Chessell Adventures - Angkor Wat Bike Adventure

On arrival in SIem Reap, you will be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel by our staff. Subject to your arrival time, you will have the opportunity toexplore the area around the hotel, and also bebreifed as to what to expect for the first couple of days.

Day 2-8 Riding from and around Siem Reap
Day 02 First discovery and Small Circuit
This is an easy first day where we will ease into riding with stops to visit various temples. We start the ride from Siem Reap to Angkor Wat early in the morning following small countryside trails and then the paved road of the small circuit. We spend the rest of the morning exploring the world’s grand- est temple and have lunch before heading on. Following is an afternoon of temples. We cycle on from Angkor Wat on the paved roads of the small circuit. We visit the Death Gate, Victory Gate, Terraces of Elephants and of the Leper King. Then we cycle on to Srah Srang and Phnom Bakeng. A little before sunset we will make our way back to Siem Reap for a well earned rest.

This is a great ride to get to know rural Cambodian life as we cycle through small farming villages on little trail through the countryside, where you will be greeted by many friendly people. We start the day riding west out of Siem Reap towards Banteay Samre, a unique temple with two moats, which has been superbly restored. Because it is not easy to reach, this temple doesn’t attract a lot of visitors and we can generally explore this site undisturbed. From here we con- tinue to the intimate temples of Chau Srei Vibol (Wat Trak), here we will have lunch and relax. After lunch we head on the Rolous group or Bankong as it also called via the little town of Rolous where we can have a look at the local market. We explore the temples of Rolous and then cycle on to the Tonle Sap Lake, where we will be spending the night in a local floating village or in a boat.

We spend the morning on this massive freshwater lake which dominates the map of Cambodia. The lake is at once a reservoir, flood-relief system, communication route, home, and larder to the people who live on and around it. After exploring on the lake we head back to land and cycle through the country side to Siem Reap where we will have lunch. After lunch we will have an optional tour to some of the local pagodas, like Wat Athvea and Wat Bo. We will also go to one of the local markets and explore a bit of the country side around town. For those who need a rest, there are plenty of nice cafés in which you can relax and read a book or just observe life.

Today will take us far away from the normal tourist spots around Siem Reap. We ride on mostly unpaved roads and small trails through the country side all day and will have lunch somewhere nice on the way. When Maurice Glaize’s wrote his popular - The Angkor Guide - in 1944, he described Beng Malea like this; “A trip to Beng Mealea, can be combined with a hunting party, since the region is rich in both small and large game and wild animals; - tigers, panthers and elephants, herds of oxen and wild buffalo inhabit the forest.’ We don’t have a hunt- ing party but will still have a great adventure sleeping in this remote spot, after exploring this huge temple’s complex, we will be spending the night in a local pagoda. Rest assured that you can sleep easy - the wildlife is no longer so prevalent in the populated areas!

We go out cycling to the top of Phnom Kulen (Kulen Mountain), which is considered by the Khmer people as the most sacred mountain in Cambodia. Here we will have lunch in the jungle by a waterfall before we cycle on to Kbal Spean (River of a thousand Lingas). We can then walk for 30 min through the jungle to the river, where crystal clear water washes over sacred lingas carved into the bedrock. After the walk back to the bikes we cycle to Banteay Srei where we will spend the night camping in the little village.

We have an early morning start, so we can visit Banteay Srei before the tourist hordes arrive. Banteay Srei is a very popular rosy red temple with beautiful carvings of female divinities. After having explored Banteay Srei we cycle on a secondary and mainly unpaved road to Preah Khan. We visit the temple and ride on to have lunch at Neak Pean. We then have a look at Neak Pean amd then continue cycling on the grand circuit to Banteay Kdei and finally Ta Prohm where we will end the ride and have a good look at this moody temple, increasingly in the surreal grip of towering trees as the jungle encroaches. From here we take the small circuit back to Siem Reap.

We cycle via Angkor Wat and the Western Gate of Angkor Thom on little trails through the country side to the Village of Puok. Here we will see all the stages of the production process, from the cultivation of mulberry trees to the dyeing and weaving of silk. Then we ride to our lunch spot, the Western Baray. This was at one time an enormous 8km by 2.3km reservoir which was excavated all by hand, to provide water for the intensive cultivation of land by the people of Angkor. We will have lunch here. On our way back to town we stop at the Les Chantiers Ecoles which is a school specialising in teaching wood- and stone-carving techniques to young people from impoverished backgrounds. Back in town we will have a farewell dinner in one of the many great restaurants.

We have this day free of any activities, so you can pack, go shopping and tell tales of the last few days’ great rides be- fore we take you to your departing flight and say goodbye.

Important Note:
Every effort will be made to keep to the above itinerary, but as this is adventure travel, we cannot guarantee it. Weather conditions, road conditions, vehicle breakdowns, the health of participants and other issues can all contribute to changes.