Monday 1st January
Miles: 20 Climbing: 165ft
Today I visited another one of my trip highlights. I have wanted to visit Angkor Wat ever since the first Tomb Raider movie. Partly because I had a huge crush on Angeline Jolie back then.
What better way to welcome in the New Year than to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat. I got up before 5am and cycled to the ticket office to pick up my pass before cycling to Angkor Wat. I could cycle into the temple area but had to leave my bike outside of the outer walls to the main temple. It was stunning.
It was also very over crowded. Everyone was fighting for the best spot so as soon as the sun made an appearance I left the crowds behind and headed into the temple.
There are many temples in the area and each one is fascinating. The main ones are fenced off and you need to have bought a ticket to get in. I also had to leave my bike outside of all of these. The whole area is littered with smaller ruins that I could cycle around and because most people come here on an organised tour they just hit the main temples so I had all the other areas to myself.
One thing that was amazing to see were the elephants. I had just stopped to take a picture of a road sign warning about elephants when I suddenly came across one. It was very sad to see them in this environment though, being used to give rides to tourists.
After a long day of tomb raiding I headed back to the hostel and enjoyed my second miniature bottle of whisky, Laphroaig this time, my favourite. I then headed into town to see what Seam Reap had to offer. I was overwhelmed at just how touristy it was but I did treat myself to a very tickly fish pedicure.
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