After a short and sweet bus ride - short and sweet by the standard of some of the interminable nightmares I've suffered in the past few weeks - I am now in Siem Reap, a place which justifies its existence by being quite close to the 12th-century temple city of Angkor Wat, Cambodia's foremost tourist attraction, which at the time of its being built was the largest public place in the world. It's become a time-old cliche for tourists and travellers to get there before dawn and watch the sun rise over the ancient stones and the misty moat surrounding them...I'm not a fan of following the herd, but I couldn't think of anything else that would be original, so I set my alarm for 4.30 and toddled bleary-eyed down there along with everyone else. (I'd already woken at 2am to see if the England match was on the telly. It wasn't. Rats.) Sadly the weather was drizzly and completely overcast, so instead of shimmering sunbeams and iridescent reflections, I just saw a sky which changed imperceptibly from mid-grey to light-grey. Profound. And it was $20 in!
The place is very impressive, certainly much more so than any of the temples I saw in Thailand, but on the whole I still have to say I haven't been especially overwhelmed by Eastern temples in general. There are undoubtedly certain areas of learning and morality in which I think Eastern cultures are superior to our own, but I wouldn't add architecture to that list. I find most of the temples rather gaudy, too fussy and ornate, and effeminate rather than feminine. Given the choice, I would much rather look again at the memorials in Washington DC; or, for that matter, Durham Cathedral.
Nonetheless, I did take some pictures at Angkor Wat, and a picture update will follow as soon as I can be arsed. Hope all is well back in Blighty. Y'all wish me luck in trying to find somewhere I can watch SAFC get beat, as we always do at Wigan, on Saturday...wherever I may be...
