The three most incredible days! Riding around Angkor Wat.
The most famous temple of the Indianized kingdoms and empires of South East Asia is Angkor Wat. By Indianized kingdoms, I talk about all the Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms that have dominated the area over the centuries, including Indonesia, following the Funan culture.
Angkor Wat has been built around the peak of the Khmer Empire, when it dominated most of South East Asia, and before its unexplained decline. It was a temple placed south of the capital of the Empire, Angkor Thom.
Angkor Wat and Bayon, are the main sites around here, but since Angkor Thom was the capital of one of the largest empires of its era, it has many, many more temples and places to see. We just saw a few, of course, and we allowed ourselves to be led by our instinct and ride towards the places we saw.
The Khmer Empire dominated at its peak most of what is today South-East Asia and had a complex organization. Its end is marked by the conquest of Angkor Thom by the Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya, but historians consider it had already started, probably due to the over-exploitation of the natural resources that led to an economic and thus military decrease over the decades.
The tickets to enter the temple include all the surrounding sites and the former capital. You can pick tickets for 1 day, three days, or 7 days (There may be an extension, as it was not clear if the 3 days tickets were 3 days or 5 days or 3 days within 5 days), and honestly, you could use 7 days of riding and wandering around all these sites as we talk about a former extensive city, with many former villages all around and temples and infrastructures of many kinds. Angkor Thom is still an existing city, but we did not reach a modern city.
The best base to visit the ruins of the Angkor Empire is Siem Reap, the large city about 5–10km south of Angkor Wat that mainly seems to live out of the tourism generated by the temples, and that hosts the Angkor Museum, a great addition to the visit of the temples.
As for us, we stayed in Siem Reap during these days, and we went decided to rent mountain bikes to ride around the place for three days. We rented bikes through the homestay where we stayed for two weeks in Siem Reap and got good bikes new or nearly new. Here’s how it went.
Ride to Angkor Wat
So, we started not so early from the homestay and needed to cross most of Siem Reap as Nikka’s House is in the South of Siem Reap. We crossed the center and quickly reached Charles de Gaulle Avenue, the avenue that arrives straight in front of Angkor Wat. There is a cycling way on the side of the avenue for most of its length, and you can see it is a place made for tourists as, if many of the streets in Siem Reap are not yet well paved, this avenue is made according to the best international standards. There are large walkways on the sides, and the cycling way is well-marked. When making it to the forest surrounding Angkor Wat, there is a large sideline that you can ride on. The road is mainly straight, and flat from Siem Reap, maybe a little uphill, but very little. When we arrived in front of the moat surrounding Angkor Wat… we didn’t see the temple at all. We arrived from the South, and the temple is oriented towards the west, so, coming this way, we only saw trees on the other side of the moat.
We went to the left to go around the moat towards the Angkor Wat entrance, and we entered the entrance area on the bikes. The closest parts to Angkor Wat are closed to cars, but you can enter on bikes. We just rode slowly as there are many families with kids walking around. You can drop your bikes in front of the main entrance of the temple.
It took us about 30–40 minutes to ride to Angkor Wat, including stops for the ticket checkpoints. Checkpoints will in the long term become boring, as you regularly have to stop for tickets checks, sometimes you just get out of Angkor Thom to see a nearby temple and need to stop again when entering back, and the people in charge regularly try to sell you tours with them guiding you. But, well, I understand they make sure people paid their entrance, as the size of the site makes it hard to maintain.
Visiting Angkor Wat
There are three bridges to cross the moat. The main one, in the middle, is the original one, in stone and carved, and two floating bridges on the sides, to ease the passage of people. You can not yet really see Angkor Wat, just the top of its silhouette drawn far away behind the entrance wall. The entrance gives way to a large plain, with the main temple in front of you, facing the west.
The entrance is already very densely carved, and you cross a small hall. On the north and the south, there are some minor structures and smaller temples. And, on the south of the path, there is the mirror lake, to get pictures of the reflection of the temple. And, you can finally recognize the full silhouette that we all know.
Then, you can enter the temple. The most impressive part is the amount of decoration and carvings… Not the smallest part of the temple is left raw and unattended, and most of it is carved on the stone. Apsaras constitute the major part of the decorations, and they are all impressive, with different and diverse positions. The temple is still used for Buddhist celebrations, and at the time we visited, some people came to pray. Overall, the whole building is impressive, and in a very good state.
After leaving Angkor Wat, we decided to go towards Angkor Thom and Bayon temple in its center. We stopped to eat something close to the next checkpoint, between Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, and ate decently, for a reasonably higher price than in the city. We went up the closes temple on the way, which was uphill and being restored.
It is called Phnomh Bakheng, and the path uphill is only walkable, so we needed to leave the bikes there.
The building is impressive, over the whole Angkor valley, and you can see some minor temples under it. There are remnants of a road coming straight from Angkor Thom downhill, and we can go up the platform of the temple, which is kind of similar to a mesoamerican pyramid in its structures, although with a larger platform.
