The Temples' Souls

 

        When I was young, I saw this temple for the first time in a magazine. Even though I didn't have any information about the temple, I was fascinated by its mysterious and charming look. After that, I got to add one more place to the list to visit when I grow up, which has always been in my mind as one of the precious things in the wrold. Today, this is the reason why this article about the ancient temple, Angkor Wat ,captured my eyes.

        According to " Near Cambodia's Temple Ruins, a Devotion to Learning"  in The New York Times, the ancient temple ruins of Angkor Wat, in Siem Reap, Cambodia, have contributed to something unpredictable, a devotion to learning of Cambodian youth. Even a decade ago, there was not any university,but now the city has firve private universities, which makes the city the second largest educational city, after the capital, PHnom Penh. The young people whose parents can not support them with enough money as to enter university gather here to work in many positions related to tour businesses at day and at night they study mostly finance, English, ans accounting. Hem Sophoan, a 31-year-old tour guide who is now studying says "I never imagined that I could go to university, There's been so much changes and opportunities for young people." The article also says that even though the the quality of the universities there is uneven and the shareholders still waste their money for the schools, many youth have dreams and their degrees made them have better prospects for managerial roles. Mr. Kong Soeun, the deputy of the local tourism office and having dreams of becoming a crusading lawyer, says "We should remember their souls," "These temples are a very great thing" about his forebears who built Angkor Wat.

         Actually, I have a plan to go to this temple in February, so when I saw the title, I was interested in this article.While the articles about tourist places consist of mostly negative views of making the historic remains worse or advertisements about the places to gather people's attention, I like the reporter's social view of dealing with the historical ruins. Of course, thriving tourism has impacts on the whole nation and the people who live there in many positive ways. The case of Angkor Wat, however, seems to affect more importantly to their citizen.The tourism not simply makes the people earn money, but builds the basic human resources, who can contribute to developing their country. On someday in February, I am likely to remember this article again.

References

Fuller,T. (2012,January 24). Near Cambodia's Temple Ruins, a Devotion to Learning. The New York Times. Retrieved 2012, January 29 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/world/asia/cambodias-angkor-wat-temple-ruins-brings-tourists-and-higher-education-opportunites-for-tour-guides.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Near%20Cambodias%20temple%20ruins,%20a%20devotion%20to%20learing&st=csexxxxx