2011 - NZ To SF - Day 72

Day 72: (24 July 2011):
- Breakfast at a very friendly place. Fried noodles for me. Order problems.
- Rent bike; $2 for gears, didn’t go with $1 no gears.
- Town was a bit hectic, good after out of town. Wide shoulders good. Fits a tuktuk.
- 3 day ticket (we get consecutive, but same price as 3 day non-consec). Photo.
- Nice tree-lined straight road. Old structures past moat. First glimpse.
- Photos before main entrance. Kids swimming.
- Park bike. Grass hat offered for $5, I didn’t really want. In end, got hat + water for 8000 Riel. Girls say “you got for very cheap,” realise this is what they say everytime to try get you feel bad to buy more.
- Walk in: bad luck, scaffolding. Central entrance to temple closed.
- Explore front section & blds. (Library?).
- Beautiful & detailed carvings around outside. Intricate.
- Busy on main sections, but surprisingly empty on bit off the main track.
- Climb around & explore a temple & walls just outside the centre.
- Go up the central tower. Nice views all around.
- Bats throughout & other temples too. Smelly in some places.
- Explore a bit more. View all of the bas-reliefs around wall.
- Touted at by store section. Magnets: “$3, but $2 for you.” Thought I’d pay a bit more to support, turns out can get for 50c. Felix buy painting: when say will come back: “There are 40 temples, you no come back!” Negotiating: “$5...$10.” Then say don’t remember say $5. Trick with asking for more riel. Agree $12, got $14. Felix: “it’s OK.” woman: “OK for you, you get good deal. Bad deal for me!”
- Guilted into buying 6000r water. “We watched your bike.” “You buy from them, what about me?” Noticed is true after someone pointed out the sellers all have very whiney voices.
- Continue small circuit after 3 hrs at Angkor Wat.
- 1st time passing the city gate is very impressive. Beings pulling a snake or naga (most of the snakes are destroyed). Faces on gate top. Elephants & trunks decoration. Moss. Wall. Bridge.
- Ice cream cart, but didn’t stop.
- Lose hat a few times.
- Felix use umbrella. Prob. better & more shade.
- Bayon. Afraid not impressive after Angkor Wat (as mentioned in LP), but fears unfounded. Look like pile of rubble from afar, but very impressive up close. Narrow passages. Found face on LP cover & money. Forest of mounds with faces on upper tier.
- All these places remind me of Diablo II & other media.
- Continue north. The city. Row of towers that no one visits as there is too much stuff. Realise will not finish small circuit today.
- Explore the city. Cool platform. Wall of elephants & Garuda.
- Central temple. “Climb at own risk” sign turns out to mean no climbing. Go up official entrance we found later. Nice, but nothing too exciting.
- Walk to the big temple. Impressive. Closed & can’t go up. Big wall with horizontal half cylinder ridges. Ruins in forest around area.
- Long raised walkway in front on many columns. Photo as tipped by LP.
- Start to get “tempelled out.” A commonly-heard expression here.
- Exit city & arrive to where there are 2 temples opposite across road.
- Look for coconut. Seller effectively stopped us by standing in way.
- The 2 girls show up. Bike opposite dir, skip Angkor: save for later.
- Explore the 2 temples. Kids playing games. Someone try give us lit incense. Eat pineapple. Split & continue on way.
- Pass by some old temple ruins with trees growing on it.
- Stop at a cool-looking temple. Girls told us about it when we met.
- Steep steps up temple. Jungle view at top. Series of small temples at top.
- Sit & watch rain clouds. When think OK, go to bikes. Rain just when reach bikes, so go back to temple for shelter. Should have stayed on an upper level, although may be slippery now.
- Start on bikes when rain became a bit lighter.
- Heavy rain on way. We really got the weather wrong. Short wait under a tree, but already wet & realise rain will prob. not stop.
- Arrive at the Tomb Raider temple in pouring rain. Walk a bit, I realise we had umbrellas to use.
- Walk around. Dark. A few tourists there. Kids selling cheap rain ponchos. Try avoid puddles, parts closed, think strayed into a few archealogical sites.
- Felix lose umbrella to kids when taking a video. Start of Felix temple video trend. I see kids with umbrella.
- Felix try go find kids. He get lost. Eventually a guard showed him out. Meanwhile, I use tripod & umbrella to take a few photos. Wait for Felix in a dark hall, some dripping water. Rain outside window. Violet lightning & soft thunder rumbles. Buddha statue. Kind of creepy. Eventually decide go find Felix. Walk in dark forest alone (large path, though). Violet flashes. Siren-sounding things close, not sure what it is. Happy to see felix at gate. Creepy inside.
- Bike back in rain. Siren-sounding things. Felix: “smoke monster from Lost.”
- Unsure where we biking. Ask directions a few times. Bike through very hectic town. No traffic rules. People on wrong side of road. Happy to arrive back. Even soaked on bikes, touts work on us as we pass restaurants.
- Change. I wash shorts since already wet. Dinner. Less rain. I use umbrella, Felix use my raincoat. Felix buy cheap umbrella at store.
- Offered girls by tuktuk drivers 3x in 5 min on Pub street.
- Ate at Amok restaurant. Fancy. Pumpkin soup in shot glasses as welcome. Confusing. Amok taster. Cute mini-amoks. Each with a flap on toothpick with picture of type of meat/fish/vegetable. Lac lac as well. Continue trend of eating at more expensive places.