Revisiting Cambodia

I really enjoyed the articles on Angkor Wat (“Return of the Lost City,” April 19).

How times change! When my wife and I visited Cambodia in 1991, the Grand Hotel d’Angkor was a near ruin, with electricity provided between 6 and 10 p.m. only. Most rooms did not have seats on the toilets or lids on the tanks. Now it is a luxury hotel run by Raffles.

However, even under the very adverse circumstances that existed in 1991, the Cambodian people were wonderful and went out of their way to make our visit as pleasant as possible.

I would like to quarrel with a statement made by writer David Lamb. He said “archeologists consider the ruins of the Khmer empire the rival of Peru’s ‘lost’ Inca city of Machu Picchu.” I’d like to know who these archeologists are.

Machu Picchu is truly a ruin, with only skeletal remains of walls and foundations. What makes it special is the spectacular Andes setting. The Angkor complex contains hundreds of temples and palaces, each intricately carved.

MYRON OAKES

San Marino