December 5, 2005 - Time

Four days in Cambodia is just too short. This country has been rebuilding from the ground up for the past decade or so…not an easy feat, I imagine, after being ravaged by war.

We spent most of the time in Siem Reap exploring the temples. Angkor Wat is perhaps the most well-known. Hey, it’s where Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft raided some tombs. But, nestled in the jungles are dozens of temple complexes, some restored and preserved, others left to the jungle. It’s at these temples that the difference (and connection) between geologic time and human time is so evident. These temples were built about a thousand years ago and were home to generations. But, these stone structures have outlasted the civilizations that built them by hundreds of years. We visited some sites that were left to the jungle, relatively unpreserved. Trees have toppled many of the walls while others have snaked through openings, yielding to the structures. It has taken hundreds of years, but the jungles have begun to take the structures back from humankind.

It is a strange melding of the two…geologic versus human time. The stone for these structures came from the Earth but were arranged by human hands. They were left behind by Man as a whole but have outlasted those individual civilizations that built them. They were abandoned to the jungle but now have been given new life by the current Cambodian people. These temples now draw in thousands of people a year from around the World, bringing much needed resources to the Country. Angkor Wat and its neighboring temples no longer house and protect; But, rather, they bring nourishment to the people.