Temples of Angkor day 2

I decided to that in order to do some cycling in lieu of the 50km rally, I would , but not before visiting some of the older temples South West of Siem Reap, known as the Roulous group. My moto driver, who said his name was Paul, or at least he was happy with me calling him that, was conveniently from the area and so knew the ones to take me too.

The temple at Lolei used to be on an island in the middle of a reserviour long since dried-up and is the oldest in the region, dating from the 8th Century.

Of equal interest to me was the monastery next door that was in the process of being repainted with a number of bright paintings and the buddha himself looked like he had had a bit of lippy.

After stopping to look at a local man's enterprising thaough not very well advertised miniature stone temples, complete with mini-Ankhor Wat and Bakong, I crossed the road to The Preah Ko, a late 9th Century temple with some fine inscriptions. It's modern name is the Sacred Bull as there are still three of Shiva's Nandi guarding each of the front three of six towers. It was very peaceful there and I sat down for a while and watched a lizard climbing around in the rocks.

The most impressive structure of the Rolous Group in the Bakong. This is a moated complex containig a tiered tower with elephants on each corner on every level.

I had written down one more from the Lonely Planet - Prasat Prei Monti - that he hadn't mentioned and he said he hadn't been there for years but would try to find it. A few mud tracks and forest paths later we were at a small set of temples tucked away and covered in leaves. I also noticed some white paint daubed on the statues and my moto driver explained to me that this was the work of the locals trying to get some divine inspiriation in selecting thier lottery numbers.

I was then driven back via some small villages, each with their own 1000 year old monument. There also seemed to be a lot of new buildings, often stood next to older ones and Paul explained that land hand become expensive in the last few years and villagers were selling a lot of thier land in orer to build a nice house and have a moto.

Mountain bikes seem to have been returned from the earlier rally and so I paid my 50p for half a day and set off to explore further around the 'main' temple area. I caused a bit of a stir on the way past the ticket office as I was daydreaming and didn't realise the police whistles were for me, not realising one has to pull into the ticket office everytime you pass, in addition to checking at every site. I guess this is to prevent people from just rocking up and taking pictues from the outside without paying the fee. The officials who chased out onto the road to halt me, seemed quite pleased of some action and were therefore a little disappointed that I had a valid ticket.

I decided to go anti-clockwise, so that I would finish at Angkor Wat for the sunset. The first temple I stopped at, Prasat Kravan, had some remarably well preserved stone carvings. They were also setting up chairs and tables for a golf dinner that evening part of the Jonnie Walker classic open going on, a scene that would I'm sure be cause for consternation in some conservationist circles.

Next up was Banteay Kdei and this was my favourite. Although relatively small in comparison to other temples, it is still an inviting maze of little corridors and rooms of which there are more than usual still passable. Little stone carvings can be found around every corner and at the Western end there is a small river and some magnificent trees woven into the old temple structure.

Opposite Banteay Kdei is the beautiful Srah Srang, a huge reserviour overlooked by a stone jetty of nagas and lions, which has held it's water since it was built over 900 years ago.

I was sitting on the steps when one of the many children's voices selling their wares asked me where I was from. When I replied England she said without pausing ''England capital London jubbly jubbly top banana wayne rooney you have scotland wales and ireland'', to the good-natured amusement of the Irish lads nearby, before threatening to jump into the lake if I didn't buy her water.

Ta Prohm is also known as the 'Tomb Raider' temple, the film version of the game being filmed here. I imagined my sister Jen an I re-enacting our playstation ineptitude by falling off boulders with arms in the air, pushing them with a little series of grunts, or jumping up and putting our imaginary guns away instead of evading whichever endangered species was attacking. This temples really is a classic for giant trees climbing out of walls and clasping and reshaping the old walls. The trees look so mature themselves, it is a physical reminder of how old the structures are.

Having spent longer than expected at these sights I soon realised I was going to be unlikely to see the sunset and Angkor Wat and it seemed silly to race past other sights of note, so I climbed the unfeasibly steep steps to the top of the pyramid structure Ta Keo. Built to represent a five-peaked mountain, and made completely out of sandstone, it's carvings had only just been started when it was stopped. A couple of tourists left as I got there and I was able to have the whole place to myself.

It took another half an hour to get back to the crowds still returning from their impersonal sunset and on the way I had a quick wander around the Baphoun complex which was quite excitingly eerie in the dusklight.