Why this ride
383 km from Kuleaen to Kuleaen, about 7 h 46 of riding. The stops in between: Banteay Srei, Angkor, Roluos and back through Roluos. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li and Angkor
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 383 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 46
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li
For a few short decades in the tenth century, the capital of the Khmer empire was not at Angkor but here, deep in the forest of northern Cambodia. King Jayavarman IV established his court at Koh Ker, then called Lingapura, and in less than twenty years his builders raised dozens of temples across a wide area, before the capital returned to Angkor. The jungle took the city back. Today Koh Ker is a scatter of brick and sandstone sanctuaries among the trees, and in 2023 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Read the complete Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li is where the day begins. Next is Banteay Srei.
2. Banteay Srei
Most people come to Angkor for the giants, Angkor Wat and the Bayon, but the temple that many remember best is small, pink and astonishingly intricate. Banteay Srei, the "citadel of the women", stands about twenty-five kilometres northeast of the main Angkor group, and it was consecrated in 967, earlier than the great royal temples. It was built not by a king but by a high-ranking courtier, the Brahmin Yajnavaraha, and dedicated to Shiva. Its reddish sandstone is fine-grained and easy to carve, and the result is decoration so delicate it looks almost like woodwork: lintels with scenes from Hindu epics, female guardian deities in niches, and foliage spiralling across every surface.
Read the complete Banteay Srei write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Banteay Srei comes up about 108 km into the recorded legs. Next is Angkor.
3. Angkor
Angkor is the great stone capital of the Khmer empire, spread across more than four hundred square kilometres of forest and rice field a few kilometres north of Siem Reap. The empire ruled much of mainland Southeast Asia between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries, and its kings built huge temples as symbols of the cosmos. Angkor Wat, built in the twelfth century by Suryavarman II and dedicated to Vishnu, is the largest religious monument in the world, with five towers rising like lotus buds above a vast moat. Its long walls carry carved reliefs of battles and myths, and it was later converted into a Buddhist temple that is still in use.
Read the complete Angkor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 139 km into the recorded legs you reach Angkor. Next is Roluos.
4. Roluos
Roluos is where the story of Angkor begins. About thirteen kilometres south-east of Siem Reap, along the road toward Phnom Penh, a cluster of brick and sandstone temples marks Hariharalaya, the capital of the Khmer kings in the late ninth century. Before the great monuments of Angkor Wat and the Bayon were built, the rulers lived and built here, and the three main temples show the first mature forms of Khmer architecture. Preah Ko was dedicated in 879 by Indravarman I, and Bakong, a few years later, was the first great temple mountain, a stepped pyramid with elephants in stone at the corners, representing Mount Meru, the home of the gods.
Read the complete Roluos write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Roluos, about halfway.
5. Angkor
Angkor is bigger than most visitors expect, and its scale only starts to make sense once you realise that it was a city, not a temple. The great complex north of Siem Reap, in north-western Cambodia, was the capital of the Khmer Empire from the ninth century to the fifteenth, and at its height it covered hundreds of square kilometres, with reservoirs, canals, roads and houses of wood that have long since vanished. What survives is the stone: Angkor Wat, built in the early twelfth century by King Suryavarman II as a temple to Vishnu, with its five towers, long galleries of carved relief and a moat that mirrors the sunrise, and Angkor Thom, the walled city built by Jayavarman VII, with the Bayon and its dozens of towers carved with huge, smiling faces.
Read the complete Angkor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Angkor sits at 163 km, about halfway. Next is back through Roluos.
6. back through Roluos
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roluos write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Roluos comes up about 217 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Angkor.
7. back through Angkor
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Angkor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 243 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Angkor. Next is back through Banteay Srei.
8. back through Banteay Srei
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Banteay Srei write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Banteay Srei, late in the day. Next is Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li.
9. Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 383 km.
Leg by leg
Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li to Banteay Srei
Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li → Banteay Srei is 108 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Banteay Srei to Angkor
Banteay Srei → Angkor is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Angkor to Roluos
Angkor → Roluos is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roluos to Angkor
Roluos → Angkor is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Angkor to back through Roluos
Angkor → back through Roluos is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Roluos to back through Angkor
back through Roluos → back through Angkor is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Angkor to back through Banteay Srei
back through Angkor → back through Banteay Srei is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Banteay Srei to Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li
back through Banteay Srei → Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Li is 108 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.