2016 - Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City by Bicycle: Day 8: Wed 23 Nov – Siem Reap to River of Thousand Lingas & Banteay Srei, return

25 (32) degC 100% humidity, thunderstorms and rain predicted for most of the day

Listed: 90km; actual: 70; total: 392km

Walked/hiked: 4km; total: 10km

We were on the bikes and rolling by 8:30am. After one water stop we had mornos and it was then another 35km to lunch. We took some pretty interesting back roads, with not much bitumen and a lot of dirt, most of which was hard packed sand, dotted with HUGE potholes, all filled with water from yesterday's rain. And of course, the potholes were not just on one side of the road but zigzagged, so our ride was quite dizzying in places. And we actually rode faster on the dirt than we did on the bitumen. There were also pockets of loose sand in which some people almost came unstuck including Wendy. Wendy was indeed a little smarter than the others and knew she didn't do sand real well so was prepared.

We arrived at our lunch venue just after 12:30pm and had another filling lunch. We were then bused about 500m to the start of the hike to see the Kbal Spean - basically a river on top of mountain that has a number of stone carvings in it. The site consists of a series of stone rock relief carvings in sandstone formations of the river bed and banks. It is commonly known as the "Valley of a 1000 Lingas" or "The River of a Thousand Lingas". The motifs for the stone carvings are mainly a myriad of lingams (phallic symbol of Hindu god Shiva), depicted as neatly arranged bumps that cover the surface of a sandstone bed rock, and lingam-yoni designs. There are also various Hindu mythological motifs, including depictions of the gods Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Lakshmi, Rama, and Hanuman, as well as animals (cows and frogs). The hike was a 3km round trip and in parts one had to be a mountain goat. On the way down it started to rain and turned the path into a mini river. Needless to say it took a little longer to get down than it normally would have.

We were bused back to the restaurant and our bikes and cycled another 25km to Banteay Srei or Citadel of the Women/Beauty which was built in 967AD. While some of temples are impressive because of their sheer size, Banteay Srei stands alone in the quality of its construction and decoration. Its pink sandstone walls are decorated with what some consider the best carvings of all, and still an excellent state of preservation.

That was the end of the cycling for the day which suited everyone as we were all soaked and riding in wet nicks is not very pleasant. We were bused to the Landmine Museum where a local - Mr Aki Ra (a former Child soldier of the Khmer Rouge) is helping to rid Cambodia of landmines. If you want more info, just Google it! We only left the museum after 5:30pm so did not get back to the hotel until 6:30pm for a 7pm dinner at the hotel.

After a quick shower whilst doing the washing, we were having a pre-dinner drink right on 7pm. Dinner, at the hotel we are staying at, was very different to anything we'd had before, especially the tomato soup; a peeled and stuffed tomato (pork mince) in a delicious clear broth with another pork ball. It will have to be attempted when we get home. Dessert, pumpkin custard, will also have to be tried. Basically, cut a hole in a small'ish pumpkin, take out the seeds and other stuff, make a custard, pour it in, replace the lid back and bake - simple!