One Minute Wonders!

I discovered a blog called The Worst Horse which calls itself a Buddhist sub & pop-culture site. They get stuck into the world of exploiting all things Buddhist, it's called the "Dharma Burger" culture and anything is allowed in the name of commerce. Take for example Dalai Lama statuette, (pictured) which was conceived by a German company in 2005 to celebrate His Holiness' 70th birthday, and sold for the not modest price of 165 euros, this was hot off the back of the pope doll. While the Catholic church has been selling out for years, it is hardly right to assume that the proceeds of the mini Dalai Lama were going into charities of his choosing or even finding there way into the homes of Tibetan people.

I found a video on the site (hit the title), which takes the viewer on a one-minute tour of the ancient Buddhist Temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, a Unesco-listed "Wonder of the World" which Keith was fortunate enough to visit in 2004 (see Keith with one of the friendly attendants).
It set him to thinking about the concept of the "One Minute Wonder' and how with the technology plague anyone can see the world in small bytes like this, but alas, it seems there could be something missing from the equation. In Keiths sweat and sun soaked trip to the temples over a week he had time to reflect on the footsteps of thousands of intrepid pilgrims weaving there way across the site. One thing he can say is that at least they smelt the earth and the history in the air which is more than could be gleaned from a minute on the "Tube" while suckin' down those electro-rays.

After two days spent hanging out in Ta Prohm, an overgrown temple away from the main complex, most famously captured in the film Tomb Raider, Keith had mixed emotions of profound calm and despair in equal measure. He refers to the site of punters turning up to the temple looking for "that old guy from the Lonely Planet cover" and revisiting there favourite scenes from that film and seeming blissfully unaware of the ancient stones beneath them. And then old mate turns up, he's been around for years doing the same thing, taking care of his precious temple, someone's grandfather, no probably great grandfather, and now he's become some sort of rock star (tongue firmly in cheek) and it just becomes a bit weird.
On second thought, perhaps we should keep the marauding tourists at bay by slipping a video into their morning coffee and let the temples rest.

Anyway, Keith recommends those big palm sugar pills you can pick up on the roadside to ward off the harmful affects of the sun, and if you get a chance, stay after dark, but don't forget about your waiting cabbie, 'cause he'll probably be worried and come looking for you.