Angkor temples at sunset

Got to Siam Reap this afternoon, & after some kerfuffle with hotel rooms have fetched up with an enormous room in a place at the end of a impressively potholed dirt road. I discovered that you can get your ticket for the temples the evening before (thus avoiding the queues the next morning around sunrise), so hired a bike and pottered up off the road.

Accidentally got into a small race with four of the local youth also on bikes, which was entertaining (well: they overtook me one by one, and then were just in front of me and grinning at me in a cheerful fashion, and what was I supposed to do? I was actually surprised by how categorically I dropped them; obviously I'm not quite as unfit as I thought I was getting).

After some debate bought the 3-day ticket (I can only stay for 2 days, but it's 2 x the 1-day price), which it transpired also meant that you get an hour that evening for free. So I headed up to Angkor Wat for an hour around sunset. It really is fantastic, incredibly impressive; I'm really looking forward to going back tomorrow. (This does mean I'll only get half a day in Bangkok, but never mind.)

(There is a chap at the computer next to me who is saying, oh, $40, I don't think I'll bother. Crazy. Mind you, he seems to be in a bad mood generally.)

Coming back along the impressively potholed road on the bike in the dark was exciting, in a slightly splashy way. It's definitely the rainy season here, although I've managed so far not to get caught in it.

Further Cambodian notes

Some bits and pieces I have observed:

* When stopped at a local market/restaurant today (on bus journey), I was offered spiders to eat. Cooked ones. Ewwwwwwww.
* Apparently foreigners on bikes are highly entertaining. Many people say hello as they pass me, and/or giggle.
* They have some truly impressive potholes.
* You can apparently fit up to 4 people on a moped, with bags as well.
* Lots of little shrines etc by the road, in people's gardens/fields, and so on. (Buddhist, I assume, as that's the majority religion - and they look Buddhist.)
* Oh yes: I saw monkeys by Angkor Wat today! (dogrando & marnameow, no, I am not bringing any home, so hush.).
* Lots of hand-cultivation of fields as the bus went through the countryside today. And much of the place is under water at the moment. Houses are all on stilts (well: what looks like the living area, with walls, is on the first floor; underneath is open and looks like it's for animals), and most of them are wood.

Bother, I'm sure there was more stuff, but I am tired and have forgotten.