ANGKOR and I

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1 Quotations from the Little Prince are from Freeditorial, downloaded from the following URL. It was accessed on December 12, 2021. https://freeditorial.com/en/books/the-little-prince/related-books 12 archaeological conservation. After Cambodia’s independence it became the Angkor Conservation Office of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, and Professor Bernard Philippe Groslier, a friend of Professor Rietsch, who was the director before independence, was stationed in the field as an advisor to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. The headquarters of the EFEO is now in Paris. I studied French for the first time at the university, and thanks to the honing of my language skills, in relation to reading, listening, speaking, or writing I never felt inferior regarding my language, even in milieus where only French was spoken. This was true not just in my own case, for even my classmates of that time obtained jobs after graduation at French enterprises or financial institutions, and served at the front line. That was the level of language skills we gained from Professor Rietsch. We stayed around four days in Siem Reap, and what I beheld at that time was the magnificence of the central tower of Angkor Wat, dyed in the setting sun and towering towards the sky. I felt a tingling sensation in my spine. How do these vast tropical forests and this stone temple which is a creation of man, blend together so perfectly? While standing before the central tower which is 65 meters high, I felt as though my soul was being drawn in. This encounter with Angkor Wat was an unforgettable experience for me, the like of which I had never undergone before. On the other hand, I also have treasured memories of Professor Rietsch, who had been traveling for about a month. At times he would all of a sudden speak to us as though abruptly inspired, and among his many statements were quotations from ‘The Little Prince’1 by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), such as “What is most important is invisible.” On bidding farewell to the Prince the Fox said, “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see