Day 7 #SG-Cambodia: Arriving at The 7th Wonder of The World - ANGKOR WAT

Can't believe just last week, I was chilling out my couch at home, watching The Ellen show, and now I'm here with my bike at Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Oh I love just how spontaneous Life can be! Haha!

It's now 5:00am, the city is still sound asleep, as I quietly pushed my bike out of the hotel, before waking everyone up with some desmo bass the minute I started my bike... hahaha, all ready to head for my dream destination.

The hotel was just 8km away from Angkor Wat, but first, I had to purchase my Angkor Admission Pass at the Ticket Office. They have moved and their most updated location is here.

The distance between the Ticket Office and Angkor Wat is about 7km.

The Ticket Office opens from 4:30AM - 5:00PM.
There are English-speaking staffs ready to assist, so just tell them you want a 1-day pass or 3-day pass. You have to bring your Passport along for identification purpose.

Got my 1-day pass, cost is USD$20, and off I go to the Angkor World Heritage site! 

It's now 5:45am and the sun is rising up fast as I hurriedly made my way over to Angkor Wat. Sunrise at Angkor Wat is the most popular timing to be present, as it's breathtaking watching the golden rays light up this amazing heritage site.

After riding for 3,407km passing through 4 different countries, my bike and I have finally officially arrived at the 7th Wonder of The World - Angkor Wat. And I'm just in absolute awe of what was built more than 800 years ago, standing right in front of me now. 

It's so peaceful here, looking at Angkor Wat from a distance, with the image of it clearly reflected on the lake surrounding the compound of the temple. 

There were other tourists around too, but everyone kept their voices low as we all enjoyed the serenity of this UNESCO site together. 

This is the nearest any vehicles could get to Angkor Wat. To go up-close and into the sacred temple would have to be purely on foot. But it was still such a beautiful sight, watching the gentle sun rays slowly light up the whole temple city. 

The Angkor Pass allows you to enter most of the different Angkor temples, including Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. Walking would be too far to get from each temple to another, but there are Tuk Tuk taxis around to help, at a fee.

If you have a bike like me, or a bicycle, you can ride around. 

Angkor Wat

It is the largest religious monument in the world, measuring 1,626,000metre square, and was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman in the 12th Century. 

It's the first temple I'm going to explore on foot.

The most iconic temple in Cambodia was mainly made out of sandstone, and widely known around the world.

As Lonely Planet best describes it,

"Angkor Wat is the ultimate expression of Khmer genuis - an awe-inspiring temple that is stunning both its grand scale and its incredible detail" 

The logistics that involved such a huge operation in building Angkor Wat was mind blowing. Consuming the labour of thousands, the construction of Cambodia's largest temple involved a whopping 300,000 workers and 6,000 elephants, yet it was still not completed.

Moving into finer details, Angkor Wat is famous for having more than 3,000 apsaras (heavenly nymphs) carefully carved into its walls,

with each one of them having its own unique character and design. Some of them were damaged over the years, but were later restored.

I've been around the world previously when I was a flight attendant with Singapore Airlines, and have visited numerous ancient sites. But I was really struck by the grandeur of Angkor Wat, with such high level of detailed carvings depicting historical events and stories from mythology all around.

Access to the central temple of Angkor Wat involved climbing a dangerously steep flight of stairs up.

Yeah, this high.

pc: rontravel

And yeah, this steep.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't panting when I was climbing up that flight of stairs! Not having breakfast didn't help, I had to use all the leg strength I had to make it all the way up.

But it was definitely worth the climb!

Angkor Wat is the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture, and it has drawn million of visitors since the 1990s when it opened up to Tourism, with 2013 alone clocking more than two million foreign tourists to the site.

And here I am! Gladly adding to that increasing statistics :)

Angkor Thom

After spending about 2.5 hours and taking it all in at Angkor Wat, I moved on towards the next majestic temple site, here at Angkor Thom!

Oh, just in case you're wondering why in my pictures, there are little, or no one around, that's because I always try to wait for everyone to pass by first, or I take my pictures at an angle where there is no one photo-bombing my shot though honestly, it can be quite challenging because there'll always be lotsa tourists at popular sightseeing places..

and even huge elephants too!

Now, Angkor Thom is the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire, established during the late 12th century by king Jayavarman VII and here we are at Bayon, the centre of the city state's temple.

pc: cambodiabhappydriver

The most distinctive feature of the Bayon temple not to be missed is the smiling stone faces of the many towers here! It's just amazing how these features are so well preserved over so many centuries.

pc: allpointseast

The carvings on all the walls of Bayon all depict the historical events and everyday life of the Angkorian Khmer which are highly detailed and informative. This state of art and architecture is just simply stunning.

Boy am I happy to be here with my red darling all the from Singapore!

Next up, is Ta Prohm!

Ta Prohm

What differentiates Ta Prohm from the rest of the other Angkor temples is that it's pretty much in its original condition since it was found.

And what clearly distinguishes itself from the rest of the temples is having trees grown out from the temple's ruins, which makes it a truly unique sight to behold.

This is also where the movie Tomb Raider, starring Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, was filmed back in 2001.

Time flies when you're busy exploring ancient history and being amazed one temple after another here at the Angkor Wat Heritage Site!

Before I know it, I've spent about 6 - 7 hours here and  you have no idea how scorching it is right now! Haha the sun is really a killer, so unless you need to be more properly geared because you're riding like me here, I'd strongly advise you to pile on lotsa sunblock and wear some really light breathable clothing!

I could totally do a pint of ice cold beer now!

