Cycling in the Countryside

Our second day in Siem Reap was to be a great one and would start off with a bike through the countryside.  

We started off from our hotel. The local bike tour company brought the bikes right to the front, already adjusted for each of us and we set off through the city at first, headed out of town.

After about 10 minutes, the pavement became interspersed with dirt roads and soon we were riding beside huge rice fields on the dramatic red dirt paths. 

We stopped in the middle of a big rice farm to get a closer look at the plants and ask our guide all kinds of questions which he was more than happy to answer.

We kept on going and stopped at one of several duck farms to inhale the "fresh" duck air and check out the meandering merchandise. Apparently ducks here are primarily used for eggs while chickens, which are much smaller than back home, are mainly destined to be meaten.

Our last farm stop before heading back to a more populated "suburb" village was an oyster mushroom farm. It was actually quite eye opening to see the process of preparing the mix of lime and soil in bags before steaming it, exposing it to spores, and adding them to extensive racks to start them growing.

It was so satisfying to see the odd huge fully grown and delicious looking mushroom among the many rows of new bags placed out.

We stopped at a local market next, ditched our bikes and wandered through. It had stalls with everything from fruits and local veggies to freshly butchered meat and fish, snacks and even variety store kind of stall with a bit of everything.

Ava and Yen were dying for some conditioner as it seems not to be a thing in South East Asia, and after some digging, managed to find some there. We picked out some snacks that each turned out to surpass expectations: dried banana chips with kefir lime leaves, mixed beet and sweet potato chips, and fresh roasted cashews.

We stopped briefly at a nearby pagoda before riding to a lotus farm for a pee break and some water. The lotus fields were beautiful and it was a nice place to chill before riding back into the city to our guest house.  

We went out to grab some lunch nearby, which was delicious, before a chill afternoon of swimming before our evening activities.