Day 7 14th November Siem Reap Short Temple Tour (Cambodia). 43Km

Day 7 14th November Siem Reap Short Temple Tour (Cambodia). 43Km



As we were staying in a "luxury" hotel for three nights it was an opportunity to get various chores done. In my case I had brought some washing liquid in order to wash my cycling gear whilst on the move, but the real challenge has been trying to dry it. In some hotels it was possible to put it onto the veranda, but I often found myself carrying wet cycle clothes around with me, they would generally dry in three days, when with socks and cycling gloves.



At this hotel I was able to get laundry done and to connect to the internet. So it was a chance to get stuff clean and to catch up on my blog. Normally in modern hotels you plug the computer in and then instead of the web page you request you get one offering to allow you to log in, sometimes free, sometimes at a cost. In this case there was a login page, but it wanted a user name and password. On ringing the front desk they said they would send someone up. A few minutes later I got a knock on the door and one of the hotel staff said he would log me in. He did and it worked I then had to fill in a receipt book of the cost and sign it.He then gave me a chit of paper with my login id and password for the next 24 hours. It turns out that the hotel gets these delivered and can't extend the period - you have to go through the whole process again with a new chit with the new codes.



Apparently even where there is an ethernet cable to plug into the computer it doesn't always work, I was one of the lucky ones. The cost was $10/24hr, Cambodia seems to maintain a multi-currency system and in most places we went they would accept dollars, Thai Baht and Combodian Riels. The latter notes were generally very scruffy and unsurprisingly a lot of things cost $1.



We set off reasonably early and cycled to a ticket place where we were photographed and an entrance pass produced (bearing the photo.) In this case the original itinerary had said the tickets would be included and the final invoice had said they would not. So we turned up for the tickets not expecting to pay $40 for two days. We managed to scrape together $20 each for one day and headed of to see the temples - muttering about the inconsistency.



The weather that morning was glorious, warm but on a bicycle a pleasant breeze is generated. The route we took avoided the main tourist drag and instead followed the back "roads". These were small flat "dirt tracks". They went through the fields and were used by the locals wanting to avoid the busy roads. As we cycled along we saw rice growing in the fields and Palm trees dotted around.

Here is one of the tracks, some were thinner, almost like single track (what mountain bikers call thin cycle paths in woods and down mountains). We always caused a bit of a stir and in one case went through a small gathering of huts whilst they were getting breakfast ready. Meat was being chopped up on stones outside and the kids were running around. We always got a chorus of "hellos" and the kids giggled when we responded. These paths are for walking, cycling and motorbikes. You often saw motorbikes carrying all manner of loads around the place. There is a presumption that they have right of way, but we always found them polite and courteous, maybe they wanted to play safe around "dangerous" western cyclists. (Western foreigners are called Barang in Cambodia)

After around 10km we saw our first temple at a corner of the road. All in all we visited 6 temples during the day, each one different from the last. They were built at different times and for different reasons, all must have been magnificent in their day. For me this was a bit like being close up to movie scenery.

Generally each time we went into a Temple someone would check our pass, there were quite lot of tourists bussing round, but we found that if we walked around the temples we could avoid people. A typical tourist will travel half way around the world, to see famous temples but then will hardly move from the entrance. Mind you as the day wore on it got very hot and the stone seemed to soak up and reflect the heat.



Cambodia is not a wealthy country and the Temples are in various states of disrepair. Some have wooden braces, other metal, we would ofter see roped off areas warning of danger or of men working. However we would occasionally cross into these areas without any problems. Cambodia is not big on obeying rules to the letter it seems. Here you can see how the stonework has crumbled.

For me one of the images I have when I think about the temples is that of trees inter-twining organically with the walls and stonework. Not all the temples have trees in and around them but those that do have a certain mystique about them. The problem is that real damage is being caused. Whatever course of action is taken there will be consequences to the fabric of the temple. The trees seem to drape themselves around the stones.

Depending upon the temple different carvings would be set in the walls. Here there were giant faces appearing to look down as we walked around.

This tree almost looks as if it is walking through the temple. As I am cycling and travelling light I have not bought a book on the temples, although I have a map. As a result I cannot remember much of what we were told about the construction dates and reasons for their construction. What I will be able to do though is use my GPS trace along with Google Earth to home in on the places we visited and call up more information.

The detail of the carvings was very fine and it was amazing how much work must have gone into the construction of the temples. The carvings and statues varied greatly, in some cases the walls have a pattern carved on the stone face.

I couldn't resist pictures of the trees draped over the walls.

The temples had extremely steep steps to climb up to the top of them. It was not easy for Jim and Mary in their cycling shoes with metal cleats on the soles. For this trip I took walking shoes.

The settings around the temples were often idyllic as well as being practical, lakes were built to provide water as well as look good. There were beautiful views looking from the temples.

The staining on the rock makes the faces look rather sombre and sad.

There were often large animals carved from stone placed around the Temples.

When cycling in the sun we would rendezvous frequently with the van , we drink litres of water a day. It is best when it has been in the icebox in the van, but when you are thirsty its fine even when warm from the water bottle on the bike. All the water we drink is bottled of course. There were various ladies selling fresh fruit and coldish drinks under this tree- you can see our van. Tanyet did not come into the temples with us he rested.

This was my favourite view of the day - I think it was the fourth temple were saw, most at reasonable distances from each other.

We visited Angkor Wat - which is perhaps the most famous, but not what most people imagine when they thing of the place. It was a large complex and busy with tourists. This is a small part and not of the central complex in case you think it has changed.

Here you can see how steep the steps are around the towers within the temples. This was the sixth and last temple of the day

We were all templed out by the end of the day so it was pleasant to cycle back into the town and back to the hotel (The Borei Angkor Resort and Spa in Siem Reap). One of the strange things about the hotel was a crocodile farm next door. They are farmed for the leather. It was only visible from the staff stairs at the side of the hotel. Jim used it to sneak his bike up to his room.

Here is the hotel. My room was at the back overlooking the swimming pool with its own balcony - good for drying clothes.

The days tour was not over. The plan was to go and see the sunset from a temple. As none of the rental bikes had lights (and I am not sure we wanted to cycle anyway) we took the van back to the temple area. On the way we found out that we needed our passes, neither Jim or I had realised so we headed back to the hotel and then back again. We dutifully showed our passes and arrived somewhat late for the sunset. We then were told to hike up a path. We started climbing, against a flow of people although some were still going up. Because we were late Jim and I set off at a fast pace. After 2-3Km we came to a temple and loads of people - it turned out that there was hardly any sunset because it was overcast. However in the dark Mary had stumbled and rolled down the hill several times, knocking her scraped knee and bruising her hand. She was not pleased with us for leaving her. However on the way down Jim did get her to turn around so he could take a picture of her back. It looked like she had been camouflaged with leaves. This is the picture I managed to get of the "sunset"!

Once back at the hotel I was surprised that my laundry was not back, however whilst sitting at my laptop uploading pictures I got a knock on the door and the laundry turned up. On leaving the Hotel cap asked me if I had had problems with the safe. I said no - and that I had locked some stuff in there. He asked me to unlock it and I couldn't. Since it had my passport and most of my money things were looking serious, but he then gave me a new number. I had left the door open in my haste to be off in the morning and the maid had spotted it and re-locked it.