Past Weekend in Siem Reap

At the end of last week I was ready for some rest and relaxation. I had just completed a marathon week developing two presentations for the nursing staff at AHC. And even though I was getting plenty of great exercise walking almost everywhere around Siem Reap, I was missing the adrenal rush of my previously almost daily triathalon training.

So first thing Saturday morning, after a vigorous breakfast of pancakes and honey, I packed my backpack and walked into downtown Siem Reap to find a bike shop. The bike I had the weekend before was okay, I guess, but this time I wanted something a little sturdier – and faster!! Green Cycles had pretty close to what I was looking for – a Giant brand mountain bike.


The tires needed a little air, but that ended up being an asset later as I occasionally needed to negotiate some tough terrain to get where I wanted to go.

Now I do have a history of getting lost, and then feel too foolish to ask for directions. And Saturday was no exception. I took the wrong road out to Angkor Wat, and ended up at the wrong park entrance. I needed to be at a different entrance which was the only place you can buy passes for visiting all of the MAIN temples around Siem Reap, including Angkor Wat itself. I realized it right away, but the young lady at the wrong entrance felt the need to remind, “I think you lost,” and point out that I had to backtrack about five kilometers. She then offered to arrange a ride for me to the correct entrance (for a small fee, of course). But what she didn’t get was that I relished the idea of adding another quick 10 kilometers to my morning ride!! So back toward town I went.

Okay. So it’s the rainy season here, right? I had assumed that meant it was going to be raining half the time I was here, and that I was going to have to adapt to both being hot and wet all the time. But it doesn’t really work that way. It does rain every day or every other day or so, but it’s usually limited to a quick shower sometime in the mid to late afternoon. And there’s usually plenty of warning. The sky may not show it, but a little breeze picks up, then you hear an occasional thunder clap, and 10-20 minutes later it rains for about 20 minutes. Sometimes the sun comes right back out and by dinnertime you can’t even tell it had rained. This past weekend didn’t really follow that pattern, though. On Saturday early afternoon the sky was the darkest I had seen yet. I had the awesome luck of arriving at the temple of Phnom Bakheng, which is built on the highest summit in the area. So I enjoyed some absolutely amazing vista views just as this tropical thunderstorm showed up.



I could see the rain a couple of kilometers away, but, ironically, I didn’t get rained on until an hour or so later. And then it was a torrential rain. I followed the example of the tuk-tuk drivers I saw along the road, and just hung our under a tree for awhile with my raincoat on.



That night it rained and rained and rained. And then Sunday it just sprinkled all day long. It made for some more reasonably cool days to biking.

So Saturday I took in the obligatory visit to Angkor Wat, the Elephant Terrace (where they used to have elephant races, I’m told), and Ta Phrom – the temple with all the giant trees growing in it. Sunday I went out of town the other direction and visited a trio of Hindu-era temples. The last temple, Lorlei (sp), now also had a Buddhist monastery right by it. I thought it was very appropriate that one of the buildings there had some wonderful painting showing an Indian-looking man finding enlighten from the Buddha.


There are still plenty of sights to see in the area. Always more temples. The king (Cambodia is, after all, a Kingdom) has a summer palace in town walking distance from here. There are also some historical museums. And I still have a hundred or so restaurants I haven’t tried yet. Tonight I found the other mall where all the teens dress just like their American counterparts and where I could go for a good old American type burger and fries!