Tomb Raider!
Most of my day was spent cycling past a series of smaller temples: Prasat Kravan, Prasat Bat Chum, Banteay Kdei, the man made lake of Sras Srang, Ta Keo, Chau Say Tevoda, Thommanon and the impressive Ta Prohm.
The latter, overrun by the jungle itself and very photogenic, made an appearance in a Tomb Raider movie.
Afterwards, I wanted to visit the Western Baray, what once seemed to have been a huge man made lake, to the west of Angkor Thom. There's a similar area to the east, but that doesn't seem to be a lake anymore.
I managed to get onto the raised dike surrounding the area, on the side where the lake had been taken over by ricefields and houses, but for several kilometers couldn't find a road into the area.
This is no small lake, at about 7 by 2 kilometers. If you switch the map below (assuming you're reading this on my website) to satelite or hybrid view, you can see the lake as it appears from space. Right in the middle, there's the Western Mebon, which I presume is a temple, but I have no idea how to get there.
Shortly after leaving in the morning, a tropical rainstorm drenched me to the bone.
As I said earlier, I'm not as impressed with the individual temples here as I expected I would be. However, the sheer expanse of the site is amazing. Granted, the temples which are part of the world heritage site were created over a period of several hundreds of years, but that's exactly what makes the area so impressive. Just imagine what it all must have looked like 800 or 900 years ago, with all the stones still nicely in place and the temples actually in use!
On another note, I've had food at the following places in Siem Reap.
The Blue Pumpkin
Very classy place, with a stylish bakery and a lounge for a restaurant with wall hugging couches. A bit pricey, at 4 – 6 USD for a meal, but good food. Though the fish ravioli I had, which was billed as a full meal, turned out to be not even worthy of a starter.
Singing Tree Cafe
Bit of a clubhouse for the slightly alternative minded, but also with a bit of a mission. Extensive menu, decent prices and reasonable coffee.
Soria Moria
A 'boutique hotel' and a classy restaurant. On Wednesdays, they've got a one dollar drinks and food night. Tapas and quite a collection of drinks for only one buck each.
Some of the tapas are a bit on the small side, but then again, they're only one buck. The food is very tasty and the G&Ts are, even on Wednesday's, normal size.
Babel
The guesthouse I'm staying at. The Khmer dish lok lak was very tasty, but a noodles dish was bland. Breakfast, particularly the baguettes, are very nice.