41 km

We left our hotel at about six a.m. and already the town was bustling with the new day. We rode the larger loop around the Angkor Wat area today counter-clockwise.

Prasat Kraven was made in the early 10th century. It’s the area’s best example of brick temples with bas-reliefs carved right into the laid bricks. These bricks are set not with mortar but with a vegetable compound that is stronger and thinner, making for a close, smooth join. This set of temples was dedicated to the god Vishnu.

Pre Rup was also built in the 10th century. It’s remarkable for its massive brick towers with steep climbs and great views into the surrounding trees. Inside the outer walls sit towers, libraries, galleries, and the main sanctuary.

East Mebon, from the mid-10th century, is a walled temple complex built on an island in the middle of a now-dry reservoir lake. It has eight large elephant sculptures that are mostly intact, set upon two of the three tiers of the temple.

Ta Som was built later, in the 12th century. Inside an outer wall there’s a moat and then an inner wall. The outer enclosure has face towers overlooking walls that are in places at the mercy of strangler figs and silk-cotton trees much like Ta Prohm.

Neak Pean, another 12th century temple, was built on an island. Inside its outer walls you find four square pools surrounding one main pool. In the middle is a small temple sanctuary. It would be something to see this during the rainy season, since now the pools are dry.

Preah Khan, from the late 12th century, is a collection of ruins that have a bit of the feel of Ta Prohm because the jungle has worked its magic here. This was the site of a large Buddhist university and city inside the outer walls. The causeways connect in long rows in the principal directions from the center sanctuary. A two-story, round-columned building is completely unique for the area, and its purpose is still unknown. The hall of dancers is decorated on all its walls and lintels with women in different dance poses.

33 km

We were up at five a.m and out at six this morning to ride the 10 km or so to the Angkor Wat temples. We bought our ticket at the ticket office on the way, US$40 each for a 3-day pass. Then we rode down a paved road into the jungle and saw what Cambodia is supposed to look like. It was green, misty and cool (remember that we are now acclimated to SE Asia), and much more humid than the road to Siem Reap. The birds were squawking in their forest hideouts and we had visions of ancient days when the forest was full of Asian lions and elephants.

Angkor Wat is the name for the entire system of temples and monuments in the area, which were built over the course of a few centuries by many kings, each trying to outdo the last. Most were Hindu kings, so the temples of their cities honored Hindu deities, though the most active builder, Jayavarman VII, was Buddhist.

The grandest temple complex is also called Angkor Wat and it was the first temple we came to. Angkor, built in the 13th century, is surrounded by a wide man-made moat that is larger than any I’ve seen around the castles in Europe. Inside the moat there is a great outer wall that in its day housed the massive temple as well as en entire city. The only structures left now in all the area are those made of stone, laterite, or brick, which were only used for walls, temples, and monuments, so the rest of the city is long gone. Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious monument, built to honor the Hindu god Vishnu.

Next we rode to Baksei Chamkrong, built in the early 10th century to mimic the nearby hill called Bekhong. It is a brick tower on a brick and laterite pyramid and is not considered very important since it was not a state temple.

Angkor Thom came next, another walled city with temples, monuments and even royal palace structures. The entrances on the East and West are lined with carvings of men holding up a serpant. We only looked at the temple, Bayon, and decided to leave the rest for another day. Bayon, built in the late 12th to 13th century, is unique for its many complex face-towers and its bas-reliefs depicting daily life as well as Khmer battles and history. It was a state temple that was the symbolic center of the universe.

We looked at the minor “twin towers” of Chao Say Tevoda, which was “fully restored” in the 60s and to me looks ridiculous and incongruous, and the mostly un-restored and original Thommanon.

Then, late in the day, we visited Ta Prohm, built in the late 12th to 13th century. This site was chosen to be left nearly as it was when all the temples were discovered. All the others were cleared of the jungle that had hidden them and re-constructed or re-inforced in places to stop their slow their decay. Ta Prohm still has the jungle within its walls, even within the temple itself. It is like entering a mythic fairy tale, and there are so many hidden corners that you can feel like you’re the only person there. We decided we would need to come back to visit this temple more.

