Yesterday, we continued our bike tour around the temples of Angkor Wat and saw several more sights. Being on bike, we were able to make a few small detours to wander around lesser known ruins. The areas of Preah Neak Poan and Preah Khan were stunning, especially because you needed to make a grand entrance over rivers and moats. At the last temple, Phnom Bakheng, we made the exhaustive climb in over 99°F / 37°C heat to catch a glimpse of the Angkor Wat temple from a far.
The rest of our day was spent recovering from the biking and shopping around Siem Reap. (I found prescription glasses for a fraction of the price in Germany)
Today, we spent the better part of the day sitting in a bus, wondering whether we were actually going to Kampong Cham. This route isn’t frequently traveled by tourists coming from Siem Reap, so it was difficult trying to confirm that we were headed towards the correct city and needed to change bus lines at a certain stop. The bus blowing a tire also didn’t help.
But we made it to Kampong Cham and Cédric and I rewarded ourselves to some tasty street food. Afterwards, we walked across an epically large (1km) and questionably stable (it held up an SUV) bamboo bridge to see the island of Koh Paen and swim in the Mekong River. Apparently this bridge is rebuilt each year after the rainy season floodings, but a concrete bridge is built down river.
We’ve decided to extend our stay by a day here in Kampong Cham, mainly to visit a few surrounding temples and villages. Afterwards, we’re going to move up the Mekong to the city of Kratie.
As of last night, Cedric and I are in Siem Reap. The way here from Munich was long and exhausting… The ten hour flight (with very little sleep) had us landing in Beijing at 7am and we weren’t set to leave until 8:30pm. We used our layover opportunity to visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Both places were epic in size and we took up most of our time walking around the two places. Once Cedric and I got back to the Beijing airport, we could barely keep our eyes open. Unfortunately, or next flight to Ho Chi Minh City was only five hours long…. Barely enough time for a nap. Or night ended with another nap in the Ho Chi Minh City airport before catching a 13 hour bus to Siem Reap. We’re both now thankful to be able to sleep horizontally again.
We spent today riding rented bikes around the Angkor Wat temples and trying to avoid both heat and crowds. The temples reminded us of the pyramids in Mexico and Indonesia.. But spread out over 100 square kilometers. Most were built by one king.
Tomorrow, we’re planning to bike to some more remote temples and reflection pools. Since it’s currently the dry season, we’re not able to visit the floating villages of Tonle Sap. Instead, we’re headed to Kampong Cham and Kratie in the more remote areas of north eastern Cambodia.
Cheers,
Cassie and Cedric
