Half way to HCMC. Hot.

Great place for lunch. Only the best.

We were expecting a ferry. Honestly.

Not much to say. Hot day. Long way. Highway 1 is not the most interesting road. Linda felt a tad overheated. Several times. Paul felt overheated. Slightly less often. Just.

We thought the road was a ferry over the river. Nice surprise to find a nice new bridge. Thank you Mr Chinese.

Now to sleep in our $15 hotel. Pooped.

They will not fall. Jolly painful.

Driving a moped starts early in these parts.

How deep is Tonle Sap?

Water Hyacinths. Very invasive. Seems appropriate for the area, really.

It’s not much, but it is home.

We’ve become unaccustomed to relying on other modes of transport.  Tuk tuk 30 mins later than booked.  Squeezing onto the back to join the 5 other travellers with all their gear we then had to hold onto our bikes hanging off the tailgate. Met Yann, a charming Frenchman now living in Hammersmith, travelling in south-east Asia for a few weeks between jobs.  Nice to chat while we waited for our driver, who disappeared after we broke down  two mins down the dusty road.  He  finally turned up  with a Jonnie Walker bottle of petrol.  No worries being late as the 7:30 am ferry was still piling on passengers at 8.30.

We settled ourselves onto the rather firm bench seats, very happy to have a seat and not to be perched on the rooftop, baking with the baggage. We had been told that the journey 4-5 takes hours, but were  prepared for a 5 to 6 hour trip with lots of water, bananas and pastries from breakfast.  The engine stops after 4 minutes, someone gets a saw out to chop something off the back off the boat. Repeat. Several times. 5 hours into the trip we pull over to the bank. It didn’t look like a port. Everyone piles off onto a rather sleeker looking vessel.  Paul is left to hoik our bikes and panniers onto the new boat while I scurry down below to try and grab a seat.

Very exciting for 10 mins when we accelerate to warp factor 6.  Sadly, it didn’t last. Engine stopped and someone tried a hammer this time. Sadly it didn’t work, so a serious engineer was called in. He had a very big hammer.  Which almost worked. We pootled down the river ploughing through the weeds for another weary, bone aching 4 hours.  Just made it to Phnom Penh before dark. Groan. More fun than a van, but gosh, so close.

Even Hanoi traffic wasn’t this bad.  We chose to cycle on the sidewalk avoiding the kids playing football, the aerobics class and the food vendors.  A manic cycle to find our hotel.  Thank you maps.me and Paul’s ability to cycle and brake one-handed.

Travelling by bike in Cambodia is fun. The fun is about to change as we try and actually cycle around Phnom Penh.

Our hotel’s pool. Jolly nice it is, too!

Our last day in Siem Reap, and just chilling in 35 degrees. Trying to work out a plan to go east, to Phnom Penh. Bus, cycle or boat? The bike ride to Phnom Penh will be the best part of 500km, as we would have to go around Tonle Sap, so about 4 days. Time is slightly running out (groan). Bus or boat? Bus is probably more comfortable but we have seen lots of countryside from the road. Boat it is! Although many reviews on the internet are not great, lets get there with an open mind, warm heart and see what happens!

06.30 pick up, with bikes. Hope to be in Phnom Penh by 3pm. We have been learning all about the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot in the 70’s.  Great book, First they killed my father. Not sure if we want to go to the ‘Killing fields’. It may have been turned into a tourist circus, rather than a serious subject for quiet contemplation. To think on.

We can’t help but think that the arrangements for tomorrow are, to say the least, flakey. We are concerned that a car for us, and a tuk-tuk for the bikes just might not be co-ordinated. Paul resolves to go with the bikes in a Tuk-tuk, if it turns up at all.

Another day. Another adventure.

The big one, Angkor Wat.

Sun up. Over Angkor Wat, sort of.

By the ‘Ladies pool’, Angkor Wat.

The Gods, pulling a snake. No-one wins.

The faces of Buddhas. 214 of them.

Apsaras, dancing girls. 4 of them.