Last night the night watchman at our guest house said if we wanted a pickup to Siem Reap in the morning, he could arrange it for us. He was very polite and spoke good English, and we trusted him. Dave and I talked it over and decided to do it. It would cost US$4 for each bike and US$5 for each of us to ride up front in the a/c cab of the pickup.

So this morning we got up and packed and were ready at 7:30 for the pickup. When we went out front the night watchman said he found a bus instead, and the price would be the same. Dave thought that sounded like too much according to an American we met at the train station, but we said OK. A few minutes later when we came out again, he apologized and said the bus had gone to re-fuel. Then he disappeared on his motorbike. Later he came back, apologized, said the bus had decided to go another way and that he had arranged for a pickup to come get us right now and take us to Siem Reap. When the old Nissan extended cab pickup pulled up a couple of minutes later, it was packed with about 25 people in back and had five adults and three infants in the cab. The night watchman said I should ride up front and Dave would be in back, with the bikes tied on the very back, behind some speakers that were tied onto the open tailgate.

The prospect of over 100 km of what we experienced yesterday with none of it being paved made us take the pickup even though it looked scary and crazy. Dave has done this before in South America but I’ve never seen anything like this. I have to say, I had it easier than Dave. I sat in the back of the cab sharing a seat with two small men and a woman with a baby. It was sometimes air-conditioned and had some great Cambodian music playing from a tape. Dave, however, sat on a metal rail for three hours over hot, bumpy and dusty roads, sharing the back with as many as 28 people and stopping numerous times along the way to let off or take on more people and re-tying the cargo nearly every time.

Even though it was worse than riding, it took probably 1/3 or 1/4 of the time it would have taken to ride, and we arrived in Siem Reap about noon.

64 km

We woke at 4 a.m. and left at 4:30 to ride to the train station in the dark. Bangkok at this time was an interesting mix of fading night life and the bustle of morning cleaning and setting up for the day. We rode through light traffic past prostitutes of various sexual orientation, street sweepers using twig brooms, market vendors sorting their bagged produce, and manual laborers starting their commutes.

We bought tickets for the train to Aranya Prathet, a few kilometers before the Cambodian border: third class with fan, the only “choice” available. Both of our seats cost us 96 baht (about US$3) and space for our bikes in the cargo car were 180 baht total. The ride offered six hours of building heat, with food and drink vendors hopping on and off at every stop. They would walk up and down the car aisles from one end of the train to the other and back, announcing their specialty continuously.

Border Crossing

We rode about eight km from the train stop–seemingly in the middle of hot, dry, flat and desolate nowhere–to the border. It took about three minutes to get our Thai exit stamp, then we rode to the Cambodia side where, after a few minutes more, we had our entry stamp. We were told by an Australian expat who was in line behind us that the border crossing changes every time he does it, so I’ll stay brief on the details for those planning a tour of their own because it may change any time.

We were glad we bought our Cambodia visas back in Bangkok, which made for a quick and easy border crossing. One thing to note: in the Cambodian Consulate we were told the visa was 1,000 Thai baht. Dave asked if we could pay in U.S. dollars, which is used in Cambodia, and he said yes, “Twenty-five dollars please.” That was a better price at the current exchange rate, as 1,000 baht is about US$31. Also, as we approached the border, there were several people sitting around who wanted to steer us to a place to buy our visas. They seemed disappointed when we said we had one already. I don’t know what the going rate for a visa on arrival is or how you go about it, but it seemed sketchy to us.

As we left the Cambodian immigration office we were immediately attacked on all sides by touts wanting to arrange a pickup for us. They start with innocent questions that a nice person might be tempted to answer. If you are that person, you might find yourself stuck in a conversation with a guy who chases you down the road and becomes more and more insistent that you must receive their services, that you have already, in fact, ordered their services and that you must go this way or that way right now, sir, over here, sir, where are you going sir, the truck is right here, sir, excuse me, sir! And meanwhile, your not-as-nice girlfriend is riding down the road waiting for you to catch up so you can put the mirror on your bike and put on your dust mask because yes, after all, she would like to ride this road and leave this madness behind. Quickly.

