The shutdown of world travel has hit tourist-reliant Siem Reap hard, with visitors to Angkor Wat dropping dramatically. But inside the park it's Cambodian visitors who are the beneficiaries, as they enjoy a brief moment of tranquility at this sacred cultural heritage site.
Finding pockets of solitude in Angkor Wat is one of those rarest of luxuries in normal circumstances.
With 2.2 million visitors, or some 6,000 per day, visiting last year – comparatively low numbers for the World Heritage site in what proved a slow year – it’s also a luxury you could have been forgiven for thinking was long consigned to history.
«We had a big group of Chinese tourists this morning, but it has been about 50 visitors per day the last few months».
Buddhist monks take selfies, while others meditate passively collecting alms for «social activities» at their monastery, as the complex momentarily sheds the tourists and reasserts its heritage as a sacred religious site.
A mother sits dutifully fanning her young son, busying himself playing games on a tablet in the usually-packed concentric galleries at the heart of the structure.
The conspicuous absence of people allows an emboldened monkey to nonchalantly snack on fluorescent yellow potato chips in the middle of the path
This article was written by ALASTAIR MCCREADY
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