A Western tourist sits on the top of the 10th century temple Bakheng in the AngkorWat complex near Siem Reap, Cambodia, to view the setting sun - 7/16/2011.
July 16, 2011 By Denis D. Gray
The Daily Star, Lebanon
Associated Press
SIEM REAP, Cambodia: The blistering heat at Cambodia’s Angkor temples eases, and the sun’s last soft shimmer will soon brush some of the most wondrous monuments ever created by man. It’s a moment for peaceful reverence. Hardly.
A traffic jam of up to 3,000 tourists surges up a steep hillside, trampling over vulnerable stonework and quaffing beer at a sacred hilltop that provides spectacular sunset views of the massive beehive-like towers rising from the main temple in this ancient city: Angkor Wat.
Below, guides describe its wonders through blaring loudspeakers in a host of tongues as buses circle what is said to be the world’s largest religious edifice, one of hundreds erected by Angkor’s kings between the 9th and 14th centuries.
“Nobody should be allowed to walk on 1,000-year-old stones,” says Jeff Morgan, executive director of the U.S.-based Global Heritage Fund.
He says limits on tourists at the temples are decades overdue. The influx hastens the deterioration of edifices already buffeted by invasive tropical vegetation and monsoon rains.
The relentless tread of feet and the fumes from heavy traffic wear away the soft sandstone. Oily fingers harm the magnificent bas reliefs. Noisy crowds rob visitors of near-mystical moments of quiet contemplation or the chance to imagine they are jungle explorers discovering a lost city.
Too many tourists are not Angkor’s only woe.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site and its gateway town of Siem Reap are also beset by crass development, alleged corruption and endlessly delayed plans on how best to preserve the temples.
Once abandoned and overgrown by the jungle, and isolated by wars, these stone buildings have emerged as one of Asia’s top tourist draws and a vital money spinner for one of the world’s poorest nations. Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon says some 6 million visitors per year are projected by 2020. The growth curve has been spectacular.
On one day in 1980, shortly after the overthrow of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, this correspondent was the sole tourist in the entire complex. The inauguration of direct international flights to Siem Reap in 1998 was pivotal, and the filming at the temples of Angelina Jolie’s 2001 Hollywood hit “Tomb Raider” also helped put Angkor on the map.
Tourist arrivals quadrupled from 60,000 in 1999, to 250,000 in 2001. This year’s expected total is 2.5 million.
“Mass tourism is the major challenge. There will be an accelerated use of temples that were not constructed for that purpose,” says Anne Lemaistre, who heads UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural and educational body, in Cambodia. “It’s not time to talk about it anymore. We need to act.”
There has never been a lasting master plan to preserve and regulate the 400-square-kilometer site, although an Australian-devised Heritage Management Framework enacted this year should help, she says.
“It’s just the beginning. I am not going to say if it is going to be successful or not but we will try,” Lemaistre says.
Previous plans over the past two decades have become largely outdated.
In 1994, zoning rules to keep approaches to the temples development-free were openly flouted. Today, the once-grand avenue flanked only by towering trees leading to Angkor Wat is a congested line of top-end hotels mingling with cheap, ugly shophouses.
Vann Mollyvann, an architect who headed an independent Cambodian agency to manage Angkor, fought for the zoning and other measures to prevent what he called an “Angkor Disneyland.” He eventually was fired for being obstructive, and the agency, Apsara, was put under the direct control of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An.
A company owned by Sok An’s son was later awarded a contract to light up the temples. It was revoked after widespread criticism that the installations were damaging the monuments. Still, a high-profile critic of the project was sentenced to prison in 2009, accused of spreading disinformation.
The way entrance fees are collected also has drawn criticism.
In a hushed deal with no bidding, Sok Kong, a tycoon close to Prime Minister Hun Sen, was granted a concession to collect the fees. Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay and others allege some of that money flows into the dealmakers’ private pockets rather than government coffers and Angkor’s restoration.
Morgan says Sok Kong’s company “is just milking the site.”
“Everyone knows it. It’s a great deal. You are getting lots of money without putting in any investment,” he says.
The government denies any wrongdoing, and the tourism minister said it’s “a good mechanism. We can get a lot of money.”
Critics say such deals at Angkor merely mirror today’s Cambodia, dominated by Hun Sen and the powerful politicians and tycoons around him.
“They control Siem Reap and Angkor like everywhere. They could do whatever they please no matter what the law says,” Son Chhay says.
The population of Siem Reap is projected to double to a quarter million by 2020. Unrestricted pumping of underground water has sparked fears that the earth under Angkor’s temples might sink and collapse. The once-charming town now has 320 hotels and guesthouses.
More will soon rise after the construction of a new airport that can handle long-haul jets. The current airport now takes smaller planes from regional points.
Many protectors of Angkor say the time has come to strictly limit the number of tourists per day, as is done at Spain’s Alhambra palace and Peru’s Inca citadel Machu Picchu, or to require slippers and severely curtail where visitors can walk.