50 Kilometers of Hell

Here’s the scoop, one that you’ll read in every journal about every border crossing from Thailand to Cambodi: it sucks. Really. It’s just not a fun experience. We read several accounts of people hopping on a bus to Siem Reap either right off the bat or at Sisephon, 50 km later. The road, you see, is hell. This dirt road (not gravel) is very rough, very dusty, very noisy, with killer exhaust fumes, and incredibly heavy traffic, and is in stages of construction the whole way with heavy machinery here and there. There is nothing to see along the way, as the jungle has long ago been mowed down and in the dry season like this the land is very bleak and brown. Besides, the dust cuts the visibility down to about 100 meters. It’s one thing to deal with rough dirt roads, but another to do it with all these other conditions. There is a 20-km section before Sisephon which has recently been paved and which is wonderful, but through Sisephon and almost all of the way to Siem Reap it is dirt again.

We rode to Sisephon, starting in the incredible heat of 2:30 p.m., because we didn’t feel we could trust a single person at the border and the harassment was overwhelming. We didn’t see any buses nearby, and when we asked we were assured our bikes would not fit in the bus. I realize now that we should have seen if it was possible to arrange a bus beforehand, maybe in Bangkok at a travel agent.

So, unless you are a hard-core, die-hard cyclists who loves a very challenging experience, just skip this whole section. If you do ride it, have a good face mask, because even with one you will be coughing up dust afterward like a twenty-year smoker. I had quite enough of it just getting to Sisephon, even with 20 km of it being paved. And I rode nearly 2,500 miles of dirt last summer. I am no delicate flower.

March 21-24

We have had a very busy few days in Bangkok. There is so much to see, and we also had quite a list of to-dos before we could get out of here. We have successfully:

• Taken a taxi to get our Cambodia and Laos visas (3 hours, mostly due to traffic as they are next to each other)
• Taken boat taxis and the sky train to Wat Pho for a morning of beauty, then a bike shop, a massive shopping center, and a grocery. We could not get a taxi to take us back to our guest house area (the traffic is nuts and it was quite a ways) we had to walk, sky train, and boat taxi ourselves back.
• Enjoyed a Thai massage.
• Taken another boat taxi to the Grand Palace (the king’s sometimes residence and site of the royal Wat and a museum) and walked through open markets and sampled street food.
• Enjoyed a Thai foot massage.
• Figured out our route and means of travel to Cambodia (by train).
• Bought plane tickets to fly home from BKK in May.
• Arranged details for our dive trip in Koh Tao.
• Updated pictures, written entries, and now posted those entries.
• Done lots of research on the internet.
• Gone through our stuff and cut it down quite a bit. We will store a box at our hotel until we come back to fly home. My load is much lighter now, as is Dave’s!
• We’ve also eaten some really great food, from breakfast to lunch and dinner and fruit shakes in between. This place has no shortage of great food.

We leave tomorrow morning by train to the Cambodia border. We’ll probably cross over and stay in the dreaded Poipet so we can get a very early start to our ride the next day.

Bangkok!

Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Wat Phra Kaeo

Wat Phra Kaeo

(By train)

We showed up an hour early for the 6:20 train just like the ticket man said to the night before, “for the bicycles.” Well, that was completely unnecessary, as the ticket window was closed. When the same guy opened the window 20 minutes later, he asked if we wanted on the train about to pull up, and we said sure. So we bought tickets: 196 baht each for us plus 80 baht per bike. We rushed our bikes out as the train came in, took the panniers off and got them to the cargo car near the front. We then noticed our seats were in car fourteen near the back of the train! Since the train was about to pull away we hopped on the first passenger car, and walked with all our panniers–getting disapproving shakes of the head from train employees–through several sleeper cars and passenger cars to the fourteenth one, which turned out to be a third class fan car. Well, at least it was early!

The ride took about five hours and was ok, though next time we’ll be sure to ask for second class air-con. We had a snack at the train station and then had a crazy, adrenaline-inducing ride to the western Banglampu area to find a guest house. The Rough Guide noted a few, and we tried our top three choices. The first two were full, then we tried Baan Sabai on a quiet, smaller road near the river off of Phra Athit.

We will spend the next few days getting visas, shopping for bike items, and getting caught up with ourselves before heading to Cambodia.

59 km

The ride today started out ok, following smaller roads closer to the coast, most of which were not on our map. In one small tourist beach town that looked like it was built completely in the last five years, Dave skidded to a stop because he had seen a couple of St. Bernard dogs lying in the reception of a guest house. One of them was interested in receiving visitors, and got up to meet Dave. They made quick friends before we sadly had to move on sans dog.

