Siem Reap Day 2 - Temple overdose, sore bum and soothing fingers. Oh this must be the highlight on my trip here. Its the day to visit UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor Archaeological Park. I was super-excited. First thing first... breakfast was piping hot baguette with omelette.. yummy. The people here really love their french pastries. Baguettes were sold everywhere. Next - rent a bicycle... yup I planned to do todays plan on a bicycle, without a tour guide. Got a bike, albeit a kampung one.. but its ok. The rent was just 3 USD per day.. so a real money saver there (as opposed to renting tuk-tuk for about 15 USD per day. I started cycling at about 7.30 am and started a loooooooonnnnnnggggg journey. 30 kilometers approximately!! But it was soooo worth it. Bought the day pass.. I decided to buy the one day pass for 20 USD because I didnt think I will need 3 days or 7 days to do this. I wasnt planning of going to the Roulous Group and banteay Srei.. so one day was adequate. First stop - Angkor Wat. After parking my bike, while standing at the entrance to Angkor Wat, I was already enthralled. It was amazingly beautiful, from far and from near. However Ive always pictured is as a bit bigger. In reality it wasnt as big as I imagined. I was speechless (well I do not need to speak... I am a solo traveller...heheheh) but it took me awhile before it set in my mind that I was standing inside one of the 7th wonders of the world Next stop, Angkor Thom... but before that, I stopped for a while at Phnom Bakheng. I didnt go up,anyway... I thought I wanted to save my energy. Angkor Thom was huge!!!!! really huge. 9 square kilometers. The magnitude itself was overwhelming. Let along the beauty. I will not report on the structures in Angkor Thom.. you can read about it everywhere. But, I believe Bayon is one of the most impressive religious structure Ive ever seen. I spend about an hour there. After that , within Angkor Thom, I managed to visit a few more structures; Preah Ngoc, Baphuon, Phimeanakas, Royal Palace and Sra Srei (all these on foot). Then I stopped a while for a cold coconut drink. Next I continued visiting Terrace of the Leper King and Terrace of Elephants. Walking back to my bicycle, I felt tired and the sun was already high up. Its almost noon. I sat down in front of the ponds of Baphuon and take a breather. Then I began one of my longest cycling journey to Ta Phrom. I cycled through a few structures, stopping very briefly to savour the view, including Prasats Suor Prat, Chau Say Thevoda, Thomannon and BpeanThme. It was during this journey I started to feel pain in my thighs and bum. Once in a while I would get off the bike and walked. Somehow walking helped ease the pain in mu bum and my thigh. I would alternate walking and cycling, and stopped at one of the roadside stalls to buy sugarcane juice.. yummy!!!! At Tha Phrom, I entered through the west gate (most travel groups would enter through the east gate). This structure was famously known as the Tomd Raider Temple.. thanks (or no thanks) to Angelina Jolies Lara Croft. And I totally agreed with most travel guide. Tha Phrom had an aura of mystery surrounding it. Some of the structures were overgrowm with trees and bushes. And to add to the dramatic effect, the wing was blowing quite fast and the birds were making noise (exactly like a Thai horror movie). The sky darken a bit, I think it was going to rain. And one peculiar thing happen to me in Tha Phrom. I got lost in the temple and couldnt find my way out. I followed some of tourists and ended up at the the east gate... damn... I had to get in the temple again and find my way back to the west gate. After a few trial and error, I managed to find the west gate. I was so exhausted, so I took a short rest. It was already 2.00 pm. After that, I decided to go back to the hotel, and decided to forgo Preah Khan and Neak Pean. Anyway, these are not the major sites. Ive covered the three important sites, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Phrom. So begin my 15 km cycle back to the hotel while passing through and stopping by at a few structures such as Banteay Kdei, Sras Srang and Prasat Kravan. This time I really took my time. I cycled leisurely and once in a while, I would get off the bike to ease the sore butt. Approaching Angkor Wat again, I realised I had made a loop and was again presented with the spectacular view of the wat and the moat surrounding it. Cycling through, I managed to arrive at my hotel at about 3.45 pm, with tired legs and sore bum. And I was covered with dust.. yes Siem Reap was very dusty this time of the year. At the hotel, I was planning to take a nap, but after the shower, I could not sleep. The exhaustion prevented me from sleeping. So I get ready, send the bicycle to the rental agence and took a tuk-tuk to the area near Artisan DÁngkorwhere I managed to get a 90 minutes oil massage. Bliss!!!!! I was planning to have a night stroll at the night market. And then it rained.. it rained heavily.. and I decided to stop for coffee at Miss Wong before going back to the hotel. But I also managed to book a tour to Kampong Phluk and Tonle Sap for the next day. Was also excited about this. So theres my 2nd day. For Nabila Kula and Nasrul Aliff Nas... I would suggest you buy the one-day pass only, unless you really want to see all the temples. For me, most of the temples looked alike and you did get temple-overloaded. And also I suggest you hire a tuk-tuk for the whole day. But if you think you have the energy to cycle about 30 km.. go ahead and rent the bike. Cheaper, and youll get your fix of exercise. But with tuk-tuk, you could cover more temples including Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Keo, Ta Phrom, Banteay Kdei and Sras Srang. Allocate one day for this activity and maybe end up at Phnom Bakhend during sunset.. I was told it was beautiful, but I decided not to go there.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 15:35:11 +0000
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