(time) Travelling back to Cambodia

Seeking Pitty: Its been some time. I'm so sorry. One could wonder what's the point of it.... but there is an explanation, I am not trying to sneek out of my responsibility as a writer. I am not trying to arouse pity. Its just first I was kidnapped by aliens for a few weeks and now my precious, my computer, is refusing cooporation.

Recently I came back to the "Great Temples in the Jungle" quite frequently, so I would like to post some pictures dated back a few months ago.

Angkor are several capitals of the Khmer empire (9th-15th century). It's an astonishing, gigantic temple complex most likely to be included as one of the New 7 Worldwonders. The temples, that have regained some fame in Tomb Raider, were Hindu shrines and later changed into Mahayana Buddhist temples.

We arrived in Cambodia from Vietnam with one of the notorious and so much beloved tours. Our Mekong Delta tour ended in Pnohm Penh. Greeting to Juho at this point, who is still there and supposably writing his thesis - Good luck, my friend and thanks for the visit in your appartment. Our jurney was a type of 80 days around the globe rush: There was a deadline to be met: Bangkok airport on the 5th of January. So we did not take enough time in Cambodia's capital, nor devoted much time to its country side or people. We were heading for IT: Angkor! Like a million other people each year, we wanted to see what that ancient civilization has left in the forest. We arrived in Siem Reap a place crowded with tourists (most of them wearing more or least inappropriately short shirts and trousers like myself). And like all these others we took hotel rooms and bargained with the local Tuk Tuk drivers for the upcomming daytrip.

What to say about Angkor? You have to be into "old stones". I cannot imagine what people populated that place. I do not understand the "confusion" of Hindu legends. But what these people built in this hot and partly hostile climate is seriously impressive. These faces, these figures, these forms! It's amazing!

The other side to Angkor is that Cambodia as a former war-torn country suffers from extreme poverty, lack of development, corruption and war relicts. Children are begging around the temples and mines turn acres into deadly fields. It's a poor country at this point and I doubt about the positive contribution trourism can make.