We eventually found ourselves on highway 4 again, and it was busy though only a two-lane highway here. One advantage of riding 4 is that our speed was about 50% faster than on the smaller roads, and we flew into town fairly early.

Hua Hin

We followed the recommendations of our Rough Guide, and ended up in Karoon Hut, one of the remaining guest houses built right on the water on one of the former shrimp piers. We had an air-con room with bath for 500 baht (the fan rooms had a tiny window and no ventilation). We could hear the waves roll in underneath our floor. Hua Hin is very touristy, fairly expensive, and busy, but it has a nice vibe at night, and we enjoyed eating street food with some locals and walking around watching people.

Updated Plan

We got out the maps and opened up a calendar on the computer to plan the rest of our trip. We had started out with grand plans of seeing all of Southeast Asia, but then had also wanted to enjoy plenty of beaches and islands and dive along the way. Add to that about a week of being knocked out sick, and we realized we had better cut it down and make a plan.

So we decided to leave for Bangkok by train in the morning. We needed to get visas for Cambodia and Laos, as well as a couple of things for the bikes. After a few days we will take a train out of Bangkok to skip the hassle of the crazy traffic, heading straight to the border near Poipet, Cambodia. From there we’ll ride to Battambang, then get on a boat up the river and across the lake to Siem Reap. There we’ll visit Angkor Wat for a few days before cycling East and up to the border with Laos. Then through Laos to Louang Prabang by bicycle. From there we’ll likely take a boat up the river and over to Chang Rai, then cycle or bus to Chang Mai. We’ll ride the train to Bangkok, and then we’ve scheduled a dive trip on Koh Tao for the last week of our time here in Southeast Asia before flying home.

We realize this puts us in Cambodia and Laos at the absolute hottest time of the year, but if we can ride and enjoy this area, then we’ll surely be able to ride through the Sahara as we plan to in the fall. Our upcoming Africa bike tour is on our minds as the days get hotter, and we’ll make note of how we feel as we ride through the heat. There’s always room for change in our plans.

21 km

We ended up paying our camping fee with our breakfast at the park restaurant on the beach. Then we went for a swim since the tide was in. It was too shallow to do much, but it felt great and was a nice way to start the day.

The park name means Land of 300 Peaks, and there are many rocky peaks that jut out of the land, some of them with caves. We rode through the park to Sai Cave, near the water at the end of a tiny fishing village. We hiked up a steep 280 meters to the small cave. A man sitting just inside the entrance had flashlights to rent. We had our headlamps, so we went on in and the man went back to his nap. It took a long time to cool down, as it was a really hot day and that climb up got us sweating. But eventually we enjoyed the coolness of the cave.

Then we rode to Ban Bang Pu (or Poo, depending on the sign), a small fishing village with a wat. Behind the wat you’ll find several open air restaurants and longtail boats that can take you the 10-minute ride around the headland to the park’s northern beach, Laem Sala. There is also a trail that goes up and over the headland to the beach and we decided to walk it, as the longtail boats were running quite a racket. They charge 300 baht round trip for the same day, but if you return the next day it is 600 baht. That’s 50% more than our average hotel room cost. They seem to have all coordinated their prices, and even the restaurants were selling boat rides. We wanted to camp on Laem Sala, so when the woman at the restaurant nearest the trail offered to let us keep our bikes inside her building, we agreed. We packed what we needed into just a couple of panniers and left the rest on our bikes, then locked the bikes to a pole. We then got ready for the hike, which everyone–park staff and the locals here–said would be long, steep, and too hot.

It was a breeze! It was less of an effort than we did earlier today to get to the cave, plus once we got around the headland a bit we were in the shade and had a slight wind off the ocean. It took us about 15 minutes, including a couple short photo stops. We saved ourselves 600 baht and enjoyed the hike as well.

