I must have woke up a little too late today because someone else already rented my favorite bike for the day and I was stuck with a single speed bike with a hard seat. I tried to make the best out of the day and bought some water and some bread. Yesterday I bought bread at the same bakery, but today the bread cost over 3 times the price I paid before. I think it was just because a different person was there and I was a foreigner, so they thought they could get away with a higher price (I think about twice what I’d pay in the USA too). Oh well, last time I go there. I put my bread and water in the front basket of the bike and headed for the ruins once again.
About half way there, I rode over a bumpy section along the road. I don’t have full suspension on this bike today, so everything was jumping around and my water and one of my three pieces of bread flew out onto the road. Great, I overpaid for this bread for this to happen. A little while later, I was riding down another bumpy road, but I held the bread’s bag in my hand. The other two pieces of bread slipped out of the bag onto the ground! I was getting pretty frustrated at this point and decided I’ll eat one of those pieces anyway. After tasting the bread, I discovered it wasn’t very good bread after all. I couldn’t finish it, and not because it was on the ground. My destination, by the way, was called the Gate of the Dead.
After looking at the 5th and final gate of Angkor Thom, I rode up so some peaceful ruins in the north end of Angkor Thom. Then I looked at Phimeanakas and Baphuon and a look at Bayon again. Fairly satisifed with Angkor Thom, I went back to Ta Prohm (I visited here two days ago). I had some fun exploring this temple again and I accidentally wandered into some areas off limits to the public. I came upon one dark room full of bats in the ceiling making some strange, scary sounds. I almost got lost wandering around the maze of hallways and rubble filled rooms, but good thing the place isn’t too big.
I was about done for the day and I bought some water from someone near Ta Prohm. I thought I bargained for a good price, but when I opened the bottle I didn’t feel or hear any “snap” from the two white plastic pieces of the bottle top. Something seemed wrong to me, but it was too late to prove it so I had to drink the water anyway. There was a clear plastic seal over the entire top though. But the bottle looked used and refilled to me, which means the water quality is unknown, but I hoped it was good enough for me.
On the way back, I was trying to make a left turn and I was having trouble. I saw a car behind me with the left turn signal on and decided to wait for the car to go and I’ll follow. But then the car went straight instead and I noticed a car filled with a bunch of laughing and pointing local people. That got me angry, but nothing I could do.
For dinner I had some vegetable noodle soup, vegetable curry, and soy milk. Later in the day, I noticed my favorite bike returned back to the guesthouse, but something was wrong: the rear tire was flat.