Asia

After a day resting by the hotel pool, today we returned to the adventure theme. A bus picked us up at 7:15 and took us to get fitted with harness and helmet. For the next 3 hours, we traversed 10 ziplines through the Angkor park. The gear was all top-notch and the entire enterprise as safety conscious as the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Our guides had been with the company right from the start, carrying wood, and hauling materials up to the treetops. I asked how people were chosen for this work, whether they'd had any experience with rope work prior to Gibbons. Apparently the main criteria were good English and fitness. Despite a fear of heights, I never felt uncomfortable. In fact, the highest point at 45m felt more like 10m, because the canopy of trees below is so dense it appears to be scrub on a hillside. The guides are so focussed on safety that they are not allowed to be distracted even for photos, but at stops, they would talk about the nature around us, pointing out the variety of trees, the squeal of cicadas and, back on ground, even drew a tarantula out of its hole. The day comes at a hefty price compared to other local activities, but it's well worth the money.

We finished our tour with a ride into the ancient city to visit three major complexes. The first, and most famous, was Angkor Wat, which, aside from the tourists, was as beautiful as it's known to be. Our guide, who was a uniformed official, explained that it was built on volcanic rock for stability, but adorned with sandstone to allow the intricate carvings of three-headed elephants and Apsara dancers. The restoration work funded by Japan and Germany integrates well with the original stone, though it will need a few years of moss to disappear. The hour wait to get to the top of the main temple was too long for all but the most avid temple enthusiasts, but the view over the treetops did provide a certain tranquility. Writing 2 days later, Angkor Thom has already faded in my memory. It was built later than Wat, but without the volcanic foundations, so it has slipped further into ruin. Here I asked our guide about the colours used in the heyday, but unlike Mayan culture, the Angkor people left the stone in its natural state. The final ruin, whose name I will need to look up, was my favourite, and not just because a busty Lara Croft once ran through its corridors. Strangler Figs and other strong trees had taken up residence, perched on top of buildings and draping their roots down walls into the earth below. Cicadas let out a constant high pitched squeal, in contrast to the rhythmic tenor of their Australian cousins. The jungle gave this site a sense of age the previous two only hinted at. To finish the day, we returned to Angkor, where the late afternoon light turned walls and

Cambodia hass definitely been hotter than Vietnam, though that may be because we've been on open roads. Long dusty, bumby stretches leave us coated in red and dry of throat. As in Vietnam, people call out 'hello' as we ride by, chilren running to wave or touch the foreigner's hands. They spend their days in the shade under their stilted houses. I assumed that the stilts implied regular flooding, but Polo told me that's a secondary consideration. The primary reason for getting the houses off the ground is to get closer to the gods - the more affluent the family, the higher the house. Shade for family, motorbike and livestock is a happy bi-product. We stopped at a river where a local man fished with a net while his sons did somersaults into the water and dove off each others' shoulders. The fish he caught were tall and flat like an angel-fish and small enough to belong in a goldfish bowl, but they were clearly intended as food. He practised his English with us while he worked. For a country that lost all its educated people thirty years ago, they are doing well.

The road between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap is always under construction. Apparently the government uses it as a way to get funding from other countries, but most funds go into official's pockets. The materials used are poor, so by the time the road is finished, work must start again. This meant that we could only ride 40km today, which was a relief because their was little cover and the heat was oppressive. Instead, we visited a number of temples including a complex on a hill, which looked like it cost all the money collected for the road. Tall marble spires decorated with three-headed elephants and busty women housed 4000 Buddha statues. Hundreds of locals had turned out in their best clothes to donate food and money to the temple, presumably because it was harvesting time. Other temples on this path were in dire need of repair after being destroyed by the Khmer Rouge, and were presumably left that way as a reminder. My favourite temple, earlier in the day, was much quieter, with a large pond and a building stacked with carved wooden statues, A group of people sat on the steps to one side of the building, palms pressed together in prayer, while a monk threw buckets of water over them. I asked if I could join them and soon became the target for most of the water. On such a hot day, that was all the blessing I needed.