Breathtaking Sorrow - Cambodia

So many places to visit in one's lifetime and I hardly thought I will have the time and chance to revisit any. But I did, to Siem Reap. With Kenneth and family.

I was very saddened by what I saw. Within these few short years, the decay of the ruins from natural and man-made forces is evident. Although still majestic and breathtaking, it is clear that a lot is lost and will never be the same as before. I did not expect such nagging pain and sorrow in my heart having to witness the ancient site in this state. To those who "discovered" Angkor with me years ago, "Keep the wonderful memories intact and close to your heart, do not come back..." I used to see this beautiful intricate door detail and pattern everywhere. No more. The door in the photo is the only one I managed to see on site. Most sites now only have the door frame & door opening but such beautiful details are no longer there.

Many of the decorative window columns are destoryed and can be seen lying in piles below where they have fallen. The guide told us that many started tumbling down after recent storms and rains.

Many places within the temples are out of bounds to tourists now. No longer can free spirited backpackers climb up to inter santuaries of Angkor Wat or get lost in the ruins of Ta Phohm. Timber platforms are constructed for tourist to walk on and a singular path/ route dicated. Where they percieve are good photograhic locations, a larger platform is built for the "I have been here" shot.

I hated it. The wandering is gone. The sense of excitment and discovery one feels when one bursted out of the jungle to find the lost civilisation one has been searching for has been robbed.

You can see from the photo above that restoration work is getting desperate. No longer discreet. In fact there are many scenes with yellow construction cranes in the foreground but I cannot bear to record the scene with the camera.

Again I felt conflicted. I remembered years ago, irresponsible tourists pouring unfinished coke over the stone steps, knowingly or unknowingly eroding the treasures of the Khmer. I remembered I demanded more to be done to conserve these structures - more security, add platforms and decks, add barriers to protect the fragile architecture from us...

The timber deck pathway and the fallen rubbles

So i suppose, they have done better, now. I should not be complaining about the efforts.

The French restoration team, I understood, use a modern method of construction to restore Angkor Wat. Joining the huge stones with montar to give it additional strength. However, the montar interfered with the path of rain water drainage and eventually stained and destoryed the bas reliefs on the walls. Once a Buddha carving, now modified into a Hindu God. Different era and different kings, bring forth a different religion.

"Nature. If you water and feed it too well with that strong tropical sun and rain, it will lose control..." - Aldous Huxley   My favorite Monster Gallery @ FCC is gone. The rage now is Dominic Rouse, a photog of the mind. Ecce Homo, a digitally composed decaying figure inspired by Cambodia and S-21 museums is a masterpiece.

" The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin with." - WM Lewis