Pretty much exactly, Larry.
As u know, when one tries to darken / recover detail from blown highlights, if you use a technique that increases local contrast (eg, large radius USM, Topaz Adjust, Topaz Detail, etc.) one gets lots of semi-false detail with exaggerated contrast like Mike did (but he at least gave it an artistic twist), or, if you try something mindlessly simple like pulling down the white point using curves (or equivalent global techniques like the white slider in ACR/LR), the whole blown area tends to go to one, more-or-less uniform color and/or tonality.
Such limited chances of turning out a decent result on a shot of a tourist destination (Angor Wat) that probably is snapped tens of thousands times per day is why I had so little interest in spending my own time, gratis, on this particular image. In contrast, if it had been a shot that was unique, or had historic or sentimental / family value, I probably would have been more inclined to help the guy out.
T