Name: Real-life Temple Run.
Age: Pretty new.
Location: Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
I remember Temple Run. Of course you do. It was a very popular mobile game about a decade ago, where players had to sprint through a temple complex without hitting any obstacles, or being overtaken by pursuing monkeys.
Phew, so this is just going to be an exercise in harmless nostalgia. Not exactly. Let me ask you a question: what’s the rough date at the moment?
Summer 2024. And what has been the overriding news story of summer 2024?
Entitled tourists mucking everything up for everyone? That’s it!
This can’t be good. It isn’t! Tourists keep filming themselves sprinting through the ancient Hindu-Buddhist temple complex of Angkor Wat, and the trend is infuriating conservationists.
Why? Why is it infuriating conservationists? Because heavy footfall might damage the 900-year-old world heritage site. “If you fall or stumble, you’ll touch a wall to stabilise yourself and endanger the fragile carvings,” German conservationist Hans Leisen told the South China Morning Post. Plus, you know, there’s something fundamentally insensitive about charging around a sacred place of worship to mimic a game you used to play on your phone on the toilet.
No, I mean: why are they doing it? The short answer is clicks. People who have filmed themselves charging through Angkor Wat have racked up millions of views on TikTok, and this has caused all manner of trend-chasing influencers to flock to the area to repeat the stunt.
Is there a longer answer? No.
Are you sure? You seem evasive. Fine, I mean maybe the trend was partially inspired by an article published five years ago entitled “Running among the ruins: seeing Cambodia at a trot”, in which a journalist jogs around Angkor Wat at sunrise and describes it as “one of the best runs of my life”. But that was a respectful, sensitive piece, and the run was only part of it.
And where was it published? OK, it was the Observer. But this is about TikTok and mobile games. Can we get back to the subject now?
Which is what? Which is that tourists are basically world villains right now. Locals are squirting them with water, goading them with graffiti, confronting them on beaches, charging them entry to cities, hiding discounts from them, and even running adverts encouraging people to stay away.
And how are tourists supposed to remedy this? I guess not running at full pelt through ancient places of worship just to go viral on social media would be a decent start.
What an elegant solution. Forging international harmony by not acting like a prize wazzock. Who knew?
Do say: “Please don’t recreate Temple Run by jogging around sacred sites.”
Don’t say: “Also, please don’t recreate Angry Birds by chucking a pigeon at a pig.”
