Another year of traveling and exploring this amazing country comes to an end! 2023 was full of short day trips out of Siem Reap and several larger adventures, mostly towards the northeast, Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom provinces, with a loop around the Tonle Sap later in the year. Cambodia’s roads are getting better and better, and even access to some of the very remote temples is improving all the time, authorities deserve some applause for that.
This year was also about filling in gaps left after the 2022 tours (for last year’s review see Facebook), revisiting some sites that couldn’t be reached during 2022, getting some updated photos, seeking out traces of the post-Angkorian era, but most of all, just enjoying the wonder and adventure of exploring this amazing country.
Preah Vihear was the standout province this year, and after several trips, we finally ticked off visiting all the standing sites. That said, I cannot wait to go back there, packed with ancient wonders and a unique charm all of its own, endless uncharted adventure where every remote route requires being mapped out on the fly, it’s a very special place. The big temple highlights were Phnom Sandak (and the trail to get there), Choan Sram, Phnom Mrech (and the trail there and to Khvav), plus the temples along the ancient route from Beng Mealea to Preah Khan of Kampong Svay, especially Trapeang Chambak, and also touching on the ancient road north of Koh Ker. We were lucky enough this year to get some updated photos of Sambour Prei Kuk in near-perfect conditions and OK for Koh Ker but we’ll likely be back there again soon.
Setting the bikes up to carry the gear for camping along the trails was a rewarding experience too, the simple secret is keeping it light and well-fastened. Camping along the route makes exploring all the remote sites in Preah Vihear sooo much easier, we always check in with locals in the area first, asking around the villages on the way, where is the way, where is safe, where isn’t, etc.
The trail along the Mekong was a special one too, mostly for the post-Angkorian heritage sites and the pagodas of the 20th c, with a little more to go along that route too.
In April, I made a solo trip to Banteay Chmar and also to see the opening of a very special pagoda, Wat Kchas. Chanthim and I did another tour around Preah Vihear in July, followed by an 11 day trip in August around the Tonle Sap mainly covering pagodas, and then a short trip around some of the pagodas with pre-Angkorian and post-Angkorian remnants in Kampong Thom. They haven’t been added to the website yet, hopefully they’ll be added early in the new year.
I am not sure how many kilometers we did in total for the year, around 15,000 as both of our NCX Honda Waves have over 30,000 km on them now. They have well and truly proven themselves; lightweight and perfect along forest trails, cheap and easy to fix, easy to lift out of any trouble, and they never quit. Not so comfortable nor fast on long trips, but when you’re stopping every five minutes to visit pagodas, it really doesn’t matter so much. The only repairs needed were new chain and sprockets, costing $15, replaced twice, and new tires costing about the same. Punctures are common but easily fixed, on our last big trip we managed to break our record and score seven punctures!
The major multi-day adventures of 2023
- January – Tour T13: Phnom Sandak and Preah Vihear Part III
- January – Tour T15 – Eastern Siem Reap: Unique Pagodas and a few Remote Temples
- January – Tour T16: Preah Vihear Part IV + more Mekong
- February – Tour T17 Preah Vihear Part V + more Kampong Thom
- March – Tour T18 – The Wonders of Preah Vihear – part VI
- April – Tour T19 – Sisophon & Banteay Chhmar (Unpublished)
- July – Tour T20 – Preah Vihear Temple and Preah Vihear Province – part VII (Unpublished)
- August – Tour T21 – The Tonle Sap Loop (Unpublished)
It was also a year packed with study, hours, and hours, and hours were spent at CKS (Centre for Khmer Studies) at Wat Damnak and I greatly appreciate the well-curated collection of Cambodian history books and those related to Angkor (many are listed here), and also the staff, who are always welcoming and helpful.
Moreover, the resources and access to historical French publications via BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France) and the EFEO (Ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient) are also greatly appreciated, along with the numerous researchers who publish in the public domain (who are listed here).
What did I learn from all that study? I know this much for sure, the size of what I know relative to the scale of the ancient Khmer world seems to get smaller every day 🙂 🙂
We are also very thankful to the people who pointed us in the right direction and especially those who offered us places to stay when things didn’t quite go to plan 🙂
Where will we go in 2024? Who knows! How to fund another year? Who knows that too…