Cycling the Temples of Angkor

Arrive into Siem Reap, where your guide and driver will be waiting to welcome you and transfer you to your hotel, around 40 minutes away. Settle in with a few hours at leisure before an early dinner and an evening performance by Phare, Cambodia's celebrated circus and arts school. Far from a traditional big top, Phare is a nonprofit school for the arts whose graduates perform astonishing feats of acrobatics, acting out everything from Cambodian folklore to the harder chapters of the Khmer Rouge era. Dinner tonight is at the Phare Cafe. Overnight in Siem Reap.

Meet your cycling guide this morning and set off directly from the hotel into the jungles of Angkor. Begin at Ta Prohm, built between the mid-twelfth and early thirteenth centuries in honour of Jayavarman VII's mother and left largely as it was found, its walls and towers still entwined with jungle roots and vines, making it one of the most atmospheric temples at Angkor. From Ta Prohm, pedal through hidden jungle passages to the ruins of Ta Nei and Preah Khan, dedicated to Jayavarman VII's father, before reaching Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Great Khmer Empire, its eight-metre walls tracing a perfect square around the old city. Enter through the East Gate, flanked by rows of gods and demons holding the sacred Naga serpent, then head inward to Bayon, a twelfth-century masterpiece at the exact centre of the city, its fifty-four towers carved with enigmatic faces representing the provinces of the Khmer Empire. Nearby, the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King are known for their intricate bas-reliefs. Continue south to Angkor Wat itself, the largest religious monument in the world, built as a Hindu temple to Vishnu in the early twelfth century before gradually becoming a Buddhist site. Modelled on Mount Meru, the mythical home of the gods, its walls are covered in stone carvings depicting Hindu mythology and the wars of King Suryavarman II, alongside more than 2,000 carved Apsara dancers. Angkor Wat took an estimated thirty years to build and remains a symbol of the Khmer people, featured on the national flag to this day. Dinner tonight is at a local restaurant. Around 40 kilometres of cycling today, rated easy. Overnight in Siem Reap.

After breakfast, cycle out toward Tonle Sap, passing through small villages on the outskirts of Siem Reap, with the sound of the breeze in the trees and the occasional shout of hello from local children practising their English. Stop at a local market en route to Kampong Phluk, one of the region's many floating villages, where residents have adapted to the lake's dramatic seasonal rise and fall of up to nine metres. Stop at a local home for a packed lunch before heading back. From the boat docks, continue to the Roluos Group, a cluster of pre-Angkorian temples around fifteen kilometres east of Siem Reap. Though built differently to the later Angkor temples, clear architectural threads connect the two. In the dry season, when water levels are too low for boats, the ride instead continues to Chau Srei Vibol, a lesser-visited ruin skipped by most visitors to Siem Reap. Dinner tonight is at a local restaurant. Around 34 kilometres of cycling today, rated easy. Overnight in Siem Reap.

Leave the city behind for the deep countryside, cycling through rice fields and quiet dirt paths busy with farmers and locals going about their day. Pass through Pradak, a small village and market sitting inside the dry bed of East Baray, once a vast Angkorian reservoir, then turn down quieter roads to the distant temple of Banteay Samre. Continue past the small mountain of Phnom Bok into deeper countryside, with the ridges of Phnom Kulen, birthplace of the Khmer Empire, looming ahead. Nestled into a gap in the ridge is Kbal Spean, one of Cambodia's earliest Hindu pilgrimage sites. A moderate three-kilometre trek through dense jungle leads to the 'River of a Thousand Lingas,' where scenes from Hindu scripture and small stone lingas are carved directly into the riverbed. Finish at Banteay Srei, known as the 'Citadel of the Women' and considered Cambodia's best-preserved temple, its bas-reliefs among the finest examples of classical Khmer art. Uniquely among Angkor's temples, it was built from pink sandstone. Dinner tonight is at a local restaurant. Around 61 kilometres of cycling today, plus a 3-kilometre trek, rated easy. Overnight in Siem Reap.

A final morning at leisure before your guide collects you for the transfer to the airport, around 40 minutes, for your onward flight, bringing your journey through Angkor to a close.