On entry, turn to your left and follow the gallery along a mesmerizing sequence of stories. They may not be in technicolour, but the carving and the events depicted are so detailed, and graphic, that you feel you are watching a movie unfold before you. Armies of soldiers row war canoes into battle with giant crocodiles snatching an easy meal, fierce warriors face off while holding on to their fighting dogs, and many more.

At the end, double back and enter the section with the towers. Each of these is around three stories high, they are hollow and inside many are small offerings and statues with incense burning. No matter where you are, there will be a face looking down on you, turn and enter a doorway and there is a face looking back.

The sheer scale of carving, also extends to the various pillars or columns upon which each has two or three dancing Apsara (heavenly nymphs), over a bed of lilies, delicately carved and full of movement. Every lintel is ornately carved, with more intricate carvings of deities. A surface that has not been decorated hardly remains .

When you have finished with the main temple area, the towers continue towards the west gate, and the Baphuon which is currently being restored and so it could not be accessed. Here, you will come across local people, mainly kids, that start to chat and offer to explain the history of the temples that they know by rote. They will normally then give you a story about how they need money for school, books, and so on and ask for money. However, they are not looking for the worthless Cambodian currency, but Thai baht because it is worth so much more. It’s up to you what you do, they normally scamper off when you turn to enter the complex of Phimeanakas.

This complex holds the royal bathing ponds and pools, but you won’t spend much time here.

Then past the terrace of the Leper King and lastly the terrace of the Elephants in the Royal Square. Again, it is easy to imagine the King standing on his platform in full command of his armies, assembled in their full battle gear waiting to march into battle, or on a hunt. The front face of the podium is carved with giant elephants, and the front section is carved so the trunks of the beasts jut out from the actual podium. Impressive and very difficult to photograph well.

I have not biked in 4 years and even back 4 years ago, I was just a wobbly beginner. Today I rented a bike for a $1/day and gathered my courage and off I headed towards the Land Mine Museum, set up by Aki Ra.

Map in hand, I pedaled. I was really scared at first of the cars, the motos, and other bikers, but I pedaled slowly and eventually I got to my destination. On the way there, there were paved roads, semi-paved (bumpy), pebble roads, sand roads and dirt roads. My butt really took a hit on the pebble roads. Dirt roads are okay as long as there are no pebbles.

It took me about an hour to get there, while a moto would probably take 15 minutes. But along the way, there were quite a few Cambodian bikers who kept on looking at me curiously (I am Chinese, so I am a lot paler compared to Cambodians). Every time I saw them, I smiled, and I truly enjoy getting in return their sheepish and genuine smile.

I felt sort of a camaraderie with all bikers. After I got to the Land Mine Museum, I spent about 45 minutes looking at real land mines! Wow... I never knew there were so many kinds!

After looking at the metal pieces and reading some of Aki Ra's stories, I left for a sunset at Angkor Wat. At first, I thought I could just use the dirt road and do a shortcut. So I rode on past the zoo, and into the villages. There, I waved and smiled at all the Cambodians sitting in their huts. So many cute little kids!

I got to a dead end, and an old Cambodian lady, who obviously did not speak English, directed me to go another way. She was a friendly grandma without teeth. She did not quite have a teeth-showing smile.

Then I headed towards Angkor Wat using the larger car road (semi-paved). After getting there, because I was afraid of having my bike stolen, I sat near the lake and enjoyed the sunset.

I decided that since it was the end of my third day pass, I would go to see Bayon again. On the map, it looked really close, but... actually it wasn't! I had to go past Phnom Bakheng (another good place for sunset - and you can see Angkor Wat pretty clearly) and go into Angkor Thom via the North Gate. I pedaled, and by this time, my ass really hurt! But I went on and I rode around Bayon once, and realized that Lonely Planet had been right. Bayon was better in the morning.

I headed back to the guest house and finally got back in about an hour. All in all, it was a great experience - although my ass did hurt for three days after that.