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Angkor Temples Inspire Awe, Burger Joints
The once lost temples of Angkor, Cambodia, face their biggest challenge.
July 5, 2007 — -- Magnificent. Miraculous. Mystical. Words that only begin to convey the majesty of the temples at Angkor, Cambodia. And today, you can add another word: mobbed!
Day after day, this wonder of the world is being assaulted by hordes of tourists, an estimated 2 million visitors this year. A number almost certain to double in the next few years.
They crawl like colorful lines of ants across the steep stairs and towering spires of the 12th century temple, the most recognized of the Hindu and Buddhist shrines sprawling over 300 square kilometers.
They scamper across ancient stones to pose in front of the hundreds of massive enigmatic stone faces of the 13th century Bayon Temple.
At the end of each day, one can barely make out the shape of the 9th century temple, Phnom Bakheng, literally buried under an onslaught of four to five thousand visitors who have scaled its ancient sandstone walls to witness a once-in-a-lifetime sunset.
In the tourist industry, Angkor has rapidly become one those "must-see destinations." It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and largely unspoiled in a still remote and exotic corner of Cambodia.
But tourism, according to John Stubbs, vice president of the U.S.-based World Monuments Fund, "has become a double-edged sword."
On the one hand, tourism can bring an enormous amount of revenue to countries and organizations trying to preserve the great cultural treasures of the world.
Stubbs and his WMF teams have worked for 15 years helping preserve two of the most seriously threatened temples at Angkor. He's watched tourism grow from a trickle to a flood. "The tourists are blessing," he said. They bring money and curiosity and respect for the temples. And tourist dollars help pay for restoration work that runs into the millions of dollars.
"Most tourists want to be responsible," Stubbs said. "They understand the importance of behaving properly and cleaning up after themselves. It's our responsibility to keep encouraging that."
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