“Allan, come here!” a woman said waving an obscure item wrapped in plastic.
“What is it?” Allan replied.
“It’s what we’ve been looking for! I thought I wouldn’t be able to find it after the fire burned our house down!”
“How did it survive the flames?”
“Maybe it’s this plastic and I found it inside our cabinet and clothes, what’s left of them at least,” the woman said after dusting off the ash and wood fragments.
Allan walked towards her and asked for the item wrapped in plastic.
***
Allan woke up from his daydream when the van he was in passed through a bumpy road.
“We’re almost at Beng Mealea. We’ll be parking in a few minutes. You can leave some of your things here but take your valuables with you,” the tour guide said.
Allan took a long-awaited vacation. He chose Cambodia of all places because of his fascination with ancient ruins and history. He wanted to see Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, and Beng Mealea in person. These were places he only saw in history books. He traveled alone. The other passengers were couples or groups of friends from different countries. Allan didn’t ask; he guessed where they were from in his mind. He overheard a couple speaking in French, another one in Spanish (he caught a few familiar words and phrases with Filipino counterparts), a group of friends spoke in what he assumed was, German, and two other people spoke English.
“King Suryavarman II had this temple complex built in the 12th century. Jayavarman VII had it modified during his reign. As you can see now, the temple is in a ruinous state. Natural degradation and the passage of time are some of the main causes,” the guide told them as they walked around the complex. Allan’s mind wandered from the pile of stones that used to be a wall or a part of a temple to the branches and roots encroaching upon a once majestic structure. There were door frames with carvings of deities and flowers amid the rubble. The guide told them which sections they could walk or climb on. The jungle-like surroundings made Allan and the other tourists feel like they were on an archeological expedition.
They clambered up rocks and stones, ducked under and passed through the remains of a door or entrance. The kings that built this temple must’ve thought their kingdom would live forever, Allan thought to himself. The guide gave their group up to an hour to explore on their own.
Allan separated from the rest of the group to linger in an area that captured his attention. His eyes rested on a pile of massive stone blocks large enough to serve as a wall or even a foundation for a house or a building. He sat on the edge of the remains of a wall.
“How long would it take to rebuild this temple?” he thought to himself.
Grey Sparrow Journal 