Sunday
After breakfast and checking one more time for the parcel my nan had sent we left for the bus at 9am. There was a good amount of leg space on it and the air con worked so we were happy. We were on that bus from 9.30am until 5.30pm, but it really didn't feel like that long at all. There was a tv overhead playing cheesy cambodian music videos that kept us entertained for a good couple of hours. Liam managed sleep as usual whilst I read and messed about on my iPad most of the time.
It was a long way to the hotel from the bus station, and whilst a month or so ago we probably would have walked it anyway with it being about to get dark we got a tuk tuk. Good on too, I think it took about 20 minutes so we'd have been walking for a good hour ( not unheard of for us but still, nice to have a break).
Our hotel is off a back street with a few other nice little hotels around. After getting settled in our room we went to speak to the reception about stuff to do, decided on our course of action then went in search of food.
Despite this being a short description of the day it was most certainly not a short day, so we were both asleep by the time our heads hit the pillow.
Monday
Today we got up at a semi early time to go and explore the temples. I felt really unwell this morning with the worst sore throat in a while and feeling generally quite nauseated. After breakfast we went to find somewhere to hire some bicycles and set despite me feeling rotten as we just didn't have time for a sick day. We cycled for perhaps half an hour before reaching the ticket booth for the temples. We wernt sure if we would be needing a 2 day or 3 day ticket but it was the same price so we opted for 3 day.
From the ticket booth it was another half an hour cycle before we reached the first temple. The cycle was pleasant, the road was quite wide and good condition with lots of trees providing shade from both sides.
You'll have to forgive my lack of detail because we didn't pay for a guide so know nothing about any of the temples we saw really.
The first temple was only quite small but with it being the first we were very impressed with it. The details on all of the walls was wonderful, the carvings are still great even though it was built such a long time ago. I think that one was built in the 10th century. There were restoration works going on in some parts of it so we couldn't see inside all of the towers but we saw enough to be impressed by it.
We then got back on the bikes and cycled 3km or so to the next one, which had a really impressive archway made up of loads of different carved rocks pieced together like a jigsaw. As we walked through there was music playing which gave the place a really lovely feel, before we realised it was a group of musicians just after money from all the tourists. After a short walk there was a little building to the right in a small thicket which to me looked like a fairy tale house just made out of old stone a long time ago. There was green moss covering it and it looked so peaceful surrounded by all the trees.
We then got to an area that looked like what used to be the main entrance with a raised platform of stone and a big stone basilisk style snake from one end of the path to the other. Again the snakes are made up of many stones all connected to form one large finished product. This temple was massive, not so much in that it was particularly tall but it just stretched on for what felt forever. It was like a maze in there with so many different ways to go. The detail was magnificent and it was great seeing all the different arch ways and walls looking like they were going to topple at any moment. There's not really much more I can say to describe it, the pictures say it all really. Opposite that one was one of the many lakes, there is so much water dotted around. There was a big platform over looking the water with stone sentinel lions on either side, really makes you wonder how it must have looked back then.
After bartering for some pineapple to snack on the next cycle took us to an impressive temple in that it was so much taller than the previous ones. I can't think of the correct term right now but ill use the word towers to describe them, there were 4 of them and to get up to look inside you had to climb up absolutely massive steps. It was such hard work because each step went up nearly as far as my knee, but Liam counted only 37 of them. For steps that take you so high that's really not many! I find it fascinating how on earth the people used to get up and down them all those years ago, the Cambodians are tiny now so they must have been miniature back then. Which also makes the making of such massive structures all the more impressive.
We wandered around for a while looking at all the sculptures and detailed carvings on everything before going back down.
Throughout the day we went to a few more, all a good bike ride away from each other.
We went to a temple that was in the middle of an artificial island, it was really lovely walking down towards it because the wooden gangway was so peaceful with the still water surrounding both sides. There were trees growing up out of the water and the reflections made everything more beautiful because there was 2 of everything. We couldn't go into the temple there, I think because monks actually live in it still, but it was nice to see it from a distance all the same.
We also went to one where the tree was growing through and over the rocks which was very impressive, we both thought it was amazing! Despite a short description of some of the temples we saw, again it by no means was a short day. By the time we had seen all the ones on our list it was 5pm, we had cycled a good 25km throughout the day and we were very tired and hot. All that and I wasn't feeling well. We started the long cycle back to the hotel predicting an hour or so total before we arrived. We cycled through some amazing sights, under wonderful arch ways that used to be used as gates, over bridges, past magnificent looking temple structures. We cycled past angkor wat with lots of cambodian people sitting on the grass surrounding the moat having picnics. We could have stopped to look or even take pictures but we just wanted to get home! Besides, we should be seeing them when we go another day.
About half anhour into the cycle Liam decided he had had enough, so we made the decision to get a tuk tuk back with our bikes! Lazy perhaps but as Liam pointed out, we had done a lot already and we would be cycling in the dark before long.
Despite the annoying amount of touts constantly shouting you down outside the temples trying to sell stuff, and surprisingly the amount INSIDE as well, we had a great time. I can't quite figure out how it's ok for people to be in there bothering everybody and following you round to sell something but its disrespectful for you to wear a sleeveless tshirt. Doesn't seem to add up for me!
After dinner we had a lovely Skype chat with Richard and Jennifer for a good 45 minutes or so I think, which was really fun and nice to see them both again after so long away from home. We ended up not going to bed until late despite being really tired, don't seem to be getting much sleep lately which is probably why I keep getting ill.