Lotus flowers.

The trees are taking over.

Big roots. Fig tree.

Angkor Wat, home of the Gods.

They knew how to kill each other.

Heaven, on earth, and hell. It carries on.

300 year old tree. And Paul.

Angkor Wat, all the Pineapples.

Well, we have sort of finished a pilgrimage to get to Angkor Wat. We started in Wat Phu in Laos, peddled over 400Km along what was an ancient way connecting two of the most important Khmer temples together. We have also spent loads of time learning about the ancient Khmer religions and beliefs, looking at other temples and generally getting confused around the different myths surrounding these temples.

Our day started at 5am. A frantic bike ride to make sure we got to the temple before dawn. Dawn sort of happened about an hour after we arrived. Hey ho. We joined one or two others, looking at what is the biggest religious building in the world. So impressive. We could list superlatives at this point, but it’s really about the feeling, the soul of the place. All the myths and stories help put the stones into context, but it is so impressive. It stands in Cambodia, next to huge poverty, and a recent new story of unbelievable brutality and sadness at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. A story that is still unfolding with the legacy of thousands of mines, a whole generation of the country’s intelligent and sophisticated people murdered and a land that has been stripped of anything edible. Still the people smile.

Angkor Wat is the sort of place that we all maybe should see. But to fly in, view, and fly out would miss the point. It is a huge site, with over 50 world class temples, all over 1,000 years old. It is mainly Hindu, with a mix of Bhuddism. It’s also about politics and local kings trying to make a point about their lives. It makes one of the most interesting places that we have had the fun of exploring.

The cycling was grand!

To Banteay Srei temple. Angkorian. 967AD, ish.

Banteay Srey. The pink one.

Banteay Samre.

Detail, Banteay Srei.

More detail. Superb carving quality.

Banteay Srey.

Thanks USA, and others.

Another day, more temples.  Banteay Srei is superb. Great craftsmanship, and , as all of them, a story to tell. Hindu, now Buddhist. Thought to be built by women. Not sure how ‘they’ can tell. Banteay Semre, a slightly ‘out of the way’ temple, all building up to ‘The big one’ tomorrow – Angkor Wat. So far, all are a bit mind blowing, in lots of ways.

This is big industry for Siem Reap.  Lots of us tourists traipsing over the ruins listening to descriptions of Apsaras (celestial dancers) and tales of Hindu demons and gods.  For some it is a pilgrimage, for many of the Asian tourists, more selfies.  Most of these temples were only more recently uncovered by the French in the early 1900’s.  It is only in the last 10 or so years that the sites have been declared National Heritage sites and foreign aid is coming in from India and China to help restore the structures and to provide an infrastructure.

Stopped into the Cambodia Landmine museum en route to the temples.  The museum was  founded by a victim of the Khmer Rouge, Aki Ra. He became a boy soldier for the Khmer Rouge at the age of seven after his parents were killed by them.  He spent his boyhood fighting and laying landmines.  Laterally, he has devoted his life to de-activating them by the very unorthodox method of using a pair of pliers.  He has made safe thousands of devices, manufactured by the Americans, Russians and Chinese.  His charity has looked after child victims of the landmines by providing housing and an education.  Today there are many less victims per year, down to around one hundred or so rather than more than one thousand per year.

A little light relief was a wander around the butterfly centre.  Local farmers are being paid to drop in the caterpillars they find on their crops, rather than cooking / squishing them.  These are hatched in the centre and visitors can watch the emerging butterflies from their cocoons.  Daily they collect the eggs they find on the leaves and protect them in boxes until they hatch.  Lots of predators with the geckos and ants.

The evening was a bit of a treat, and very unexpected. Dinner about 10Km out of town, to a ‘cultural show’. Usually awful, and had we known about it we would probably have said no. We were just told to get in the van! Quite surprisingly, we did. However… food was great, and the dancing was very skilful and elegant. Very enjoyable to watch. Thank you Cambodia Cycling!

Tomorrow early start. 5am.