Yesterday I traveled with the YWAM team to Siem Reap. This is a bustling little city! Full of tourists, the place is heaving with people here for the Chinese New Year along with a healthy dose of Western tourists. Hotels are full and the night time streets are choked with people enjoying the food, shopping and culture.
The reason Siem Reap is such a tourist hub is Angkor. Named the eighth wonder of the world, this huge collection of temple ruins set in the jungle is spectacular to say the least. Yesterday Jon and I journeyed around the region by tuk tuk, taking in the main temple Angkor Wat and an almost as famous temple,commonly known as the temple of the trees. (Think Lara Croft's Tomb Raider) The first is the largest religious building in the world. Built most likely as a tomb for an Angkor king, it is surrounded by a 190 metre moat and measures more than one kilometre square. It is breathtaking in its architectural and artistic detail. The temple of the trees is much smaller and has been overgrown by trees. It is quite erie to walk around a thousand year old building that has tree roots woven through its foundations and walls.
We saw just a small taste of what Angkor has to offer. Today I will see more. Already though I have been reminded by the transitory nature of human power. The Khmer empire that gave rise to Angkor was huge and powerful. The city numbered a million inhabitants at a time when London had forty thousand. And yet time and the jungle claimed it all. Empires rise and empires fall. In our time, American power is on the wane while China's star rises. In the end, only God's power is immovable and timeless.
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