It was supposed to be a pretty short ride of 300 kliks from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap but in my case it also proved to be amongst the hardest. Today, after so many days on the road was the day that I felt under the weather. I wasn't having fever or flu but just felt so lethargic. I think it was also made worse by the 30kms of unpaved red earth road coming out of Phnom Penh. I think it took us about an hour just to navigate through this. As this is the main road (main road my ass la), so we're stuck behind traffic a lot and of course besides the diesel fumes that the buses and trucks spew out they also kick up a lot of red dust in their wake.....right into our faces!
What was it about the joys of being on a motorbike that you're one with your surroundings? Well at that moment I would have punched anyone who said those lines to me la.
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| Yay!...red earth. Adventure!...Yeah rite! |
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| How many more km la? |
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| Turn left to Siem Reap |
It was actually quite bad for me that 100km into the journey I just had to stop for a break. I thought I was low on sugar or something coz I can't even open my eyes. I actually finished a whole tube of Oreos. The Oreo is actually for emergencies but right now this definitely feels like one. Oh ya...I'm also having Coke, so if that does not put me into some sort of sugar overload I don't know what will.
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| In case of emergency, open tankbag |
We pushed on towards Siem Reap but I was still feeling so weak. I am embarrassed to admit now but I was so out of it that on a couple of occasion I dozed off on the bike. It's actually
microsleep but really, 1 second is sometimes more than enough to be the difference between being alive or being the other unpleasant alternative.
I failed to inform Husref about this fact but I suppose I was just in denial. I couldn't believe nor understand how I can be so tired on this 300km ride when we've already done a 900km leg with no issues whatsoever. We could and should have stopped more, taken longer breaks, but I felt that if I've taken more breaks I might not be able to continue the ride. That I would call it a day while we're still in the middle of nowhere. Definitely a bad call on my part, one that I've been blessed to get away with this time around.
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| School kids on bicycles wearing helmets. |
I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as we rolled into Siem Reap sometime in the late afternoon. The only thing on my mind was to look for our guesthouse so that I can collapse properly. Unfortunately, we had to choose 1 that's not on our GPS, so took a little bit of going around the town to finally locate the street. As i've mentioned before, it also helps that the locals do speak pretty decent English so they were quick to point us in the right direction.
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| For US23 a night it's good value |
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| Very rare for a guesthouse to have a pool |
Have you ever taken a long afternoon nap that is only broken by a stomach that's begging for food? You imagine it crawling out of your body, stand next to you, slapping you silly across the face screaming "Feed Me Bitch!". Yes, that's pretty much how I woke up, satisfied from the nap yet ready to eat the mattress.
So 10 minutes and 12 seconds later, we find ourselves in Pub Street, a street that's just lined up with restaurants and bars. Credit to Angkor Wat, Siem Reap receives something like half a million foreign visitors a year, so naturally this is reflected in the kind of offerings that we find in Pub Street. It's a real international affair here so just take your pick.
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| yum yum! |
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| Amok fish. Love |
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| Yup, we're in the right place |
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| Even the alleyways is worth exploring for more food |
The next day, we're off to explore Angkor Wat. The reason why we're in Siem Reap. Through the guesthouse we arranged for a TukTuk to take us there and back. We paid USD10 for this arrangement and considering the fact that you have a personal driver with you for a few hours I think it's awesome value.
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| Our driver for the day |
We paid US10 each for a day pass and 5km later we're standing at the front steps of Angkor Wat with a long stone walkway that crosses the moat into the complex. Now I shall not bore you with the history of
Angkor Wat, for it's nothing that you can't Google. All I want to share with you is that it is 800 years old and it's bloody impressive.
I'll say it again, it's 800 years old hokayyyyy!
Let me just put up some pics of the place and you'll see what I mean.
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| Entrance |
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| That's Angkor from afar |
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| 800yrs ago, this is like taller than KLCC |
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| Very intricate |
To the me, the place just belies believe. The feat of engineering, the architecture, the creativity, the finesse, the finishing, it's all just amazing considering the age. I mean the huge stones that makes the entrance walkway, you may think nothing of it as you trample it on the way into the temple, but how did they cut it? where did the find enough stones? how did they transport it? These are just square blocks and yet there's so much mystery behind it.
Who really was this brilliant ancient civilization and craftsmen? What happened to the skills? If you see the rest of Cambodia, you'd be amazed that their ancestors possessed the knowledge and skills to build such a wonderful and fine complex.
It is said the construction took 300,000 men and 6,000 elephants to build. It's mind boggling to think about maneuvering this, to house them, feed them.
Besides Angkor Wat, we were lucky to have just enough time to head out to Angkor Bayon, well known for it's numerous massive stone faces.
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| Lara Croft....is that you? |
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| The Guardian of Bayon |
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| Same? |
The one day experience of exploring Siem Reap has convinced me to head out there again. I would love to check out the complex from a hot air ballon or even a heli if given the chance. Spend more time exploring the complex maybe with a guide as well. The place has definitely left and impression on me.
There's also the Tonle Sap floating village nearby that we didn't get to checkout this time around. It's worth it to fly out there next time and spend 4 to 5 days of exploring the place.
We are going to cross into Laos the next day, so in the mean time I shall leave you with more pics of Angkor Wat and of course, the girls! You think I would forget about them? hahaha no chance!
