14 Aug A Monumental DilemmaIt is 4:30 a.m. and as promised, my guide and driver, Kim Sa

A Monumental DilemmaIt is 4:30 a.m. and as promised, my guide and driver, Kim San, is waiting for me at the hotelentrance. We had met the previous day to work out a sightseeing schedule for the week. Heinsisted that I begin my tour of the Angkor Archaeological Park by watching the sun rise overAngkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world.I climb aboard Kim San’s motorbike, and we’re off. My heart races as we weave in and out ofthe streets of Siem Reap, the boomtown launching point for millions of yearly visitors to Angkor.In the darkness, the motorbike headlights reveal shadowy forms of men and women bustling toset up shops and restaurants that will serve the waking hordes of tourists.It’s a seven-kilometer drive to the main ticket booth to Angkor Wat. Kim San stops in front of alarge, modern complex, built to move large crowds quickly through the concession.Climbing off the bike, I look around. “Kim San, you said this place would be packed, but there’shardly anyone here.”Kim San smiles. “Many people wait to come until just before the sun rises. I have guidedjournalists before. I know you want to have the best view, and that is why I brought you hereearly. You will see, believe me. Here, you must take a flashlight or you will trip and fall. You mustpurchase your ticket at the booth,” says Kim San. “I will bring water. Follow me.”Looming in the distance, I sense the presence of Angkor Wat, although it lies nearly 2kilometers away. Designated in 1993 as a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple was also a finalistin the New Seven Wonders of the World competition in 2007. It is the best-preserved structurein the complex of over 1000 temples known collectively as Angkor, the Sanskrit word for city.Angkor flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries A.D. as the seat of the Khmer empire,which ruled over parts of present-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Malaysia. It wasthe largest preindustrial metropolis in the world, with a population of nearly one million and anurban footprint roughly the size of modern Los Angeles. Since its founding in the 12th century,the temple complex of Angkor Wat has remained an active religious center, first dedicated to theHindu god Vishnu, then re-dedicated to Theravada Buddhist use in the 14th or 15th century. It isa source of great national pride and has been depicted on every version of the Cambodian flagsince 1863.Kim San leads me to a ticket window. At this hour, there are more employees and guardslingering about than tourists. I pay my $60 US fee for a week’s entrance to the park and am ledto a side room to have my photo taken for the pass. While waiting I do some quick mentalcalculations. In my background research, I read that there were nearly three million yearlyvisitors to Angkor. That’s $180 million US—a huge revenue source for a country with a GrossDomestic Product of only about $10 billion US.“Tickets are expensive, aren’t they?” I comment to Kim San as we make our way back to hisbike for the remaining 2-kilometer ride. “Angkor Wat brings in a huge amount of money toCambodia. I guess so,” he responds. “Cambodians get to enter for free, which is good, but noone really knows exactly where the money goes that is collected from foreigners. In 1999 thegovernment gave a 10-year lease to a private company called Sokimex to handle all of the ticketsales in Angkor. A man named Sok Kong owns Sokimex, and he is a personal friend andcreditor to Prime Minister Hun Sen and his family. Sokimex is supposed to give $10 million USper year to Aspara, the government agency that oversees and manages the archaeologicalpark. People think that most of that money actually ends up in the hands of corrupt governmentofficials, because hardly any of it is spent to conserve the sites in the park.”“Is Angkor falling into disrepair?”

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