Starting this past year, only 100 people have been allowed entry into the uppermost section of Angkor Wat at any one time, and they can stay for no longer than 30 minutes. Some wooden walkways have been installed at the most popular temples.
But much of the temples remain free-for-all zones.
“Tourist management at Angkor sucks and they’ve had 20 years to work on it,” Morgan says.
Lemaistre agrees that Angkor’s romantic charm has faded – standing alone on the glorious causeway of Angkor Wat is no longer possible – but that all is not yet lost.
“It’s very complicated to maintain Angkor’s great quality but it must be maintained,” she says. “It cannot become a tourist factory. That would be a nightmare.”
July 16, 2011 By Denis D. Gray
The Daily Star, Lebanon
Associated Press
SIEM REAP, Cambodia: The blistering heat at Cambodia’s Angkor temples eases, and the sun’s last soft shimmer will soon brush some of the most wondrous monuments ever created by man. It’s a moment for peaceful reverence. Hardly.
A traffic jam of up to 3,000 tourists surges up a steep hillside, trampling over vulnerable stonework and quaffing beer at a sacred hilltop that provides spectacular sunset views of the massive beehive-like towers rising from the main temple in this ancient city: Angkor Wat.
Below, guides describe its wonders through blaring loudspeakers in a host of tongues as buses circle what is said to be the world’s largest religious edifice, one of hundreds erected by Angkor’s kings between the 9th and 14th centuries.
“Nobody should be allowed to walk on 1,000-year-old stones,” says Jeff Morgan, executive director of the U.S.-based Global Heritage Fund.
He says limits on tourists at the temples are decades overdue. The influx hastens the deterioration of edifices already buffeted by invasive tropical vegetation and monsoon rains.
The relentless tread of feet and the fumes from heavy traffic wear away the soft sandstone. Oily fingers harm the magnificent bas reliefs. Noisy crowds rob visitors of near-mystical moments of quiet contemplation or the chance to imagine they are jungle explorers discovering a lost city.
Too many tourists are not Angkor’s only woe.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site and its gateway town of Siem Reap are also beset by crass development, alleged corruption and endlessly delayed plans on how best to preserve the temples.
Once abandoned and overgrown by the jungle, and isolated by wars, these stone buildings have emerged as one of Asia’s top tourist draws and a vital money spinner for one of the world’s poorest nations. Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon says some 6 million visitors per year are projected by 2020. The growth curve has been spectacular.
On one day in 1980, shortly after the overthrow of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, this correspondent was the sole tourist in the entire complex. The inauguration of direct international flights to Siem Reap in 1998 was pivotal, and the filming at the temples of Angelina Jolie’s 2001 Hollywood hit “Tomb Raider” also helped put Angkor on the map.
Tourist arrivals quadrupled from 60,000 in 1999, to 250,000 in 2001. This year’s expected total is 2.5 million.
“Mass tourism is the major challenge. There will be an accelerated use of temples that were not constructed for that purpose,” says Anne Lemaistre, who heads UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural and educational body, in Cambodia. “It’s not time to talk about it anymore. We need to act.”
There has never been a lasting master plan to preserve and regulate the 400-square-kilometer site, although an Australian-devised Heritage Management Framework enacted this year should help, she says.
“It’s just the beginning. I am not going to say if it is going to be successful or not but we will try,” Lemaistre says.
Previous plans over the past two decades have become largely outdated.
In 1994, zoning rules to keep approaches to the temples development-free were openly flouted. Today, the once-grand avenue flanked only by towering trees leading to Angkor Wat is a congested line of top-end hotels mingling with cheap, ugly shophouses.
Vann Mollyvann, an architect who headed an independent Cambodian agency to manage Angkor, fought for the zoning and other measures to prevent what he called an “Angkor Disneyland.” He eventually was fired for being obstructive, and the agency, Apsara, was put under the direct control of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An.
A company owned by Sok An’s son was later awarded a contract to light up the temples. It was revoked after widespread criticism that the installations were damaging the monuments. Still, a high-profile critic of the project was sentenced to prison in 2009, accused of spreading disinformation.
The way entrance fees are collected also has drawn criticism.
In a hushed deal with no bidding, Sok Kong, a tycoon close to Prime Minister Hun Sen, was granted a concession to collect the fees. Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay and others allege some of that money flows into the dealmakers’ private pockets rather than government coffers and Angkor’s restoration.
Morgan says Sok Kong’s company “is just milking the site.”
“Everyone knows it. It’s a great deal. You are getting lots of money without putting in any investment,” he says.
The government denies any wrongdoing, and the tourism minister said it’s “a good mechanism. We can get a lot of money.”
Critics say such deals at Angkor merely mirror today’s Cambodia, dominated by Hun Sen and the powerful politicians and tycoons around him.
“They control Siem Reap and Angkor like everywhere. They could do whatever they please no matter what the law says,” Son Chhay says.
The population of Siem Reap is projected to double to a quarter million by 2020. Unrestricted pumping of underground water has sparked fears that the earth under Angkor’s temples might sink and collapse. The once-charming town now has 320 hotels and guesthouses.
