Thirteen years ago when Ash and I first visited the ancient city of Angkor, we scootered around all day long, trying to visit every last temple and ruin in this huge ancient city. This time, still on scooters, but with kids, we had to scale back our plans. We focused on four key temples which gave us a glimpse of the styles of temple built over the five or six centuries during which the Khmer Empire was at its peak. We began with Ta Prohm, the "jungle" temple, known for the huge trees which have overgrown the complex. Then, we climbed to the top of pyrmidal Ta Keo. From there, it was the two big ones: Bayon, the temple of faces and Angkor Wat, large and particularly well-preserved. Although we visited the most famous of all the temples, we managed to avoid the crowds for most of the day and didn't see tour groups until Bayon. As always, renting scooters turned out to be the best choice we made. Avoiding tours is 
always our number one goal. Every time we saw some visitors dragged around by a guide and herded into a mini-bus or tri-shaw, we were grateful for the freedom we had. We've heard for years that since we last visited, tourists are no longer allowed to take scooters into the ancient city. We were dreading having to hire a driver for the day and experiencing Angkor this way. After talking to our scooter rental agent, we found out that a few scooter rental companies bribe the local police in order to allow their scooters into the archaeological area. I guess this explains the rate we paid which is about three times the going rate in South East Asia and the surprised looks we got from all the foreigners in the ancient city who were stuck on tours and with drivers. All day long, we saw not a single foreigner on a scooter and we know that most of them would choose the same freedom and thrill that we had if they had known that it was possible! There is some risk associated with doing it on your own, too, of course. We could have gotten lost -- which is a real possibility in the Siem Reap and Angkor areas. There are few signs and lots of roads going in all directions. Also, there is the risk of scooter failure and this is a risk that, for the first time, came to pass for us. We've ridden scooters all over Asia and never had any problems. Today, however, probability caught up with us. As the sun set and darkness fell, we found ourselves far from anything on the outer ring road in Angkor. The inner circle is well traveled and busy but the outer circle is a different story. We were well on our way, about halfway around the long circuit when, when Ko and I stopped on our scooter to let Ash and Rai and Maryalice and Devon catch up. Maryalice and Devon arrived to let me know that Ash's scooter had broken down. We drove back together to find a scooter that didn't want to start and was stalling when it did manage to start. It was now dark and we planned for leaving the scooter parked way out here and returning on two scooters. The agency was holding my passport, however, and I was afraid that they wouldn't return it to me even with an explanation for where their scooter is parked. With this worry in mind, we worked on the scooter for the next 15 minutes and managed to get it going without stalling. From there, we drove the long, dark road back to town with little stopping as I was afraid that any stop meant a permanent stall. Back at the rental agency, we turned everything in only to receive complaint for the visor that had fallen off of one of the helmets. Like the junky scooters, the helmets were old and falling apart and it was no surprise that the visor had completely fallen off of one helmet. Still the agent insisted on charging us for this. At this point, I went on a little tirade about how junky the scooters are, how we had paid three times the standard price for their rental and that asking us to pay $5 to replace some missing bolts when the scooters we had been given almost stranded us 18km out of town in the dark was ridiculous. We held our ground and won this little battle eventually when Maryalice gave me some bolts that had fallen off of the helmet and I mounted the visor myself. Never did we receive a sorry or any sign of concern for our near dilemma and the agent didn't seem to take my request that the stalling scooter be put in for maintenance before it is rented again. Such is the difference between customer service here and back home. Just another one of the joys of travel!
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