Blue Sun: Days 20 & 21 - June 29 & 30

Blogs & Sites I Like

Beyond VC
Perspectives from VC Ed Sim of SoundView Ventures
Tilson Funds - Whitney Tilson's writings
The writings of value investor Whitney Tilson
Nick Denton's Gawker
SoundView Ventures
My favorite venture firm
VentureBlog
Links to VC articles
Financial Accounting Blog
Great source for interesting articles on accounting issues -- in layman's terms
Tom Brown's Second Curve Capital
Investor perspectives on the financial services industry
Debka
Commentary on the Middle East
Duke Basketball Report
Up to date views on the Blue Devils
Wharton Investment Management Fund
Student-run small cap value fund
Bill Gross at PIMCO
Bill Gross' Investment Outlook
Truck and Barter
Where sympathy and hedonism collide
Brain Brew Radio
Quirky NPR radio show like Car Guys but for small businesses

July 06, 2004

Days 20 & 21 - June 29 & 30

In the interest of time, I've decided to lump some of my experiences into 1 entry

Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Temples of Angkor.

Laura and I awoke early to meet the guide we hired at 7am, Naam. Naam had been a guide for about 10 years, initially hosting journalists and specific tours, but now was available for anyone since the Cambodian government opened up Angkor Temples to the public in the mid to late 1990s. He had also served in the Cambodian army and had all of his brothers and sisters killed by the Khmer Rouge.

The temples were built from the 9th - 13th centuries by a series of Khmer kings, honoring the buddhist and hindu religions (more the latter than the former). Typically the took from 50 - 80 years to construct. The temples were "lost" to the jungle for centuries as invading armies neglected any upkeep, to the point where the French rediscovered them at some point in the 1940s. Over the last few decades, restoration of the temples has been led by the French (the French!!!) in what appears to be a self-less act. They don't get the steep entrance fees to the park. Maybe they are doing it out of guilt for having colonized modern-day Cambodia and screwing up a large portion of Southeast Asia with their imperialism, as they did in Vietnam.

Anyway, the temples.

Our first stop was Angkor Thom, a 10 kilometer city built by Jayavarman VII (I couldn't pronounce his name either, so we'll call him J7 -- he was the most prolific builder, so he was important) in the 12th century. Angkor Thom had a large moat, long walkway to the city and 5 gates to enter. During the morning, Laura and I saw several of the temples, including The Bayon, The Baphuon, the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King -- the last devoted to a king who had leprosy. Attractive! Angkor Thom was impressive as a testament to what 1 king could build. The structures were enormous and intricately designed. Back in its hey-day, Angkor Thom was home to tens of thousands of inhabitants, a testament to J7's planning.

For me, easily the highlight of the morning was the Buddhist temple, Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm has been losing a battle against nature for centuries; trees have grown from inside the structure, decimating the walls and ceilings. What remains are bits and pieces of the foundation, walls and towers, all at the mercy of enormous tree roots... massive roots growing out of and shifting bricks, while enveloping everything in sight. To conceptualize their size, these roots support trees that range from 20 - 40 feet high of trunk. If I had to guess, I think I snapped more pictures on my digital camera than an Asian tour bus at the Eiffel Tower.

The afternoon was devoted to Angkor Wat -- the crown jewel of the Angkor complex. To quote the Lonely Guide, "Angkor Wat, with its soaring towers and extraordinary bas reliefs, is considered by many to be one of the most inspired and spectacular monuments ever conceived by the human mind." Ditto.

My words will never be able to do it justice, so I really won't try. It's enormous. Long walkway to get to the front of what looks like half-temple, half fort. Inside, there are several Hindu temples that rise to 3 stories high. Additionally, there is a remarkably ornate carving in sandstone of mythological Hindu battles of gods, angels and demons along the hallway walls of 2 sides of the building. It tooks us several hours to go through it... especially in the 105 degree heat, but it was well worth it. The highlight was a climb up a series of steep steps 3 stories high top level of the central temple that provided a view of the vast surrounding jungle that resembled serene landscapes created by Hollywood's of grazing lands in African safaris.

Wednesday morning Laura and I arose at 4:30am to meet Naam to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. Sunrise at Angkor Wat trumps even Ta Prohm for photo ops. I should have bought at 256 MB memory card solely for it. Just breathtaking to see how the sky glows behind the vast temple. Once again, words won't do it justice. It's one of those things you have to see for yourself. After that, we went to a few more temples -- Pruah Khan, Neak Poan, Preah Rup -- before spending our afternoon taking a ferry to see the floating villages of Lake Tonle Sap. Very cool stuff.

My thoughts on the Temples of Angkor. Two words -- simply amazing. It will be regarded as one of those must-see places, like Pyramids, as more tourists are able to get into Cambodia. In fact, I think it is more impressive than the Pyramids because of the effect nature has had on the monuments and that only part of the restoration process has been completed. What really fascinated me was the struggle between beauty by the hand of man and beauty by nature. A thousand years ago, man created a true work of art. In the following years, nature surpassed man's efforts. The jungle totally enveloped the temples of Angkor to the point that these massive structures had to be "discovered." And now, what makes the temples of Angkor -- particularly Ta Prohm -- unique is the constant battle between nature's attempt to destroy the structures and man's attempt to conserve them. It's not something that man can do easily since tree roots are at the core of the bricks of many of these buildings... and have reduced several to ruins. If you ever have a chance to get near Siem Reap, Cambodia, go to the temples -- all you need is two days, and for your efforts, you're rewarded with a lifetime of images and memories.

Wednesday night I flew to Bangkok to hop on a flight to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Fortunately, I made it; unfortunately, my backpack didn't.

Hotel: Mom's Guesthouse (I recommend it); $20 room/night for 2 people, good-sized beds, A/C, good bathroom; found Mom's through Lonely Planet
We got our guide through the hotel -- only way to do it

Posted by Simeon Wallis on July 06, 2004 at 08:33 AM | Permalink

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Blue Sun

Stocks, sports, politics and everything else under the sun from a different perspective - a blog by Simeon Wallis

Blogs & Sites I Like

July 06, 2004

Days 20 & 21 - June 29 & 30

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