Day 19 / 17 Feb 2013
ANGKOR WAT
Angkor Archaeological Park is a World Heritage site, famous
for Angkor Temples. We decided to take full advantage of a day available to us to
explore it to the fullest. Rajoo decided to take it a little easy but Dipankar and
I got going at 5.45am to see the Sun rise at Angkor Wat temple. We approached Angkor Wat
from behind, that is from the East side entrance. We reached there before sun rise.
The whole park, contrary to all other parts of Cambodia that we saw, is densely
wooded. The approach to the temple was through the forest and the fist site of the
temple at that early morning hour with no one around and bird calls in the background
was magical. We clicked some photographs on manual mode with high exposure and set
timer as the light was not sufficient. Parked the bikes and walked around the temple
to the West side. There, on the lawns on both the sides of the pathway, hundreds
of people of many different nationalities were waiting for the early morning spectacle
which was to unfold in a short time. Sun rose at 6.20 and among the sighs and clicks
of photographs the temple illuminated in an orange glow.
We walked inside the temple.
It wah a huge temple with carved sculptures, all from Hindu mythology, with the
finest details on the walls. The size, the work, the planning and the vision of
the creator has to be admired. Most of these temples are created by Hindu kings
back in Angkor period that is11th and 12 th AD but some are even older that is from
7th AD. We decided to take a anti clock wise route, so after Angkor Wat we went
to Kravan, Bat Chum, Bantey Kdai, Ta phrom (famous for a Hollywood movie 'Tomb Raiders'
starring Angelina Joly which was shot here.), Ta Kev, Thammanon & Chau Say,
and then to Bayon. At Bat Chum we saw a small trail going in the woods and asked
a girl selling memento's where the trail goes. She said it goes to Bantey Kedai,
which was scheduled next in our list. So we took that trail and it took us through
a small village named Shrah Shrang which not approachable by four wheeler and suddenly
we found ourselves in a rural setting, far away from tourists. In the afternoon we
took a lunch halt near Shrah Shrang village at a moat side corner shack where it
was pleasant, as we were getting cool breeze from the moat. After our lunch we decided
to check my rear wheel tube for leak and to inter change tyres as my rear tyre was
getting worn off. The puncture patch which we had done in Vietnam had developed
a slight leak. We removed that old patch and immediately got into trouble as it
created a big hole in the tube and we tried patching it, but how ever we tried it leaked. We had left the spare
tube and the main tool kit at the hotel and now we were stuck. I talked about it
with the girl at the shack and she told me about a puncture repair shop near by,
so off I went on Dipankar's cycle to the shop. The mechanic there took the matter
into his hands and to my dismay heat sealed the puncture the crudest manner, but
we found that it was an effective one with the help of press and old piston heated
with a gas flame.
Our last stop was Angkor Thom and Bayon. It was almost sunset
so we decided to head back to the hotel. We were exhausted by now and our brains
were still parsing the history and beauty and vastness of Angkor Wat. When we came
to where we thought the cycles were there was no sign of them, after some anxious
moments we managed to locate the stone Elephants where our cycles were parked :-)
We had decided to try and reach Bangkok the next day crossing
the Cambodian border at Poi Pet and enter Thailand at Aranyaprathet. We booked ourselves
and our cycles on the 7 am bus to Poi Pet. Had dinner, took a foot massage on cozy
chairs by the roadside, could not entice Kedar to have one though, he is probably
waiting for the real deal in Bangkok :-) :-)
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