Sam Boston

Angkor (Again)

My first alarm went off at 4.45 and I eventually got out of bed at 5, as the plan was to leave at 5.15. Once I had gotten ready and gathered my things I head downstairs to the lobby, preparing to get called late for being there 30 seconds after 5.15. Turns out neither Alfie or Daisy was there. After checking the other lobby, I texted him and waited until 5.20 until I tried calling where it went to voicemail. Hmm. Waiting another 5 minutes I lightly knock on their door, then knock a little harder until a very tired looking Alfie opens the door claiming his alarm never went off.

Feeling smug I wait for them to get ready we cycle towards Angkor Wat, hopefully catching sunrise. Given the sunsets being shrouded by clouds, there wasn't much hope for a good sunrise but we gave it a shot anyways. Riding with headtorches, light started to break as we arrived and we make our way across the Rainbow Bridge into Angkor Wat. Walking through the outer gate we see that there was alot of other people who were here for the same thing, so we found a wall to sit on and woke up a bit more as we watched it get lighter and lighter with no sun. Eventually, the sun rises above the layer of cloud / haze quite far above the horizon.

Needing a good breakfast, we head towards the small section of shops and restaurants where we witness the fierce competition for the exact same menu. We were seated at the 007 James Bond table and I ordered some rice whilst Alfie and Daisy ordered pancakes and fruit - with the fruit coming underneath for some reason. We say no to people trying to sell us the same few things about 100 times before paying and heading towards the Wat.

We do a perimeter around the walls and see loads of monkeys doing their thing (Daisy's first monkey experience) - with the highlight being the newborns hanging onto their parent's chests so they could get around. We head inside and wander around. The whole place was massive and very well maintained / restored and we could even go up the balcony and get a good view over the whole place, with a hot air balloon rising up not far from the Wat. On the cycle here we manages to avoid the heat but it was slowly getting hotter and hotter. We head out to the bathroom and apply some suncream where I buy my 2nd 1.5L bottle of water of the day.

From the balcony we could see a temple on a hill in the distance so that was our next mission. Cycling over didn't take long but the walk up was definitely harder. It was a good trail up and not too long but with the heat rising and energy dropping we took a decent break halfway - passing a temple nestled in the jungle on the way up. We get to top and wander up and over the 5 layer pyramid. We come down and around the opposite side - accidently walking through the construction worker's base - as they all watch confusingly as we walk past their hammocks. It was incredibly awkward but eventually we get through and make our way back down the hill. By the bottom I was seriously low on energy and needed a sugary fruit smoothie to revitalise me, so I ordered a mystery fruit combo and it was such a good feeling. It was the level of ice cold that makes your chest hurt slightly as you drink it - which is very uncomfortable but worth it.

We cycle back towards Angkor Wat and head towards a chain of other Temples we hadn't seen. We got some much needed lunch and another drink and after miscommunicating about the price, we headed out once again. I was revitalised 100% and on high spirits but shortly after I accidently took a wrong turn which meant that we took a trail through the woods instead of the road which was pretty awesome. Going along the sandy red dirt tracks on our mountain bikes through beautiful trees was the kind of riding I loved. We emerged onto the road at a ticket checkpoint where the dude was quite surprised to see that we had no guide with us. He wished us a good day and we went onwards.

It was starting to get later in the afternoon and we had to get the bikes back in the evening so we quickly check out a few Temples and a decent sized lake. Our final temple was Ta Prohm, which reminded both Daisy and I of Temple Run, with the run down and overgrown temple with long corridors and many turns. We then set our sights back on Siem Reap. We decided to split up so I cycled solo whilst Alfie and Daisy went at a bit more of a leisurely pace. I returned my bike, got my 50 dollar deposit back and grabbed a beautiful piece of chicken from a street vendor and chowed down before showering off and chilling in the pool until the others got back.

It was about 7 now and there was a quiz on at our hostel that night so we headed out to grab some food to enjoy whilst we hopefully dominated quiz night. I grabbed some fried noodles, beef and egg as well as a tub of oreo rolled ice cream with unlimited toppings. By the time we got back (at pretty much 8 on the dot) my ice cream was pretty much melted. The quiz started at 8.30 and I devoured both my noodles and my ice cream soup (whic hwas amazing by the way) it was time to quiz. 7 teams and 5 rounds, our first challenge was to pick our team name. Not being able to chose a good enough name we ended up not putting any name.

After a general knowledge, true / false, Cambodian, celebrity baby picture and a music round, with 2 bonus rounds where me and Alfie had to pop 2 balloons with our backs, and then I had to shotgun a beer it all came down to the marking. We were pretty confident we were doing well until they started reading the answers and realised it had gone terribly. The answer I was most proud of was knowing Beethoven's Für Elise which the neighbour to our hostel had been playing a 5 second snippet of on repeat the whole time we had been here in a feud against the music from our hostel. It was petty and was driving me clinically insane - especially as I could here it whilst trying to sleep too.

After realising we had lost to the group of drunk lads from Devon, it was time to retire and head to bed.Read more