Angkor Wattage (around 25km)
Slept pretty well last night although since starting these anti-malarials, I have to say I’m having some very weird dreams!! Can’t really remember this one but I do recall waking up going “huh?”! This hotel is FAB with an excellent buffet breakfast that I thoroughly enjoyed. The French colonial rule of Cambodia left a rather fortuitous legacy in that the coffee, croissant and bread here rocks!

So, we hopped on the bikes and left the hotel at 8am, ready for the leisurely cycle to Angkor of 3km. Again, we were cycling through the morning traffic but – after the insanity of Phnom Penh – this was a piece of cake!! Although it was early morning, it was already bloody hot and very humid, so even though we weren’t going to be cycling far today, Damian warned us that the heat would sap our energy pretty quickly.

After about 15mins, we arrived at the entrance to the temple complex – as expected, it was very busy with busloads upon busloads of tourists. We had to get in line to get our pictures taken, then 5mins later, we got our tickets with our photos printed on – our passports for the day (more valuable than money!). We were warned to keep these easily accessible for checking and NOT to lose them - if you didn’t have one, you didn’t get in (or out!) of anywhere!

Getting very excited to see the temples – as we cycled away from the entrance to our first stop of Ta Phrom, we saw this enormous 4-sided Buddha head just by the side of the road. Already, it was incredible – and we hadnt even started yet!!

Our first stop was at the temple monastery of Ta Phrom – one of the major temples built by Jayavarman VII in the late 12th to 13th century. It features a set of concentric galleries with corner towers and its complexity is also somewhat increased by its partly collapsed state, with strangler figs and silk-cotton trees interlaced amongst the ruins. These trees (in particular) the strangler figs are somewhat responsible for this damage, as the roots of these trees work their way between the masonry, so that as they grow thicker, they gradually wedge open the blocks. Eventually, the tree becomes a support for the building but, when it dies, the loosened blocks collapse. The Ecole Francais d’Extreme-Orient (who first started the restoration of Angkor in 1899) chose this temple to be left in its “natural state” as an example of how most of Angkor would have looked on its “discovery” in the 19th century.

Walking back out from Ta Phrom, we passed some musicians playing traditional Cambodian wedding music - I guess the local equivalent of the pan pipes or mariachi music! Nonetheless, I got suckered in cos it sounded good, so sent Steve in to go and negotiate me a good discount for one of their CDs from the $10 advertised price. The bartering, which started out at “I’ll give you $5” soon fizzled out when we realised we were haggling with people with bits of their legs missing! On closer inspection, it turned out they were musicians supporting people who had been injured by land mines – we sheepishly handed over the full $10 and felt somewhat bad for having tried to knock them down by a couple of bucks!!!
After that, a quick rest stop and a chance to refuel with some drinks and the Cambodian equivalent of Choco Pies! Even though you are only walking around, its very draining – with cycling, I guess you have a bit of adrenaline working through you to keep you awake!

Next, we continued onto Bayon, Baphoun and Angkor Thom (I think!). To reach it, we went through the East Gate which was framed by a huge 4-sided Buddha statue and a magnificently carved bridge leading up to it. Angkor Thom was absolutely covered in incredible bas-relief wall carvings - unfortunately quite a few had been vandalized (people removing whatever statues they can to sell), but it was still very impressive. As unexpected as the detail and state of preservation, was the thread of humour that also ran through some of the stories carved out on the walls - I especially liked the one of this turtle biting someone on the bum!

12.30pm and time for lunch – stopped at this very nice place right near Angkor Wat (an offshoot of the Blue Pumpkin in Siam Reap) and the food was delicious! Very tasty fresh fruit juices and, after dinner, I even treated myself to a dollop of fresh creamy coconut ice-cream. Yum!!

Then it was time for what was undeniably the highlight of the day and, perhaps, the trip. Angkor Wat. The biggie. The one that everyone sees in pictures and the one Angelina Jolie clambered all over in Tomb Raider. UNBELIEVABLY, I’d forgotten to pack my spare camera battery and so, just before lunch, my camera died. Yes, here I am at one of the seven wonders of the world and my bloody camera battery had run out!! What an idiot!! So, instead, I concentrated on absorbing as much as I could and imprinting it on my memory (and hoping to nick some piccies of someone else!). Its difficult to describe here cos you really have to see it but its just bloody MASSIVE! Its simply an amazing sight and again, the beauty and skill of the craftmanship, the intricacy of the bas-relief carvings, combined with how unscathed by the weather it is just staggering. It was a shame I didn’t have my camera but I tried to console myself (not entirely convincingly) that pictures couldn’t truly capture the magnificence of the setting and the grandeur and scale of the place. Hmm…

Not all was lost though, as I arranged with Damian to go back to the hotel and pick up my spare – unfortunately, it meant I had to leave Angkor Wat after only an hour but at least I got to see all the main bits (even if at high speed!) So took a tuk-tuk back to hotel for my photographic mission of mercy, picked up my spare battery and a tripod for Amy, and dashed back to Angkor to meet with the others to watch the sunset from Phnom Bakheng. Met up with others at around half four, then climbed up to the top (could have taken an elephant for $20!). Bakheng used to be the state temple of the first capital at Angkor although today its a lot more ruined than some of the other temples we'd seen. Reached by some perilously steep and narrow stairs, the view from the summit was magnificent. There were hundreds of people up there, all gathered to watch the sunset and drink beer – in the end, the sunset was fairly average, but the setting obviously made for a memorable experience! It was even worth the effort of carting my tripod up there!

Got back to the hotel around 6pm, so enough time to have a nice hot bath to wash off the thick layer of red dust from the roads before bunking off the group dinner and taking myself off to catch up on my blog and enjoy some quiet time on my own. Ended up in the Blue Pumpkin again (the fruit shakes alone were worth going back for!) and soon will be back off to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep as apparently tomorrow’s ride is going to be a lot harder than today! Eek!!