Today was a great biking day. I scheduled a 75-kilometer ride to Beng Mealea, another old Buddhist temple, with Grasshopper Adventures, the same company Mark & I rode with two days ago out to Angkor Wat. They run tours throughout Asia and based on these experiences I may be looking for them a lot over the coming months.
It turns out not many tourists want to schedule 75-kilometer rides, and I was the only one on the tour – just me and the guide, so we could go at whatever pace I wanted. We traveled on everything from paved roads to gravel roads to muddy paths, through rice fields and rural villages. Just beautiful. Meanwhile someone else was driving a tuk-tuk to the 25-kilometer spot, and then the 50-kilometer spot, with fresh fruit, cold water, and chilled cloths for wiping down. Then, after we’d ridden to the temple he strapped the bikes onto the tuk-tuk so after lunch we were driven back into town. I don’t experience that when biking on my own!
This was the longest ride I’ve done in years, though I observed from the start that a long ride for me used to be 75 miles, not 75 kilometers. Apparently the secret to growing old is to just convert to metric.
Tomorrow we’re taking a bus to Phnom Penh for a few days, before (probably) heading south to the Cambodian beaches. We had been planning to fly up to Hanoi, where my brother had a business meeting scheduled. But when the meeting got canceled, we dropped Vietnam and now will spend probably a full month in Cambodia before crossing overland into Laos for maybe another month. So far this Southeast Asia stuff is pretty good!
At any rate, here are some of my favorite new pictures.
Farm workers on our path out of Siem Reap
Black & White Bear always said that bamboo bridges were the best bridges. I didn’t realize how true that was until today I crossed this bamboo bridge.
I saw a lot of rice fields and rural houses today
Yup – our path through a rice field
A library at Beng Mealea. My guide tells me that Pol Pot blew up what was left of these 12th century ruins in search of gold. Apparently he didn’t find any.
More ruins
My guide in front of some awesome roots. I liked him – he was a good guide AND said he thought I was in my early 40s.
OK, we learned they did the drag show both Friday and Saturday nights. So we went back. I mean, who could refuse a class act like this?
Poor Black and White Bear. I suspect he’s not very happy he missed biking over bamboo bridges. But then I suppose he wouldn’t like Cambodia very much anyway.
But he’d have loved biking over bamboo bridges in our first stop in Cambobia — Battambang.
He’ll never forgive you!
Hi Jim and Mark. Just checking your blog for the first time in a while. What a wonderful adventure! The old French ruins you have been encountering are like some eerie commentary on the incredible folly of empire that has seemed to haunt this part of the world for so long.
Jim, I loved this comment.
“Apparently the secret to growing old is to just convert to metric.”
Ja, ja. Words to live by.
Some of your photos are amazing! That is great framing and a good eye, but I am also curious about what kind of camera you are using? (Asking because I’m looking at new cameras.)
I think you’ve got a book in the making with this blog!
All the best
Michael
Hi Mike,
Thanks for checking in! Always great to hear from you.
For years we had a big fancy DSLR camera. We would take it on trips but never feel like carrying it around. So we’d often end up with no pictures at all from a trip.
A few years ago I bought a cheap little Samsung camera at an airport. Because I could just keep it in my pocket we started taking far more pictures.
So the big camera got sold in our estate sale with most everything else, and we started this journey with the little Samsung. It did okay, but we often felt that we’d toerate a little more bulk for a better camera with better features. So we weren’t devastated when the Samsung died in Naples a couple months ago.
So we shopped and found a good middle ground. It’s a Canon PowerShot SX 260 HS. It’s probably 40% bigger than the Samsung. It still fits in your pocket, but with a little more bulge. But we’re pretty happy with the bigger screen, better features, and overall quality.
I sometimes feel a little pang of jealousy when I see someone working with their big solid DSLRs, but I just remind myself how often we used to just leave them in the hotel room. The truth is, whatever kind of camera I use, I think I get about the same range of results: Many pics turn out okay, some are just awful, and you get an occasional gem.
Thanks Mark.
Your camera story is familiar! For a year, I had a Panasonic DSLR with a big honkin’ zoom lens, an enormous memory card, spare battery, fancy carrying case, lens filters, etc. You obviously know the drill. After the initial flush of excitement from the newness of having the damned thing wore off, I rarely used it because it was just such a pain in the butt to carry around. That is why more photos are now shot on cel phones than any other kind of camera.
When I was in South America, I used a cheap little 7.2 megapixel pocket camera. It was convenient, but the image quality was not quite good enough. Now, there are a whole range of pocket cameras that do amazing things, including yours with the 20X zoom.
I have my eye on the Sony RX100, version 2, a beautiful 20 megapixel pocket camera that is best in class. It is also outrageously expensive! Digital Photography reviews gave your camera a 76 rating and the Sony a 79. That tells you how little difference there is among high end pocket cameras now.
The current crop of higher end pocket cameras are all good, so it comes down to having an eye for things. A lot of your photos are just terrific. I look forward to seeing many more.
Best,
Mike