We signed in with the armed forest ranger (or guard, or military soldier, who knows) who wanted to get all our information, see our park entrance ticket, and check and double-check that we actually wanted to camp and that we had our own tent. I think he wanted to get us to spend more money for a bungalow, which they rent at all the park locations where you can camp. He noticed the ticket was from yesterday, so we explained that we camped in the park at the other beach last night, and we had been in the park visiting the cave today. Then he wanted our receipt for camping, but we hadn’t been given one. We now realize that if you don’t get a receipt for anything you pay for in a park, they probably pocket the money, as signs had warned us to get a receipt pretty much everywhere. He eventually just had us pay for camping for tonight (60 baht for two) and took our park entrance tickets. We did not get a receipt for camping, but we weren’t going to argue with a guy who had a gruff manner and a handgun on his hip.

We set up camp on the beach and set off to hike up to the biggest and most prized cave in the park: Phraya Nakhon Cave. It is not only a beautiful natural formation, but also a cherished and holy spot for the Thai people. King Rama V liked it so much he had his cipher inscribe his symbol on the wall, and later another king had a monument put up in the middle of the cave. Several of the kings have visited the cave as well, and it’s a popular trek for Thai people as well as foreign tourists. Since we started late in the day and most of the busloads of people had left via the longtail boats, we had the place to ourselves. The cave is huge, and the top of the largest part is partially collapsed, so there is light shining down into it, with the monument built up on a small hill in the middle. There are trees and bushes growing below the hole, on the mound created by the crumbled top, so it is a neat combination of dark stone walls and green foliage stretching up to the light.

Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park Info

Any signs we saw, both on Highway 4 and the smaller coastal road, indicated not the name of the park, but the beaches within the park: Sam Phraya Beach in the south, and Laem Sala Beach in the north. The only time we saw a sign for the park itself was right before the entrance.

The entrance fee is 200 baht per person. Camping is another 30 baht per person, per night, paid in the area you camp, which is on either beach. You can ride to Sam Phraya, but Laem Sala is only accessible by boat or a steep hike up and down stone stairs. You would have a hard time pushing your bike up, so see if you can stash it with a restaurant. There are bungalows and restaurants at each beach, as well as toilets and showers, though the showers on Laem Sala are the kind where you dip water out of a basin. We had a guy offer to rent us a tent at Sam Phraya, and you could probably track down a tent at Laem Sala as well if you’re not carrying one.

You get a brochure with pictures and a map, which explains what our guidebook did not: that there are a couple of villages within the national park. It was originally a marine park, but the boundary was expanded in 1982 to encompass the wetlands and other areas more inland. There are checkpoints at the southern and northern ends which locals travel freely in and out of. You can find restaurants and mini-markets at each town.

73 km

Today we tried again to follow the beach as closely as possible, trying to avoid Highway 4 because it’s a freeway in this area. We did pretty well starting out, but soon, somewhere before Bo Nok on our map, the road turned to packed dirt and gravel. It looked well made and well used so we continued. The stretch of riding on this road was some of our favorite along this coast: it was beautiful, quiet, with a good wind off the sea, and interestingly dry with several kinds of cacti and succulents.

It did not, however, take us where we wanted to go. After a relaxing twenty minutes, the road ended in a huge dead zone of abandoned shrimp farms. Shrimp farms are everywhere in this area. The dirt is dug out in large rectangles, with the dirt being built up into berms on all sides. Sometimes they’re lined with black plastic, but often not. The working ones have loud engines hooked to paddles that churn up the water, probably to oxygenate and circulate it. We imagine the shrimp farms must be abandoned when they build up too much salt and minerals from evaporation, leaving an ugly scarred area of land upon which hardly anything grows.

We turned around and headed back, riding through a spontaneous brush fire near a pineapple field that left us with ash stuck to our sweaty, sun-screened skin. We took a turn away from the ocean to find a road that would continue north. This road took us right to highway 4, but we only had to deal with the noise and busyness of 4 for a few kilometers before we took a road (unmarked on our map) back to follow the coast.

We entered Khao Sam Roi Yot (or Yod, depending on the sign) National Park on the southern end, ate an early dinner at the restaurant near the park checkpoint and headed straight for Sam Phraya Beach to set up camp. It was a quiet place with only a handful of other people. We set up the tent right on the edge of the trees next to the water, then headed out to explore the rocky headland and stranded fishing boats. The tide was out so far we could hardly see the water. It was a really shallow bay. We showered and got in the tent early since the mosquitos were vicious. A great breeze off the ocean made for great sleeping.

