Temple Gazing
Trip Start
Jan 10, 2006
1
2
8
Trip End
Jan 17, 2006
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
It's kind of hard to describe the temples with words so I will do it primarily with pictures. When I get back home I'll also add some information about the history of the place and such. In the meantime I will allow myself a few personal observations since, after all, this is MY blog and is, as such, the only place where I am allowed to say whatever I want:
So, in my travels over the years, I have noticed a pattern
01-Temple shot with trees in background
. Many (but not all) of the countries that developed civilizations the earliest (Peru, Mexico, India, Cambodia, and such) are among the least developed now. I think the reason for this is that these civilizations developed in places where, in early days, it was easy to survive. In Cambodia for example, the lakes were full of fish and it was easy to grow food. So civilization developed early here. But - and here is the catch - because it was so easy to survive, these early civilizations never developed beyond a very basic level. They had no need to. When there is always food at your doorstep, you don't need to develop factories or shopping malls and such. So the development of the society, while it started early, stagnates. As a result, we can see people living today in Cambodia pretty much the same way that they lived a thousand years ago. In many cases they are living even less well today because they certainly cannot afford to build these massive stone towns and temples like they did before. Okay, this is just a theory of mine and this blog is as far as it will ever get. (In this regard, I have another theory: When dinner time comes, it's time to stop theorizing and start eating!)I'll try to upload a few pictures just to give you a taste - but when I get back to Bangkok I'll upload some more - and perhaps even upload a lot of them to another website for separate viewing.
