potty wrote:the "sacred temple" looks, as if really seriously nobody gave a flying about it for minimum a couple of hundred years...

nobody considered this a "sacred temple" for ages, nobody went their praying nor caring.

wow, and now you want to take offense when tourists think its a ruin, were they take entrance fees from foreigners.

It doesn't matter for how long the temple had been abandoned. Now, it is being taken care. We consider it as our sacred place. So they should follow us. In Rome Do as the Romance do.

Ok yes, they paid the entrance fee but it didn't include climbing on the roof of the temple.
For example, if you pay to stay in a hotel. You only can stay. You are not allow to destroy any properties inside the room.

potty wrote:the "sacred temple" looks, as if really seriously nobody gave a flying about it for minimum a couple of hundred years...

nobody considered this a "sacred temple" for ages, nobody went their praying nor caring.

wow, and now you want to take offense when tourists think its a ruin, were they take entrance fees from foreigners.

What a stupid statement. Just because a fee is charged to enter it means tourists can do whatever they want? You are a fool.

potty wrote:the "sacred temple" looks, as if really seriously nobody gave a flying about it for minimum a couple of hundred years...

nobody considered this a "sacred temple" for ages, nobody went their praying nor caring.

wow, and now you want to take offense when tourists think its a ruin, were they take entrance fees from foreigners.

Think again about that Potty.Think about what you said . Seriously.

Samouth said,
"It doesn't matter for how long the temple had been abandoned. Now, it is being taken care. We consider it as our sacred place. So they should follow us. In Rome Do as the Romance do."

I don't like correcting online, but since you requested, here goes, "Romance" means love or love making.
The saying is, " When in Rome, do as the Romans do." However, no one bothers to ask which Romans as if they all acted the same. Many were given to orgies, others had Christians killed by lions for entertainment and many had slaves. So, which Romans should I emulate here in Cambodia? Should I dump a month's worth of trash along side the road, or better yet drive poor people off their land and sell those properties to rich foreigners or should I stop vehicles for imaginary traffic violations and so on? Sorry, Samouth, I've heard this threadbare saying so often in Cambodia, that I feel it must be a test question from Cambodian English teachers.

taabarang wrote:Samouth said,
"It doesn't matter for how long the temple had been abandoned. Now, it is being taken care. We consider it as our sacred place. So they should follow us. In Rome Do as the Romance do."

I don't like correcting online, but since you requested, here goes, "Romance" means love or love making.
The saying is, " When in Rome, do as the Romans do." However, no one bothers to ask which Romans as if they all acted the same. Many were given to orgies, others had Christians killed by lions for entertainment and many had slaves. So, which Romans should I emulate here in Cambodia? Should I dump a month's worth of trash along side the road, or better yet drive poor people off their land and sell those properties to rich foreigners or should I stop vehicles for imaginary traffic violations and so on? Sorry, Samouth, I've heard this threadbare saying so often in Cambodia, that I feel it must be a test question from Cambodian English teachers.

What a stupid mistake i made. I think i have to remind myself for always have double check.

Apart from all the bad things we do, at least there are some good things that you can follow or emulate. i can't remember where i learned this saying. There is a khmer saying which we used as a translation for this saying. They actually have the same meaning.

Romans = romance - quite a cute phonetic equivalent.

I think Samouth likes his English to be corrected. Hope so, because here goes...

I agree with Taabarang that this is a tired cliche; and in general Samouth, it is a good thing to avoid using cliches because it means that you are unable or can't be bothered to formulate your own expressions.
Teachers who encourage this sort of thing should be shot. It doesn't make you look smart or educated - quite the opposite. It's not your fault that they taught you this, but for your further education, you need to know when things don't sound right in English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clich%C3%A9

A cliché is often a vivid depiction of an abstraction that relies upon analogy or exaggeration for effect, often drawn from everyday experience.[6][7] Used sparingly, they may succeed, but the use of a cliché in writing, speech, or argument is generally considered a mark of inexperience or a lack of originality.

I like this:

Most phrases now considered clichéd originally were regarded as striking, but have lost their force through overuse.[4] The French poet Gérard de Nerval once said "The first man who compared woman to a rose was a poet, the second, an imbecile."

potty wrote:the "sacred temple" looks, as if really seriously nobody gave a flying about it for minimum a couple of hundred years...

nobody considered this a "sacred temple" for ages, nobody went their praying nor caring.

wow, and now you want to take offense when tourists think its a ruin, were they take entrance fees from foreigners.

It was abandoned for hundred years because of war. Even though the tourists don't think it is secred temple ,but we do. And one of these tourist was standing on Chey Nun's tomb. The way they did really break our heart into pieces

Anchor Bpee, your language is not easy.

tjem this is the first place in the world i know of, where its said to be "sacred" for the people and there is no guard at the site.

for the tourists it may just appear as an abandoned ruin.

think YOU about what you are suggesting here...

Samouth wrote:Anchor Bpee, your language is not easy.

Sorry Samouth - my bad - I cut and pasted from wikipedia to explain about cliches because I thought they explain better than I can, (I am not an English teacher), but you are right that their language is not easy.

I just wanted to say that you have to be careful when you use some well known sayings like" When in Rome, do as the Romans do", because, as Taabarang says, this can be interpreted in different ways. And it's very easy to just repeat a saying without really thinking about what it means or what it could mean.
If you want to say that foreigners should have respect for local customs and beliefs, then I agree with that. But if that means that foreigners should behave like some Cambodians do and throw their rubbish around and make beautiful places dirty, then I don't agree.

potty wrote:tjem this is the first place in the world i know of, where its said to be "sacred" for the people and there is no guard at the site.
for the tourists it may just appear as an abandoned ruin.

Potty has a point here. Some sites that are considered sacred or of historic importance may look neglected, so foreigners may not realise their significance. There are fresh ancient sites being discovered in Cambodia all the time, and more and more tourists, particularly clueless ones, so I guess this is inevitable to a certain extent. However, if you are not sure something's ok, you can always ask. (Yes you can.)

IMO there are different sorts of bad behaviour by foreigners - some behaviour, like dressing inappropriately or climbing where they shouldn't, is caused by ignorance. and maybe this could be addressed by signs to ask visitors to be respectful and tell them what they should not do.
Other things like defacing or vandalizing (eg; scratching your name on the stone of Angkor Wat), or making porno movies on sacred sites - or throwing your rubbish on the ground - all westerners know that this is not acceptable behaviour. So they deserve to be punished for this because it is deliberately bad and not a question of a cultural misunderstanding.

And now I think I'll go for a nude jog along Riverside, throw out my rubbish and carve my name on the sewage treatment plant...