"Sunsets impose a heavy burden on the sightseer. A spot acquires such a reputation as the place from which 'to watch the sunset' that you are virtually obliged to go there. Phnom Bakheng was just such a spot...When we finally got to the top it was rammed, like a party waiting to kick off. We expected to see a DJ, decks, banks of speakers. There were hundreds, possibly thousands of people, but they weren't waiting for a party--they were waiting for the sunset. The Japanese were out in force. Everyone--us included--were spraying or smearing themselves with insect repellent because the mosquitoes were also out in force. Serious photographers had their cameras on tripods. One such photographer turned to his wife and said, "Fifteen minutes to go," as though they were colleagues at Mission Control at NASA. Everyone else simply waited. For the sunset...Waiting for the sunset becomes an activity, an exercise in abeyance."
