Today is the big day!
After much deliberation, Eric and I decide to brave bikes again for our visit around the Angkor Heritage Site. We opt for the old school style of bicycles – the kind with a basket in the front, a bell and soft seats.
So around 7:45am we head out into the heat – destination Angkor.
Last night we drafted out a plan for a route, since the site is so large and let’s be honest, one can only look at so many temples in a day. If you try and do too much, you may come down with a case of the “ABC’s”, which is common for people touring Europe & Great Britain…
ABC = “Another Bloody Church, Another Bloody Castle”.
Our first stop is the mother of all temples, Angkor Wat.
Hoping it’ll be less busy now rather than later in the day, we park our bikes and spend the next hour or so wandering around the temple. It’s still as amazing the second time around, as it was the first time.
Eric is speechless… which is nice.
It’s also really interesting for me because it seems there’s some conservation work happening.
After Angkor Wat, our route takes us to Ta Phrom, but along the way, we make a slight detour and stop for a visit at Banteay Kdei. It turns out to be a great decision because there are less people wandering around so at points it’s just us, the temple and the jungle.
We get back on track and make our way to Ta Phrom, which is another well known temple for two reasons…
First, whereas many other temples have been carefully conserved, Ta Phrom has been left to the whims of the creeping jungle vegetation.
Secondly, “Tomb Raider” was filmed here.
There is some conservation work happening to help stabilize the structures, but overall it’s still elegantly overgrown as ever.
Entering through the East Gates of Angkor Thom we make our way to the Terrace of the Leper King, the Terrace of the Elephants, Phimeanakas and Bauphuon.
It’s a lot to take in so we take a break under a tree to rehydrate and enjoy some sweet pineapple.
Bayon is the next temple on our list and it turns out to by far the favourite of both Eric & I.
It’s very different from any temple we have seen to date because it’s a temple of faces. We spend a good chunk of time here wandering and snapping loads of photos.
Our final leg of the day takes us through the North Gates of Angkor Thom to Ta Som.
Ta Som is well-known because a huge tree has grown up and over an entrance to the temple. It is spectacular and worth the 20km peddle there and back.
We finish our day leaving via the South Gate of Angkor Thom and begin our journey home.
We’ve managed to bike around 35km today, so coupling that with the 70+kms we biked yesterday, we are craving some protein and we go out in search of cheeseburgers.
We are successful…sort of – refer to blog entry “Here’s a Question for You”.
Our last day in Siem Reap is a lazy / recovery day.
We start it off by visiting Joe-to-Go for banana shakes and we end it off by visiting the Blue Pumpkin Bakery for gourmet ice cream – Eric has Ginger & Clove ice cream and I have 4-Spice ice cream… definitely great!
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