Back on the Bike, Angkor Style

Heading for Siem Reap Ross and I had a very smooth border crossing into Cambodia, there are still a lot of scams out there (scam buses and overpriced visas) but doing a little research on internet goes a long way. Armed with information we took a bus from Bangkok's Northern Terminal to the boarder, ignored all of the touts and tuk tuk drivers trying to tell you you need this form or that, and then grabbed a taxi to our guesthouse in Siem Reap. All in all a very smooth entrance into The Kingdom of Cambodia and Siem Reap, the gateway to the Angkor temples.









Lucky for us we arrived during Bonn Om Tuk. The 'water festival' is celebrated every year when the current of the Tonle Sap, which swells so much during rainy season that it actually pushes water upstream, reverses and flows back into the Mekong River. Boat racing, an illuminated boat parade, and fireworks were celebrated all along the banks of the river. At night the locals also purchase small boats which they light with incense and float down the river to symbolize sending all of their troubles away. We caught quite a few of the races, ate at the street stalls set up for the festivals, and enjoyed the contagious energy of all the fans.











We decided to pick up a 3 day pass to the Angkor area so that we would have plenty of time to explore. We chose to rent bikes our first day and we loved it so much that we got them again on our second day. It has been over two months without getting on a bike so we were really excited to ride. There are bike rental shops everywhere here and so many of the locals ride bikes it is very easy, even in busy traffic, to get around. It also helps that the area around the temples is super flat so you can easily cruise all day and take in a lot of the sites. It also beats walking because it is hot here, really hot, and on the bikes you get a nice breeze.





On day 1 we started with the famous Angkor Wat. The temples are so old (some dating back to the 9th century), incredibly ornate (the stone carvings are amazingly detailed), and of such scale (there are over 1000 temples in the area) that you can't helped but be in awe.



























After touring Angkor Wat we made our way around to several of the temples that comprise Angkor Thom.

































On Day 2 we decided to head out in the late afternoon to catch the sunset at Angkor Wat. We got a great view and also got to see all of the locals come out to have family picnics in front of the temples on their Sunday evening. Cruising around on a bike in Cambodia is awesome!













More to come for day 3...