breakfast blunder
The day that went down in history as the funniest and whackiest sidetrip. We started off in the morning with a burning question: to go or not to go? The Roluos Group were basically these three temples situated in the far east corner of Siem Reap quite on the opposite end of Angkor Wat.
They were super off-the-beaten path and practically nobody ever goes there but we had the time and resources to take a gander; so after much deliberation, we went ahead with the plan.
Jasper suggested to find breakfast at the markets so we got on our e-bikes and were off. The markets were still closed that time or maybe they were really closed for good cuz of Covid so we ended up in a nearby restaurant that was serving noodles instead.
The breakfast was actually pretty good and cheap, we had some tea while the owner’s kid watched some random Roblox and Minecraft videos on the restaurant’s TV.
When we got out, I made my first blunder of the day. I had left the key in the bike the whole time, it could have easily been stolen and it was very careless of me. The second strike was that I had left the engine running as well, I had wasted a lot of fuel and it was just the start of the day but I was optimistic.
the roluos group expedition
We were off on a long road trip to the Roluos Group. I truly enjoyed the journey as it brought us new views of the provincial life, across paths laden with trees on both sides, their branches covering us from the sun, through farms and fields and mountains and hills for more than half an hour. I really felt like we were getting in touch with a side of Cambodian culture not found inside the temples.
My eyes darted between the road and my fuel bar because it was certainly going down faster than I would have liked. We were able to make it to the first set of temples though, Preah Ko, just three big temple heads similar to Prasat Kravan. Nothing to write home about after the amazing temples yesterday.
never go full indiana jones
Next came the legendary Prei Monti. Finding this temple was quite difficult as even the locals didn’t even know about it.
We were in such a remote area, the people here couldn’t understand English at all. The dirt path turned into mud and I tried to get the bike across but it was too difficult and risky so we decided to park it and head inside by foot.
Right across us was a school and a lot of curious little children were looking at us, fascinated by foreigners as they were probably very rare in this part of town.
We began our walk into the jungle and I tried following the GPS on maps.me towards the location of the temple but the paths seemed to lead to nowhere so I decided to go full Indiana Jones and went inside the vegation with the hope of cutting across the forest and reaching the temple with Jasper reluctantly following behind.
This time we were pretty deep in and the paths were getting even more similar and confusing which was starting to make Jasper anxious, meanwhile I kept on trying to push to go deeper into the jungle, going through the thick vegetation which was already much more dense than Ta Prohm.
At this point, the path was simply gone and it led to a dead-end to boot. So we decided to turn around, regroup at the bikes and use it to take it deeper into the jungle following the paths properly as we saw a kid take a short-cut avoiding the muddy path.
The problem was getting back to the bikes as now we were stuck in the middle of the jungle and we had no idea which way was which.
I tried following the GPS back to the main road but it just led us into more dead-ends and the paths we were taking just made us go around in circles.
Now Jasper was getting panicky while I was laughing out loud at the whole situation, certainly two different sides of the coin.
After a couple of minutes of backtracking and trial & error, we finally got out to the main road again and walked back to our bikes.
the curse of prei monti
Jasper wanted to move on but I wasn’t having it, not after coming this far and wasting a lot of time getting lost in the jungle. No way, I doubled down and took off in search of this friggin’ Prei Monti. I was following the map more properly this time and by some sheer luck I got to the temple.
It was a dilapidated crumbling temple. Barely standing and being held alift by some recently attached steel beams.
I could barely see anything but one thing I couldn’t wait to see was Jasper’s reaction as he was a ways behind me. His visible disappointment was so funny for me, I was laughing out loud again.
With Prei Monti finally out of the way and having taken up a huge chunk of our morning, we went to Bakong Temple for the last bit but not before my neck got bit by a spider on the way out the jungle.
striking out at bakong temple
Bakong was definitely the most grand in the Roluos Group, it was even larger than some of the temples we visited in Angkor Park yesterday. It had several floors and had elephant statues perched on each corner.
There were some students that were resting on its steps and at the top was a shrine.
From the top, you could see the contrast with modern religion as right across the moat was a Buddhist temple that resembled those in Vientiane, definitely much newer than Bakong.
We had briefly passed by Bakong’s moat on the way and I made a mental note to take a photo so on the way back, so we stopped by and I got my photo while Jasper took pictures of the monkeys hanging around. My bike also ended up falling down on the ground and Jasper had to help me prop it back up again. I also realized I had once again left the engines on while we were off picture-taking, this was definitely strike three for me.
stuck in the middle of nowhere
With the Roluos Group and a bunch of mishaps out of the way, it was now time to say good bye and head on back to Angkor Park.
On the way, I realized that we were only saying good bye to the Roluos temples as the problems seemed to be following us around today. Our bike’s batteries were running dry and mine doubly so as I had been carelessly leaving the engine on a lot today.
I was still very much optimistic and somehow thought we would make it but as my battery slowly depleted, my speed also dwindled. Jasper slowly caught up and ended up being in front while the distance between our bike became larger.
There was still 20 kilometers left of straight road and we weren’t even half-way. I found the whole worsening situation…absolutely hilarious! I was laughing all throughout the way while Jasper was getting worried and suggesting that we knock on some random resident’s home to ask to charge our batteries.
I was stubborn and dangerously optimistic and still pushed through ahead, telling myself I would pedal all the way back, after all what was 20 kilometers?
I soon realized my folly when my bike’s battery really died and I was left pedaling this huge chunk of metal. It was extremely heavy and the gear setting was so low I had to do a lot of cadence for my bike to move a couple of centimeters. There was no way I was even making 1 kilometer without completely tiring myself at this rate, so my hopes of reaching Angkor Park were dashed.
So much setbacks today but it is what it is, I was sure we could do everything without problems still. We were very lucky because there was a random cafe in the middle of the road and we were able to stop by and charge our batteries. We bought some water as thanks and waited for an hour or so.
The battery was around half full which made things a bit more promising but there was no way we were reaching the charging station before running out again so we decided to stop at a restaurant next around half way through to eat lunch and recharge our batteries again.
the final push
Surely enough, our batteries started to run out and my speed was slowing down again but we were close and decided between two restaurants.
Jasper mentioned we passed by a better looking restaurant behind us so we backtracked and decided to eat and charge our batteries there.
We were showed to a pretty nice table raised above the ground with some hammocks at the side and cushions on the floor. The food was amazing but a bit spicy, I was so hungry, I ordered a double meal again.
The bathroom’s sink also had a giant cricket. I tried to eat as much as I can even though I was already full as I didn’t want to waste food and the waitress found it so funny she was laughing at my determination to chow down.
We finally got on our bikes and this time it seemed like we were going to make it to the charging station at Srah Srang but on the way we passed by Pre Rup, one of the major temples of the day. Since we were already here and so close to the charging station, I convinced Jasper to stop by so we could finally see an actual temple after such a long trip.
The next day, we got ready for our journey to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat.
