Bantey Kdei - Ta Phrom by Rita
Share Article Evidence of intelligent life on Earth is exaggerated. It’s a rumor and a myth. Sit still long enough and you’ll see/hear some wild, anxiety filled conversations. Filled with interruptions.
Barbarian Voice monkeys interrupt each other. They cancel each other out. It’s an endemic social disease ... short attention span? No problem. People love to be understood before they understand. This explains their emotional fear, lack of focus and anxiety. Roll your bones. Love my bones, said a t-shirt in Sapa, Vietnam.
Who’s dragging around this bag of bones, said Leo.
We are a bundle of pure sensations, said Zeynep. It is a path of authenticity.
That’s been the problem on the trip, said an American girl on a work-study NGO program in Cambodia, No one’s giving us change. Hahaha.
Change comes from within.
400 Khmer mothers and their children wait outside the Children’s Hospital to get a free pain killer pill. The placebo is blue and free. Orange pain pills cost $1. Few can afford orange. Life is a painkiller.
Sound-symbol-sign-word.
Rita and storytellers explored Banteay Kdei and Ta Phrom.
Kdei is perfect for walking and swallowing dust. A sun yellow butterfly led the way. It explored the perimeter sensing jungle and stone perspectives. Wandering outside temples gives you the feeling of natural space acknowledging deep green forests, said Rita, I do this at every temple, it’s rare to see tourists explore the outside, because intelligence and curiosity and taking risks on Earth is rare.
Tourist sheep are in a disciplined hurry. They march along following other sheep on broken stone paths. They wander around, make a lot of noise, pose for pictures and march out. The bus is leaving for another temple.
They look serious and sad. Unhappy people in a happy world.
They are controlled by unknown unconscious diabolical forces. It’s the silent ticking mechanism on their wrist near a pulse saying faster.
Leo shared a Tibetan truth ...
I would rather be a tiger for one day than a sheep for a thousand years.
Rita and friends explored gentle forest winds. It’s a slow walking meditation.
I engaged all my senses, said Leo.
Thick dust is a welcome relief after stones, said Tran.
I am light and shadows dancing through leaves, said Devina.
All nature all the time, said Zeynep.
Butterfly leads me into interior passages and shadow play experiences, said Rita. Butterfly shows me mysterious art and deep unconscious space, it takes one life to reach the center and then you’re back where you started, amazing ... Ha-ha.
It’s a long walk, said Devina.
Prohm is where the most famous photographed tree on planet Earth grows, said Rita. It entwines itself around and through soft stones. It’s a zoo as idiots line up to take a photo, pushing and shoving and jostling to have their picture taken with the tree and roots as Italian, French and German tongues wag like mongrels in heat.
Life is a bitch, said a sad tourist focusing their plastic toy.
The Japanese and Chinese are total image addicts. Obsessed with posing in doorways and passages with carvings, plants, ferns and leaves and tall trees, thick brown and green gnarled roots above the surface, scary monster leaves they find yellow, black, red, golden butterflies to be overwhelming.
We don’t have this beauty at home they lament. We have cement.
Tourists on their great quest feel the experience with their cameras. They behave like the temples are a Dizzy Land amusement park.
Shatter their illusions with the power of laughter, said Rita.
And silence, whispered Omar.
