Angkor What?

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Well, the time had come for me to take the 12 hour sleeper bus up to Siem Reap to visit the 8th wonder of the world, Angkor Wat. But not before an inevitable 1 night stop over at Sihanoukville as all the buses were full. Oh well, I could stomach 1 more blow out down that way before taking in some culture!

Some friends I travelled with in Laos just happened to be in Siem Reap at the same time as me after travelling through Vietnam for a few weeks. Siem Reap's main attraction is obviously the temples and everything is geared around that, but it also has a bit of a party scene, mostly revolving around 'Pub Street' in the centre of town. After an evening of srinking we decided it would be a good idea to hire mountain bikes to do the temples the next day. So next morning, with payment already made so no backing out, the 5 of us set out for Angkor Wat.

Words or pictures don't really do the place justice. A sprawling site of some 20km containing some of the most spectacular and ancient temple ruins on earth, some over 1000 years old. With limited available time as we all overslept a tad, we managed to take in Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Phrom, the 3 most famous temples. Angkor Wat itself is magnificent, despite the green taurpaulin covering some of it as restoration work takes place. Bayon contains 10s of huge faces carved into stone with incredible detail and Ta Phrom has been given over to nature with hude trees and their roots breaking through the old stone temples, making for a jaw dropping spectacle. We probably covered around 40km on the bikes that day and it was probably the sweatiest I have ever been in my life, but it was a really rewarding way to appreciate the temples in all their glory, a massive highlight of my trip. Next it's back into Thailand and the island of Koh Chang!

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