We took a rest day today so Dave could finish the engineering project he’s been working on the last couple of weeks. While Dave was in the a/c room hogging the laptop I have been at the internet cafe writing and, you know, stuff.

We also found some of the best food we’ve had so far in Thailand. This woman cooks all the specialties: spicy seafood, fried vegetables, curry, pad thai , som tam (papaya salad, my new favorite), and even tom yam (spicy seafood soup). The food is all incredibly fresh and each dish has distinct and complicated flavors. We ate here last night and at lunch and dinner today. We enjoy the woman’s quick smile and nod of approval at our use of spicy peppers. I love to watch her cook each dish separately and carefully, starting with fresh vegetables and mixing spices and sauces as she goes. If you’re coming to Prachuap and want to find her, here’s how: from the beach road near the main part of town, turn west onto the road on the south side of the bright green and orange-trimmed apartment building. Go a couple of blocks and the open-air restaurant is on your left. Not the one on the corner, but right before that. These are terrible directions, I’m realizing. But if you see this woman, please stop for some great food:

MONKEYS

Dave and I rode to the north end of town to climb the 417 steps up to Khao Chong Krajok, a Buddhist chedi built on top of a rocky headland. The Rough Guide called it “monkey infested”, and that it was. Before we even found the stairs, we saw dozens of monkeys sitting around and playing on the grounds of the surrounding park. People approached with food to sell us to feed the monkeys, but we declined. Feeding wildlife rarely ends well for the wildlife or the people.

We parked our bikes across the road from the stairs so we could lock them to a post. A man selling peanuts for the monkeys pointed to the mirrors and said, “monkeys,” while shaking his head and motioning that they would mess with them. Then he said, “I watch for you.” I thought maybe we should have walked, it didn’t turn out to be that far. Oh well. At least the panniers were back in the guest house.

We reached for our dog sticks and the peanut man said “no, no, no,” we wouldn’t need them. In his limited English he basically said the monkeys were harmless. Dave and I looked at each other, shrugged, and put them back. Then we headed up the stairs built into the hillside, winding around trees and big rocks. The monkeys were everywhere–on the steps, in the trees–making a huge racket. They were small, but they were many.

About halfway up I stopped to look at the view and one monkey grabbed my Nalgene water bottle and started screaming and pulling. I yelled, “No!” but he only hissed back at me and kept his hands firmly on the bottle. I pulled it back and held it close to me, realizing these monkeys were used to having things held out for them. The monkey was MAD that I took back my gift, and we had to swing wide around him to move up the stairs.

As we approached the chedi at the top Dave wanted to zip on his pant legs so he would be respectful of this Buddhist place. The gate was up ahead, and as a man walked down and passed us, he said, “Grab a few of these, those guys get a little aggressive at the gate!” and he held out a handful of broken tiles and rocks. Oh my goodness.

But we got through the gate just fine, and soon saw why this spot was chosen. To the west was the calm teal ocean, to the south was Prachuap and the sandy beach to the next headland. To the north was another beach with smaller towns to the next headland and our route for tomorrow. To the west we could see jungle-forested mountains marking the Burmese border about 12 kilometers away. A wonderful breeze cooled us off, and we wandered around the small chedi.

We found out the source for all the broken tiles near the top of the stairs: the monkeys were slowly stripping them off the rooftops and crashing them down below. The monkeys swung up, around, over, and through every inch of this place. There were hundreds of them on this small hill. They probably couldn’t survive at this point without being fed, because no place this size could support a population this big. There were mothers with babies all over, ensuring the population would grow and continue. There was a monk sitting on a bench, feeding and trying to slowly win the trust of some of the monkeys so he could pet them. They never quite let him get that close.

We continued enjoying the view for quite a while, watching the sun sink down low. We watched the monkeys groom and play and fight. When we decided to leave, there were several monkeys guarding the gate. Dave went first and tried to shoo them away, but they wouldn’t move. He clapped. Nothing. Then finally he lurched forward and stomped his feet and they scattered. We ducked through and made our way down, moving wide around particularly grumpy monkeys, until we made it down and back to our bikes.

The mirrors were wrenched in hard angles and smudged with prints, but the peanut guy was nowhere to be seen.