Unlike our trip to Egypt where we saw the Great Pyramids on the last day of the trip we decided to get the main site out of the way on the very first day. Melanie had read in a travel magazine that seeing Angkor Wat by bicycle is a great way to see it. She was right!

We were picked up by a pair of Tuk Tuks at our hotel and driven to Cambodia Bike Tours were we had bikes already set up and ready to go. Just signed some forms and picked out helmets and we were ready to go! We first rode through the busy Siem Reap streets to the Angkor Wat gate where we picked up our 3 day Temple pass. The pass is needed to enter most of the temples in the Siem Reap area.

Then we continued to the entrance to the Wat where we parked our bikes across the street and started our tour. The main Angkor Wat complex is incredible but original city was far larger. It is estimated that at one time the populate of the city was about 1M inhabitants.

After that we rode to a couple other nearby temples and stopped for lunch along the way. We ended the tour by visiting Ta Prohm, made famous by the movie Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie. We got a kick out of watching the movie a few days later and loved seeing the spots we just visited.

The ride home was long but interesting. Saw some more friendly monkeys along the side of the road. But the highlight was watching daily life in Siem Reap. Few people seem to have cars so it's not unusual to see a family of four on one scooter. We even saw some huge carts of pillows and cushions pulled by a guy on a small scooter. Who needs a delivery truck.


Click on thumbnail for a full-size picture

Prasat Bayon

Bayon is one of the nicer temples near the main Angkor Wat. It was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. It was richly decorated but much of it wasn't in great shape and parts were being reconstructed.


Click on thumbnail for a full-size picture

Ta Prohm

Another temple on the massive Angkor Wat complex. This one is not a large temple but has huge roots growing all over it. But most importantly it was the setting of some scenes in Angelina Jolie's movie Tomb Raider. Having seen the movie years ago we couldn't recall which areas of the temple they were but we did watch the movie after the trip and were excited to see the spots we had visited.


Click on thumbnail for a full-size picture