Sore Bottom

4 September - I slept in (kind of) today to recover from the lack of sleep that i've been accumlating over the past few days. One thing about this guesthouse, despite it's unhelpful staff and crummy appearance, is that it has a remarkably comfortable bed with very nice pillows. I'm not a big fan of the big fan that spins over me while I sleep like a whirling angel of death and i'm just waiting for it to detach from the ceiling and slice me to pieces in my sleep but i've been sleeping very well here. Last night I bumped into Rebecca and Victoria, two very bonny Irish girls whom I met whilst diving in Nha Trang (they were doing their la de da advanced course) and we had a few well placed but overpriced (for Cambodia) drinks in the cordoned off area. We were also joined by a very interesting South Welshman spinning through Cambodia on a similar route to mine. As it was, I kind of needed to sleep in after although there was no need for ibuprofen afterwards.
After a very nice and very good value breakfast I managed to finally find a place that rented mountain bikes today - $5o deposit but only $2 for the day - it was not a great bike but much better than the local ones. I rode out to Banteay Srei, about 37k, and my hands and bottom were very sore after getting there - at the end though I found a very welcome Pepsi (so much for my diet coke experiment - because i'm constantly sweating I feel very intense sugar cravings and pepsi and coke is the best cure for that) - there was also a temple but it was quite small and not nearly as impressive as yesterdays. I delayed heading back for as long as I could and when I finally got back on the bike my bum was screaming at me to get off - finally got to the main body of temples on the grand tour and stopped off for a brief look at Pre Rup, an enormous set of ruins with an amazing view over the ara (mainly to rest my buttocks tho) where I met a few people from my travels.
Finally got back into town where I secured a roti and now I think i'm going to go look for the blind massage centre ... Tomorrow i ;m getting a moto again.