Angkor

At about the time the Khmers were building Angkor Wat, the French were building Notre Dame. Which is about three thousand years later than the last of the Great Pyramids and 1200 years later than the Parthenon. The Egyptians win, hands down. With that caveat, however...

It seems that there were always people at Angkor Wat, or at least since the 16th century. It was the rest of the multitude of temples that were overtaken by the jungle, along with the city, Angkor Thom, that once housed closed to a million people, or so they believe. Regardless, it was a lot bigger than Paris. On Tuesday, they opened the Angkor National Museum where they've taken some of the best sculpture, that sculpture that wasn't carted off by the French, the Khmer Rouge, or the Vietnamese. There are alarmingly few major pieces left at any of the sites.

It is an amazing place and everyone who thinks Egypt or Machu Picchu are cool should see it. But it's actually very difficult to take in. First of all, there is the weather. This is the best time of year, they say, and the 90 degree 90% humidity really took it out of me. Then, it is scattered all over the place. Angkor Wat is the biggest site, but there are dozens of others. Any one of them looks like a big pile of rocks. Or a small pile. Certainly the engineering of this place makes the Mayans looks primitive, but somehow not quite so impressive. Maybe it's that so much of the major work has been stolen. Maybe all the Hindu and Bhuddist images and stories just don't resonate, or Khmer accomplishments are just too remote for someone with an American education. Or perhaps I've just seen too much in too short a period of time to appreciate what I've seen. I'm not sure. But the photos look pretty cool.