Detail From the Killing Field Memorial
Scouring the "countryside" looking for Toll Booths, finally finding them
But before curbing my anger, I had contemplated the possibility of skipping the visit altogether: I would run into the throngs of tourists this place was geared toward and I have outgrown my enthusiasm for lost cities in the jungle pretty early in my travelling career, the magic of Tikal and the other Mayan Acropolises of Peten Itza having more than fulfilled my curiosity for such things, almost 30 years ago, when nobody went to such places and I had them to myself. And though there are differences in layout, architecture, art stylisms and use, the themes keep recurring, in an unremarkable repetition of the human tragedy. I also thought that what makes a monument exist is the fact that, in whatever capacity and with whatever ends, people continue to care for it: without constant and continuous care (from cleaning to full scale continuing reconstructive restaurations) there would be no Parthenon, Piramyds or Imperial Forum. And if people (or their rulers) wanted to use the location, or the materials of a site (as it has happened thorughout history), monuments would disappear, as they have, not always to natural forces alone. And even with all cares, there is little remedy to the forces of nature and time, very little can be done to contain their effects, even with all the cares and expenditures in the world.Read the Inscription in the Monumental Arch
Detail From the Killing Field Memorial
Scouring the "countryside" looking for Toll Booths, finally finding them
But before curbing my anger, I had contemplated the possibility of skipping the visit altogether: I would run into the throngs of tourists this place was geared toward and I have outgrown my enthusiasm for lost cities in the jungle pretty early in my travelling career, the magic of Tikal and the other Mayan Acropolises of Peten Itza having more than fulfilled my curiosity for such things, almost 30 years ago, when nobody went to such places and I had them to myself. And though there are differences in layout, architecture, art stylisms and use, the themes keep recurring, in an unremarkable repetition of the human tragedy. I also thought that what makes a monument exist is the fact that, in whatever capacity and with whatever ends, people continue to care for it: without constant and continuous care (from cleaning to full scale continuing reconstructive restaurations) there would be no Parthenon, Piramyds or Imperial Forum. And if people (or their rulers) wanted to use the location, or the materials of a site (as it has happened thorughout history), monuments would disappear, as they have, not always to natural forces alone. And even with all cares, there is little remedy to the forces of nature and time, very little can be done to contain their effects, even with all the cares and expenditures in the world.
Read the Inscription in the Monumental Arch
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