Claire and I have been able to do some pretty incredible things the past two months, but I do not think any of them can top the day we recently spent biking through Angkor Wat.
For the hefty price of $1 per day, we were able to rent bicycles that were most likely built between 1975 and 1980. With no gears and questionable breaking abilities, we biked the roughly 4 miles from the town of Siem Reap to Angkor Wat Archeological Park. Luckily the road was totally flat and we had at this point become accustomed to the chaotic nature of roads in southeast Asia, so we arrived without incident.
As we arrived in the park we came across the moat for Angkor Wat and then the temple itself. We had seen the temple the day before, but seeing it in this capacity in the early morning light was truly stunning.
The day before we had taken a tuk tuk through the park and though it may have been a bit more comfortable and quicker, being able to move at your own pace in the park was very refreshing. We were able to spend more time searching and exploring parts of the park we may have just gone right by in a tuk tuk.
In one day we saw Angkor Wat, most of Angkor Tom, Tom Prohm and Srah Srang. This may not seem like a lot but this park is big! The one temple, Angkor Wat, is just one small part of it. I did not really know this until we arrived and did not really understand until we explored it on bike.
The only downfall of the bikes, it was hot! Siem Reap is probably the hottest place we have been so far on our travels and being out in the sun is bad enough, but even worse when you are on a big expending energy in that same heat.
Though was it worth it? Absolutely! When we got back we estimated we rode about 20miles that day. We were sweaty, dehydrated (despite all efforts to remain hydrated), dirty and exhausted. Though I would do it all again in a heartbeat and would recommend that everyone go to Siem Reap and everyone do Angkor Wat via bike!
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