Headed back to Siem Reap to fill my tummy before retiring back to the hotel, took that superb cold shower I badly needed from being out in the sun all day today haha and started packing my things as we'll be heading back to Bangkok, Thailand, tomorrow!

Thank you Cambodia, for preserving all that magnificent beauty not just in Angkor Wat Heritage, but also in your people. I may not have spent a lot of time here, but it has been the quality of each experience that I've been impacted by, and these memories will last me a lifetime.

[BUCKET LIST: RIDING FROM HOME TO ANGKOR WAT, CAMBODIA : TICKED!!!! YEAHHHH]

[Singapore. Malaysia. Thailand.Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, ANGKOR WAT, Cambodia]

[Mileage Clocked: 3,378KM]

[Weather/Temperature: Scorching Hot/36°C]

[Terrain: Road/Tarmac]

Next stop: Bangkok, Thailand

Day 6 #SG-Cambodia: Phnom Penh > Siem Reap : Going Solo From Here

With more than 3,000km done so far, my bike and I are finally entering into Siem Reap where my dream destination, Angkor Wat, awaits.

Siem Reap was just a short 350km away from the Capital of Cambodia, and with no highway roads, I'm guessing it should take me about 4 hours or so to get there with an average speed of 90km/h.

I've got my bags all strapped up and ready to depart Phnom Penh just slightly past 8:00am in the morning.

Through my whole journey so far, I had to constantly ensure my chain is well-lubricated because there was just so much dirt and dust caught in between it. Chain lub is a must to bring along on long distance rides.

Look who came to send me off! :D

It's the man with a big heart, Calvin, who have shown me an enormous amount of hospitality since the day we met at Chanthaburi, Thailand, to crossing Koh Kong Border, to navigating our way in the dark at Sihanoukville, through the windy curves to Bokor Mountain, and all the way to celebrating the Cambodia Water Festival together in Phnom Penh last night.

Thank you so so much for taking me around and guiding me through the journey so far. Can't wait to see you again when I return to Cambodia! A pity I didn't see Jok but I'll definitely look him up on my next visit :)

So off I went, on Route 6, towards Siem Reap. The sun looks like it's out in full force today.. like it is almost every other day hahaha. Boy, I wonder what I'd do without my fully tinted visor. #glaredieme

If you looked at me from the outside with my tinted visor, you can't see my eyes, so you may think I'm expressionless, and that I'm not looking at anywhere but just the road.

But behind those tinted visors are eyes that are looking at every single thing around me, every detail I can catch, and of course,

enjoying every second of wide open endless road in front of me.

From observing the people's life here, to the beautiful architecture around, to the food that the locals are selling off the streets, to innocent children and wild animals playing dangerously by and across the roads.

And behind those pair of eyes looking at the world around me, are a million thoughts processing through my mind, digesting all of it along with those emotions I feel, and letting it all sit in slowly.

That is why motorcycling, to me, isn't just riding a two wheeler vehicle from Point A - B.
It's Life to me.

Now I normally don't make much stops when I'm on the road other than to refuel or for toilet breaks, oh, and to take like hell lotsa nice photos hahaha so maybe that's why I feel that each time I'm on a road trip, I tend to shed a bit of weight? Losing all that water retention from sweating and having lesser meals when I'm on the go.

It was slightly past 12:30 in the afternoon, I was just 20KM away from Siem Reap but gosh, I really needed a break from the intense heat.

Plus, my tummy was growling so I decided to stop by this random food stall to hydrate and satisfy my hunger with some local food.

When I stepped inside, put all my stuff down and removed my helmet, the lady boss here couldn't stop staring at me and laughing in great amusement. It was so contagious, I started to laugh with her too! Though I wasn't exactly sure what she was laughing about LOL.

I ordered a bowl of beef noodles, and her friend came up to me and spoke in their local language but I figured they were asking me where I came from and where I was going. So we all started talking in two different languages but somehow understood each other.

I talked to them till my noodles went cold, but it didn't matter because they warmed my heart.

The lady boss was so motherly, she held my hand, squeezed my arms and touched my face, and I'm guessing she told me to be brave and continue the journey on despite being alone (Full Video on Facebook here)

These are the little things that keep me going, and it's these people who may be strangers, who may not understand my language, yet show so much kindness, who really touch my heart.

Slurped up my noodles, bid them farewell, and continued my way onto Siem Reap.

After more than 4 hours on the road from Phnom Penh, I've arrived safely into Siem Reap and checked into Reflections Boutique Hotel (very reasonably priced at just SGD $35/night).

On a hot day like this, the pool sure looks inviting!

I always preferred small boutique hotels to those standard big-named hotels because they usually have so much more character!

Every room here is done up according to it's own theme around different types of pop culture,

and call it fate or what, I got the room that is motorcycling-themed! Hahaha.

Took a long good shower before heading out to recce where Angkor Wat is exactly so I won't get lost making my way there at 5:30am in the morning tomorrow!

The location of Reflections Boutique Hotel was great because it was within a 8 min walking distance to all the Night Markets and Pub Street, where all the action is, especially at night!

From live bands, to hippy cafes, to street foods, and shopping, it's all here. It was nice walking through the various night markets that are all side by side, but the area does feel pretty commercialised though.

Had dinner, did some souvenir-shopping before heading back to the hotel for an early night's rest! Because I'll be up around 5am, to catch sunrise at the largest religious monument in the world - Angkor Wat.

[Singapore. Malaysia. Thailand.Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Cambodia]

[Mileage Clocked: 3,352KM]

[Weather/Temperature: Scorching Hot/36°C]

[Terrain: Road/Tarmac]

Next stop: Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia