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Published: July 26th 2011
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Angkor is the largest set of ruins in the world. Larger than Machu-Pichu, Pyramids at Giza, Borobodur, Petra, Tikal, Anuradhapura, Ayuthaya, Great Zimbabwe, etc. It's a great way to finish this part of the trip. I'm spending 4 days in this area to take as much in as practicable.
Got up early and was ready to leave before sunrise to catch the sunrise at Angkor ... but, nobody in the guest house was up, so I couldn't take out a bike. I had to wait until 06:00 to have breakfast and then wait a bit more to get a bike.
Made sure the brakes worked and the tires were full. No such thing as gears or bike helmets in this part of the world. No helmets is probably a good thing too, considering it would have been way too hot. Angkor is 6 km away from Siem Reap and is a series of separate complexes. Angkor Wat itself, then Angkor Thom, then Bayon, etc. Each city was built by a different king between the 9th and 12th centuries or so. Each king tried to out-do his predecessor, by making things bigger and the art work more elaborate.
Commoners
were only allowed to build with wood. So, only the God-king's (Devaraja) structures have survived to today. Unlike most other ruined cities, Angkor was never really abandoned. It has been continuously used until current times. Even the Khemer Rouge, with all their back-to-basics "great leap forward" we-don't-need-religious-beliefs left Angkor alone. Angkor started off as a Hindu complex, but sometime in the 16th century, Budhist influences showed up.
It's all simply amazing. I'm glad I have enough time to explore the main parts and also many of the outer structures. The bike was essential ... well, I could have used a tuk-tuk instead, but, then it's harder to stop and look at interesting side structures.
Only negative was, it was cloudy most day. So pictures aren't that good. When it rained for about an hour just after lunch, I hid under a temple ledge and caught 40 winks waiting for the rain to subside. When it was all over, there were blue skies again. Time to repeat the whole circuit again to get some better pictures?
I had to fix the bike chain that kept jumping out at least 50 times. It was getting tiresome. But, I managed
to cover all the areas of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, the Elephant Terrace, and a whole lot of smaller, but yet beautiful side structures. At about 16:00 when I was near the moat that surrounds Angkor, the back tire went bang ... that was it for biking for the day. The tire had a big gash and the inner tube had a long tear.
I had a choice. I could walk back the 6 km to Siem Reap with the bike, or walk to Angkor which was only 2 km away and hope to catch a tuk-tuk. Opting for the latter, I abandoned the bike by the moat, and hoofed it to Angkor to try and catch some good light for more pictures. The crowds were noticeably thinner at the end of the day, and after an hour or so, decided it was time to get back with the bike. Did catch a tuk-tuk driver who managed to fit the bike in with me back to Siem Reap.
I figured waiting for sunset would have been pushing it, in case I had to walk the full 8km back to Siem Reap.
I made a point of
climbing each of the pyramids. and some of those staircases are really scary. Not only are they steep (many steps are barely the width of a foot) but also some steps are over 1/2 meter high. You're literally scaling little mountains. Also, not all the steps are stable. One father had gone up with his little daughter, and she refused to go back down. She eventually made it down, with a little encouragement. It would have been impossible for dad to carry her down.
So yes ... a pretty tiring but very rewarding day. Came home exhausted, ate a very large meal and promptly fell asleep.
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