where in the world is matt

After the bus ride that of course turned out to be nearly 9 hours, and a frantic rush for the bus due to them ‘forgetting’ me, im glad i prearranged where i would be staying as arriving at night i had no clue where the centre was. Instead a man waving my name on a card greeted me and took me to the garden villa, which has been hit and miss.

I recommend and i dont, the room i have for the price is excessive in size rather then cost. I just dont have a need for a room that big, but for the price its pretty good. Possibly due to my complaints as the first room was filled with sand and the sheets stale which kept setting off my asthma. Also they managed to lose some of my clothes and also hand me washing back that was wet. Very strange… but the rooftop bar is nice and its a good meeting place.

The city itself doesnt have much by way of sites to see, but it does have a very good drinking hole in the form of bar street, probably designed and marketed to the tourists who come purely for Ankor, and well deserved it is.

Yesterday afternoon i went to see the sunset and purchase a ticket for the temples. $20 for a one day, with a three day entry being $40, this can be spread across 7 days or consecutive as what im doing. Though with the viewing of sunset I was allowed access to Ankor Wat so technically im getting 4 days.

Today i did the whole site on a pedal bike ($1 from all guesthouses normally, though its a standard road bike with no suspension, asian standard means its a chore to ride without gears) which was a silly idea as it became a 38km ride with getting out from town and around the main area, there are temples further north but they dont tend to be visited as they are 30km from the main site. Most people will do the 1 day and see the main three. Ankor Wat, Bayon and the tomb raider temple - the name has escaped me at present - and maybe stop at a few of the others. I decided to spend the day exploring rather than being a tourist and stopping to snap every few minutes and fell in love with Bayon as a temple. It has thousands of stone relief faces jutting from every wall and tower, very interesting. You cant help but get a little tingle when you go through the gates or past the temples, they are the largest site on earth and some of the oldest.

Tomorrow the plan is to wake and catch sunrise and travel on the back of a moto to take some snaps and catch the other half that i rode past but didnt explore due to the heat and distance ridden.