More will soon rise after the construction of a new airport that can handle long-haul jets. The current airport now takes smaller planes from regional points.
Many protectors of Angkor say the time has come to strictly limit the number of tourists per day, as is done at Spain’s Alhambra palace and Peru’s Inca citadel Machu Picchu, or to require slippers and severely curtail where visitors can walk.
Starting this past year, only 100 people have been allowed entry into the uppermost section of Angkor Wat at any one time, and they can stay for no longer than 30 minutes. Some wooden walkways have been installed at the most popular temples.
But much of the temples remain free-for-all zones.
“Tourist management at Angkor sucks and they’ve had 20 years to work on it,” Morgan says.
Lemaistre agrees that Angkor’s romantic charm has faded – standing alone on the glorious causeway of Angkor Wat is no longer possible – but that all is not yet lost.
“It’s very complicated to maintain Angkor’s great quality but it must be maintained,” she says. “It cannot become a tourist factory. That would be a nightmare.”
5 comments:
Goverments of the world has been lying to their citizens. America's NASA has been keeping the most important information in human history to itself. Have you seen 2 suns early this years? Are you prepare for the Elenin(Niburu) arrival? Are you prepare for the pole shift when Elenin wipe its tail of gravitational pull at planet earth? Something cataclysmic will happen around the world. Huge megnitude of earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, Indonesia, China, and Japan happened for a reason. Japan eastern coastal is slowly sinking into the Pacific ocean as I type this. It didn't happen randomly and those earthquake were just peashooters compare to what about to come. The "Ring of Fire" is waking up. Westcoast of America will be hit with huge earthquake sometime in the autum of 2011. The next several years will be hell on earth. Research, and you shall be informed. Consider this a warning messages for humanity.
Actually I have seen the moon and the sun at the same time this morning when I drove my car. however, I never see two suns. If you are talking about the alignment of planets may caused pole shifting or the swing planet as you called it "Niburu" that could potentially hit earth every 3600 years and it is approaching estimated to hit earth by 2012 according to unconfirm report by stronomers. I found it fasinating to read about it and compare it to Cambodian prophecy of year 2012. I dont know how true it is but talked about the year 2012 and the prediction years after years from 2012 moving foward and how disaster hit earth etc. If you are implying that Ankor Wat Temple hold secret meaning along the sculpture walls related to the end of world, I have feelings that Ankor Wat has many secret message yet to be discovered for mankind existing on this earth. I beleive Ankor Wat hold secret meaning of the world. How could ancient Khmer Empire built these temples that is alignment or exact shape of the constellation. This report confirmed by NASA satelite image. I dont mean to side track from this article talked about potential ruin of Ankor Wat with more human foots on the stone of the temple, the world treasure. We all need to protect it. The world has it rights to scream, yell, etc to protect the temple because it belongs to the world heritage.
Angkor Wat and Pyramid of Egypt both have astronomical significant. Angkor Wat was constructed with alignment of Draco(dragon?) consetellation. Very intersting, consider the builders of those monuments are believer of difference religions.
Elenin comet/planet was discovered by Russian Astronomer Leonid Elenin in the early year 2000's. Elenin comet/planet has other names such as Nibiru, Tyche, Brown Dwarf, or Planet X. When people refer to this name, it pertains to Elenin. Elenin make an eliptical rotation around our sun every 2-3 thousands years. It has long tail consisted of rocks and ice. Ancient people call this Elenin comet/planet " Dragon or Serpant" The last time it came, brought many deaths and destruction for humanity. Very little good can be said about this comet/planet. Elenin is 3 times bigger than Earth. It is expected to make a fly-by earth sometime mid October 2011. It will be approximately 21.6 millions miles away from earth at it closest. Many scientists and experts believe that the gravitational pull of Elenin will effect Earth rotation. The worst cast scenarios would be the flip-over of earth north and south axis. North will become south, south will become north. The last time Elenin came by, made Earth axis tilt by 30degrees. When Elenin pass-by, on the surface of the earth, there will be huge earthquakes magnitude unlike we have ever seen. There will be storms, tornadoes, and hurricane at speed between 200-300mps. It would sandblast much of structures on the ground. Earth ocean levels will rise very quickly. World cities that situated near any ocean will be under water at least 100ft deep. This also will trigger volcano eruptions. When Elenin pass-by, one or more of the rocks that make up the tail could be pulled by earth's gravity and can become a very lethal firery space bullets bombarding earth surfaces.
Yes, this is not a very good news for Earth. Appearantly, governments around the world aren't saying much about this astronomical threat. Russia seem to be the most outspoken. Some people believe that the governments knew all about Elenin but prefer to do nothing for their people for the fear of panic and anarchy. Instead, the governments and the members of the rich elites are preparing themselves to take shelters in deep subterrainian shelters under mountains. This remind me of the movie. " 2012". If this is true, we are facing mass exstinction of human lives. These are very scary thoughts. God forbid this will ever going to happen in our life time.
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