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Published: February 18th 2007
Now THAT is one cool guy!
Ta Keo was the bomb! Watching the sunset about 7 stories above the ground.Considering how we were once fit, young soldiers, we thought that visiting the temples by bicycle would be a piece of cake. Well, it's not as we found out. To give you a rough idea of how much mileage we covered in 2 days (at LEAST 50km), it is about an hour by bicycle each way from our guesthouse, and from temple to temple it's anywhere from 4 to 10km. Cycling is a great way to see the temples as compared to other forms.. just be sure you have a pair of strong legs and one hardened backside! Also, the roads in Siemreap aren't the safest in the world (potholes, poor quality roads, a lot of traffic around the temples during peak hours) and after dark it gets scary especially when you're on a rickety bike with no lights going down busy roads with no street lights! Great experience though, now I can say I've seen an ancient wonder of the world.
Day 1:
Angkor Wat, naturally, was the first on our list. Very very busy temple, extremely huge, would have spent more time in this place if not for tourists at every turn.
Bayon was next. This
Tour De France
Just to show you we weren't lying about cycling!!! It isn't easy! one is famous for the many huge stone faces.
We then got lost on our way to Ta Prohm and ended up at
Preah Kahn! Much quieter, but was clearly no match for the 2 prior heavyweights.
Day 2:
Woke up late after more partying with the girls. Decided to go to the temples mid-afternoon. Tired, we headed to
Ta Prohm (made famous by Angelina Jolie and Tomb Raider). I was surprised at how small it was, and also many of the areas are too unstable for visitors. Next, we went down the road to a temple we discovered accidentally,
Ta Keo. Whipped out the lonely planet to discover that this place actually wasn't completed due to the death of the then reigning king, this helped to explain why there were no intricate carvings on any of the stones. This place looked completely different from the other temples we visited because it was so.... SIMPLE! A nice, symmetrical pyramid that rose higher and higher, level after level. We decided to view the sunset from the top floor. Beautiful. And the best part is that there were hardly any tourists! This one is my absolute favourite.
Day
Bayon
I love this shot 3:
After 2 days of cycling, those late nights and pizza, we woke up at 5pm. Yes, 5pm! So no temples, unfortunately.
We have no future plans at the moment. Phnom Penh was the original plan, but we are considering paying Sihanoukville a visit. Will have to decide by tonight!
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food
pizza for new year? u guys shld be having bak kua, pineapple tarts, with guai zi n peanuts n not forgetting bears!! yl u know wat i mean by lots of drinks~~ haha.. have a enjoyable trip ahead!! hope to see your next entry soon.. till then.. tata