Day 21 - Ride and Relax

While Siam Reap is known mainly for Angkor Wat and a number of the other temples, today was more about relaxing ans getting away from the crowds. 3 of us from the cruise decided to go biking, led by our guide Tra from the last couple of days. Pedalling on the back roads of south Siam Reap.

We biked for a while along the road before ditching that for some soft, red-dirt paths, surrounded by a vibrant sea of green. We cycled right through rice paddies, duck farms and saw farmers working the fields. Almost every child we biked past also would way and call out hello to us. One spot we went through was a duck farm, they weren't caged in at all, instead they were in open rice fields and the ducks don't fly away as apparently that bread doesn't fly. We also biked past water buffalo, so strange seeing these in person, I don't know why, but it doesn't quite seem real.

The route took us through traditional Khmer villages and our guide helped us stop and see real village life, from families selling stuff at tiny local markets. We almost reach the end of the outer but got stopped by a small stream, I made it past, but the others weren't keen on going that way, so I needed to get back to them, that wasn't as easy as it was getting across the first time. Our guide organised the the minibus to pick us up from a different location and we headed there, once we got on the van we were each given a coconut each to drink from. I have to say that drinking that coconut juice was tastier than any other coconut juice I've ever had.

After getting back to the hotel I decided to take a swim for a little, James ended up coming along while I was there and joined for a swim, we just hung out and chatted to other cruise guest about their day and last night's dinner. It was back to the room and after our showers we headed off back to pub street for a meal. I ended up having a double Burger, turns out there burgers actually look like the picture and was actually rather large, so large in fact that I couldn't squash it enough to actually eat it with my hands I ended up having to break out the knife and fork... I know, so civilised. For some strange reason this bar seemed to have a thing for Tin Tin, not sure why, but it seems Tin Tin is rather popular in Cambodia. We then contacted our Tuk Tuk driver and had him take us to get tickets so we could visit another temple tomorrow. He then drove us back to the hotel.

Affer another dip in the pool, it was time to get ready for our dinner with the rest of the cruise group, a chance to enjoy some dancing and each other's companybas a final farewell. We went to a local gallery by local artist Theam Lim, he is one of the few returning Cambodians who is currently involved in reviving the craft culture, after a look around the gallery we were sat down to a 5 course meal, along with traditional dances in between each meal, the dances were very well performed, toes bending as well as their fingers, must take some serious concentration (or at least a tun of practice), their outfits were stunning as well.