Cycling Siem Reap

On Thursday, I was feeling well enough to take a bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.  It was not the most enjoyable ride ever primarily as a result of two things.  Like many Asian bus companies, they insisted on turning on the TV in the front of the bus as if us poor saps can't find any way to entertain ourselves for six or seven hours (umm, it's called a book.)  In this case, they were playing a string of Cambodian music videos that all sounded exactly the same and seemed to have nearly exactly the same plotline: girl/boy falls for boy/girl, the object of girl/boy's attention falls for another girl/boy, the original girl/boy ends up seriously maimed, ill or dead.  Very Romeo and Juliet.  

The other major distraction on the bus was the plastic bag hanging from the seat in front of my neighbor.  I had been smelling some strange odors (figured it was b.o.) and hearing strange squeaking noises.  Then I realized that the bag was moving.  There was something alive in it!!  My best guess was some chicks and perhaps a duck or two (I also heard some quacks) that were probably headed towards my neighbor's dinner table.  I know it's Cambodia and things are done a bit different there, but a plastic bag?!?  Come on, people, that's just dumb.  The greatest sight I have ever seen as I got off the bus was a sign with my name on it held by the tuk-tuk driver who was to drive me to my hostel.
On the way in the tuk-tuk, we drove right over and straight through the flooded river.  Luckily we made it to the hostel without getting stuck and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had the dorm room all to myself for the night. Since I still wasn’t feeling 100% that was definitely a nice bonus.

The following day I decided to rent a bike from the hostel to go visit Angkor Wat since it only cost $2.00 as opposed to $15.00 for the full-day use of a tuk-tuk.  I don’t know if I mentioned it in my previous post, but most transactions in Cambodia are actually carried out in US dollars.  They don’t use US coins, though, so you get the equivalent back in Cambodian riel in bill form.  It’s quite an odd system, but I guess it works for them.  As a result, though, goods and services tend to be a bit more expensive in Cambodia than in Vietnam.

It took me about 25 minutes to ride to Angkor Wat and when I arrived I was slightly disappointed to see that part of the front of the temple was covered in construction scaffolding and tarps.  It was a pretty incredible structure, but I couldn’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed.  I think it’s because it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.  For some reason I was under the impression that Angkor Wat was one of the temples that was taken over by the jungle with trees growing right up through the building walls.  I kept trying to find that part of the complex, but it turns out I was searching in vain because Angkor Wat was never actually “lost” or overcome by the elements.

In the midst of my search for the mythical “jungle temple” I did come across some of the infamous monkeys that are known for invading the area while exploring the woods at the back of the complex.  It was a hot day so the primates were busy playing with each other in a large puddle left by a recent rainstorm.  They would bite each other’s backs and try to push one another under the water.  Some of them would even jump from overhanging tree limbs into the water below.  It was definitely one of the highlights of the day.

On my way out of the temple, I ran into an American girl who offered to take my picture for me and then proceeded to tell me that she was high on acid.  It wouldn’t have taken a genius to figure that out since we wasn’t making much sense when she talked.  It was like she was trying to be very deep and profound but instead only succeeded in sounding like an idiot.  I somehow got roped into talking to her for a while and got to hear all about her plans for a meditation course in Cambodia and a yoga retreat in Thailand.  She told me that she had spent over an hour that day meditating in the woods and I wanted to tell her that she was missing the whole point of the search for enlightenment if she felt the need to get high to experience it.  I decided it was probably not worth the effort, though, and eventually managed to lose her as I was heading out of the temple.

Before going back to the hostel for the night, I went to one other temple down the street from Angkor Wat called Phnom Bakheng.  It is on top of a hill that it takes 15 minutes to climb and is apparently the highest temple in the area.  It has great bird’s eye views of Angkor Wat and the surrounding countryside.  The steps to climb up to the top are so steep that you constantly fear you might fall.  Right as I got to the top of the hill it started to downpour, but luckily I was able to wait it out and them climb to the top.  Most people go to the temple to watch the sunset, but since I was on my bike I decided I had better head down the hill before it got too dark. 

By the time I was peddling back home I was pretty beat and could feel my head pounding.  My fever had somewhat returned probably because I was once again trying to do to much.  Luckily dinner and a good night’s rest left me feeling much better by morning.

Next time I’ll tell you about the rest of my trip to the Siem Reap temples.