A 6.5 hour bus journey at the back of the bus. You don't want to be at the front because that's where you will die, and you don't want to be at the back because that's where i had no leg room and you get the most bumps. Lets say i was glad to arrive in Siem Reap, although i wouldn't say Siem Reap was a good place to arrive in. I think there are more Westerners than Cambodians and more restaurants than houses. with the influx of visitors this place has sprawled nearly all the way to Angkor Wat. Its another day and a half before i get a chance to see what is my number what must while in SE Asia, the bus and its Air Con has knocked me out - i actually sleep for 18 hours in 24 and I've gained a cold :(
When i do eventually get to go to Angkor Wat i decide to hire a bike for the day, although i probably cycled about 60km, and it was a hot day, and i was on another ladies shopping bike, it was a good day. I manage to look at a lot of the ruins around Angkor Wat complex, but not Angkor Wat itself. I want to save that for either dawn or dusk when i have more time. I have a 3 day pass, so i should get the chance.
There are lots of tourists, lots and lots of buses, tuk-tuks and motor bikes, and in areas it does spoil it. The fumes are dreadful. there are also lots of ruins and pathways through the forest and its easy while on a bike to find a quiet spot. Some of the temples are amazing, even in their decayed, damages state. Imagining what they must have looked like in their time - wow.
Its dark by the time i set off for my guest house. My bike has lights - they just don't work i discover. grrr. Still one more mad person on the road should be OK.
The next day i hire a tuk-tuk for the day. I have about 100km round trip to visit Bantaey Srei and even i don't feel like it on a bicycle. my driver is Thierry - pronounced like the French footballer Mr Henri. he's little and young and lived most of his life in a village fairly nearby. the bright lights of Siem Reap have drawn him away though.
The carvings on Bantaey Srei are particularly impressive, and although it was a bumpy, dusty road to it, i think it was worth it. I go to look at a whole load of paintings after - the last thing i need is another picture - so i buy 3. It will cost more to send them home than it did to buy them. before lunch i decide to go and visit the Land Mine Museum by Aki Ra. This is the unofficial one by a guy who was forced to lay mines himself by the Khmer Rouge at the age of 5. Now he trains others and still disarms them himself. It was well worth a visit, and for me it was more of a sobering trip than the Killing Fields. After all land mines are still killing and maiming.
