Temple ruins, snakeskin, bamboo bridges and offroad motorbiking

It felt soooooooooooo good to get back on a motorbike! Yesterday Sally, Gareth, Ben (a Chinese giuy staying at our hostel) and I went on a motorbike adventure into rural Cambodia with Khmer Ways, a motorbike tour company that's around 6 months old.
I was very impressed with how well-run the tour was; our guide John was originally from Switzerland but had been living here for around 3 years and knew every single back road, path and bridge around Siem Reap. The day's route went from Siem Reap to Phnom Bok hill where we had a good lookout over the Angkor area, then to a reservoir (I forget the name) before heading to Chau Srey Vibol temple ruins via some very intrepid roads.

Of all 4 of us, I was the only one who'd actually been on a motorbike before. Not to worry, John gave the others a quick 30-second demonstration then set them loose on the main road for a test drive. Thrown in the deep end, you might think? (yes) But they learned pretty quick, and before long we were underway, cruising past the High School - actually the way we go to Green Gecko - and onto the first dirt roads of the day. One bamboo bridge and lots of bumps later, we were well and truly in the countryside: lush green ricefields, water buffalo, palm trees and lots of waving kids. Best of all, no tourists! We made a quick roadside stop to check out some farmers planting rice.

A woman with bundles of lemongrass on the back of her bicycle

We continued on to Phnom Bok, where we were delighted to discover we had to climb 630 steps straight up to get to the top. An incredibly sweaty hike, but the view was totally worth it. You can see Siem Reap town in the distance.There's a temple up there (of course, they're everywhere) but unfortunately it's been very badly looted and there are almost no carvings or bas-reliefs left. John had packed us a delicious morning tea complete with ice-cold refresher towels which we enjoyed while taking in the view.

After Phnom Bok we headed out to a reservoir which will be the site of their eco-lodge in the near future. At the moment it's just a big hole filled with water and not super exciting. We continued on to Chau Srey Vibol over some really dodgy sandy roads, it was great!




Its another temple that has been badly looted but it was still very beautiful. It has a lot of interesting unique architectural features, like octagonal keystones. Nobody really knows what the story is behind this temple, which adds to the mystery and makes it that much cooler. We had fun climbing all over it.

At one point, our Khmer guide (another guy from Khmer Ways) said he saw a snake hiding in a crack in the temple ruins. We all had to have a look, and it looked more like a snakeskin than an actual animal to me so he poked it with a stick (Bad idea anyone?!?!???). Turns out it was just a skin; a totally complete and in very good condition that the guide reckoned was only about 1 day old. I was so excited, I've never seen anything like this before, so I decided to take it home as a souvenir. I hope Dutch customs doesn't mind! John said I should soak it in water when I get home and lay it out flat to dry, then it'll be soft and pliable. It was very strange seeing a 1.8m long snake skin stretched out on my hostel room floor! It gave me a fright because I'd left it in the sink to soak while I went out for dinner and I forgot it was there...




the road back to town was even more sandy & difficult to ride on, but it was so much fun! We all had stiff arms and backs when we got home, so Sally & I treated ourselves to Khmer massages that night after dinner :)

Overall a fantastic trip!! Anyone coming to Siem Reap HAS to do this! www.khmerways.com

Look them up now!



Love
ML