Rules of the Road and more Wats!

Yesterday we rented mountain bikes to go back to Ta Prohm. The day before we took a very abbreviated tour of the temple because I needed to find the bathroom and I wasn't willing to wait. We started out around 10ish while it was lightly raining. It felt much cooler yesterday morning so I thought biking was a good idea. It wasn't until we started out into traffic that I started to rethink biking. According to Google we went approximately 16 miles round trip. I think my last bike ride was close to six months ago but I think I went maybe 4 or 5 miles. 

(Dirty feet at the half-way point.)

Biking turned out to be quite the adventure.  You see, we have decided that when driving there aren't a lot of rules other than get to where you are going. For the most part people drive on the right side of the road, but that seems like it is merely a suggestion. And on a two lane road you may have 3-4 vehicles ride along side each when someone is passing. We made it through the busiest part of town with only one detour that would have gotten us there but it wasn't the main road.

(Me at Ta Prohm)

Our next adventure on the bikes was navigating a dirt road that had turned into a slippery, muddy, mess. We went through some spots where the mud was at least 2-4 inches deep. Other than being covered in mud we were able to navigate the road pretty well considering that tuk-tuks and cars where having problems on the road. While we were touring around Ta Prohm we had more than a few tourist and tour guides laugh at us because we were so dirty. At one point a Western tourist made the comment to his tour guide that he didn't want to end up looking like us.  We explained that we had biked there and they understood why we were so dirty. It was then a careful but unexciting ride back to the hotel in the rain. I didn't get any after photo because we were so dirty and needed to rinse off outside, while it rained, before we could get back to the room. We then spent part of the afternoon washing off and trying to remove the red mud from the back side of our clothing. I felt better when Michael explained biking in Cambodia to a friend as slightly terrifying. I had a good time, glad we did it, but my anxiety doubled while thinking of all the ways I could die while riding the bike. Also, my butt is still sore!

(Sunrise at Angkor Wat. No "help" from my camera.)

Today we woke up at 4:30am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We hired a tuk-tuk driver to get out there. The sunrise was anticlimactic but my camera's "sunrise" setting sure does know how to make it look better! After the sunrise we had coffee and a banana pancake with condensed milk (my favorite!). We finished of the Grand Circuit by going back to Bayon, Preah Khan, Neak Pean, and Ta Som.  I was most interested in Neak Pean because last time the moat was completely empty and this time the moat and temple grounds were quite full of water.

(Sunrise at Angkor Wat in "sunset" mode)

We called it a day after the five Wats and are now sitting on the balcony of the Singing Tree Cafe where we had lunch. This afternoon we might do a little more shopping in the market, swimming, or just hanging around on our balcony reading. 

(Me at Bayon.)