We walked around, and went downhill, passing through the southern door of Angkor Thom. We rode all the way to the center, where Bayon is.
Khmer tended to carve faces on their buildings, and each door of the city has four faces, which I believe are Brahma’s faces as he is represented with 4 faces, one on each side. And, in Bayon, all the wats or stupas have their four faces too. It makes for an incredible view, one that makes me feel like I’m in a fantasy world, not anymore in the real world. Bayon is also very interesting as most of its carvings describe aspects of Khmer history and life. The inner parts of the temples are walkable, but not everything was open.
After Bayon, we went around the next temple, Baphuon, which was impressive, and the ways up and down were very very steep. Indeed, most people didn’t dare go even to the second stage.
We could see how it was less decorated, yet also huge. There is an old stone bridge to cross the lake/moat that is in front of it.
We rode about 25 km this day, mainly flat, and I was at the end more tired because of all the time walking and wandering in the temples than riding. We came back by night.
Second day: We improvised
On the second day in Angkor, we decided to start from where we stopped. As Angkor Thom was the capital of the empire, it has many temples within its walls and outside.
While getting to the southern door and stopping there, I noticed some riders above the walls. Angkor Thom is also surrounded by a moat, longer than Angkor Wat, but thinner in my eyes.
So, we decided to look for the trail and ride above the walls. We went towards the western side and found a small forest trail to go up, a few meters after passing the door. I was able to ride up, but J wasn’t. The view from up the wall is nice, and there is a nice trail going all around, mainly sandy. We rode until the corner and stopped by the corner temple. Each corner of the city has a temple. And in the middle of each side, there was a door, except on the east side, which had two doors. The view while arriving by the Western gate was stunning. Outside of nowhere, in the middle of the forest, the face of Brahma, serene and immense, emerged. The fact that the way out is a dust track also adds to the magic, on this side, not many people come or go, so, it does feel a bit more savage. We went riding toward the center of the city afterward and stopped by the West Tob Temple, which was in the works of restoration. It allowed us to understand how archaeologists here are mainly playing puzzles with the fallen stones, trying to rebuild and sort out which stone goes where using a “grue” instead of their hands.
We went towards Bayon looking for food and ate beside the Elephant terrace, where a bowl of fried rice was 6 USD (vs 1–1.5 in town, and 3–4 the day before). Yet, it was good and very well served, too much even to go riding the whole afternoon afterward.
We then walked around the Terrace of the Elephants and the temples we did not see yet. The elephants’ carvings and sculptures were impressive and very detailed.
Going to play Tomb Raider
We then went towards the eats, setting out goal as Ta Phrom Temple, the one from Tomb Raider (I didn’t remember that), famous for the trees that are integrated into the structures.
We rode on the way to the Victory Gate, picking south when we saw a trail that led to a monastery, and then again to go to see the Gate of the Dead. The Gate of the Dead was used for burials and the Victory Gate was used by the King. Both are impressive, although the Gate of the Dead doesn’t lead anywhere anymore it seems. There is a small trail in the forest, that only a few people seem to use. The moat here is slowly being retaken by the forest, as many trees grow within.
We advanced, quickly stopped by Ta Keo temple, and pushed to Ta Phrom as time was passing.
Ta Prohm is the temple elevated by Javayarman VII in hommage to his mother. It is impressive, and has a feeling of nature with its integrated trees, but does look like it was built integrating them more than they retook the space naturally. We played Tomb Raider here, wandering about the small corridors. Its decorations and ornaments are also very impressive, detailed, and always present. It is a good place to feel a bit lost within, as many corridors look alike. Still, we found our way out. We went back all around the road going east from Angkor Wat. The whole day, we rode about 35km.
Third day, and… The father temple now
Third and Last day within Angkor, and we headed up towards the Preah Khan Temple. The Preah Khan Temple was built by Javayarman in honor of his father, after the Ta Prohm Temple. It is also heavily decorated, has some very unusual structures with pillars, and is also very impressive. We did see some garudas too, that we are not tracking all around. I’m not sure I have so much to say. It was full of lingas, and some yonis, symbolizing Vishnu, and sexually obvious. It is the furthest we rode, and it took us less than one hour.
We ate there, and the price for a bowl of fried rice was, again, around 6 USD. When I said, in french, that it was expensive, the waiter agreed to make it for 4 USD. I just said it in French without the will to negotiate though, but it worked…
After that, we went back towards Angkor Thom and rode from the Northern gate to the Victory gate, then from the Gate of the Dead to the South Gate. We stopped again when we saw a temple on the corners. The trail was a bit harder, with several parts where the wall had collapsed and the trail went down and up again in the forest. The views were still great, and the southeast temple was more detailed than the others we saw.
We stopped by the Thommanon and Chau Say Thevoda Temple and walked around, and the Ta Keo nursery. When going back to the gate, we had to show our tickets again…
We went back home, this was our longest day on the bikes as we were around 40km and got ready for the World Cup Final.
