So far my favorite thing about Siem Reap (pronounced pretty much the way it's spelled, if you give every two letters their own syllable) is the bike I rented for three dollars. Not three dollars per day; three dollars total, or one dollar per day, or the price of two bottles of water and a can of beer, per day, for those of you keeping score.
To ride a bike in Siem Reap you have to be that pug who thinks he's a Doberman. You need a supreme degree of confidence that allows you to be all, "Yeah what, I'm in the traffic circle. I have the right of way, too. I AM A VEHICLE." But take care to temper your confidence with the other thing you need a supreme amount of: alertness. It's hard to be vigilant when you're tooling around admiring how awesome you are, and that's the moment you're going to get hit by a tree branch/Toyota Tacoma/huge puddle/three-person family on a motorcycle/pedicab/coconut.
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