm this, which is a bit of a bugger (although i'm pretty sure i wouldn't have been thinking that while it was still dark at wrong o'clock tomorrow).
posted by bicrom @ 1:24 pm
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