I wasn’t sure I’d ever see crazier traffic than what we saw in Bangkok. And then we arrived in Cambodia. While Bangkok surely is much bigger, it now occurred to me that it was an organized chaos as drivers for the most part seemed to obey traffic signals. Cambodia, on the other hand, seems devoid of any traffic signals, stop signs, anything. So you come to a 4-way intersection and everyone goes at once from any direction. I’m not just talking cars here… This also includes tour buses, tuk tuks, scooters and people-pushed street vendor carts. Further complicating things, is the lanes of traffic but from what we can tell, they are adhered to by only about 75% of drivers. The other 25% (primarily scooter drivers but there’s an occasional car) drive towards you, in the opposite direction of traffic flow, making things real exciting. But somehow it all works. We saw no accidents. We never felt unsafe as our tuk tuk drivers, Saru in Siem Reap and Mr Vann in Phnom Penh, were solid drivers. People use the hell out of their horns and it seems there’s an unspoken rule that size rules in descending order so buses dictate and scooters adjust. We agreed this would never work in America, recalling the confusion that ensues after a storm knocks out power at a big intersection and all the Trump-voting morons struggle to coordinate an efficient timed response in which all cars on opposite sides go at once. We tried to capture this awesome and utter chaos on video but largely failed as we were too caught up in the experience. There’s a couple video links below that don’t come close to doing it justice.
https://youtu.be/jnBddBv0Kjc
https://youtu.be/8ItKNznswo4
Tag: Siem Reap
Boating, Cambodia style
In an attempt to mix up modes of travel, we decided to take a boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. The boat left at 7:30 and the operator sent a jumbo tuk tuk driver to pick us up at 6:30. After a variety of mishaps including his inability to find other guests (never did) and culminating in a flat tire, we found ourselves stuck at the side of a SR road at 7:30. Another tuk tuk driver swooped in to take us the rest of the journey to the boat, all the while, Amy and I were wondering why a “large boat w 3 levels including a sunbathing open air level on top” would bother to wait for us. We didn’t arrive at the pier until 8am, fully expecting to have missed the boat & already mentally planning to head to the airport (airports in SE Asia, as an aside, have been far more efficient that US airports). We were met by the boat captain who told us to “hurry up” (as if any of the last 1.5 hours was our fault), and quickly ushered us onto definitely-not-a-large boat as our backpacks were taken & thrown on top. It was a small wooden boat with only one level. Maybe sat 30 people in real uncomfortable wooden seats. I then recalled we were told that bc it was dry season, a small boat would first be taking us to our large boat as the large boat can’t make it to the pier given water levels. So that put us at ease, figuring we’d only have 30 minutes on this uncomfortable beast until we met, what now in my mind was a luxurious liner, in Tonle Sap Lake. 4 hours and several engine outages later, we had made it entirely through the largest part of the massive lake only to meet our “large boat” in a relatively narrow portion of the lake. Obviously the photos of the lovely large boat presented in their marketing materials in no way reflects the actual large boat that we were now boarding. There was a bit more room but it wasn’t as advertised. All we could do was laugh. Especially when we had to spend another 4 hours on the large boat before finally reaching Phnom Penh (the trip was a bit longer than initially communicated). In hindsight, we agreed we’d do it again bc the glimpse into local Cambodian life of those that live on the water was very special. The only thing we’d do differently was perhaps bring food & more water. But then again, the bathroom situation on both boats was less than ideal so maybe it was for the best.
As we had seen more than enough of the river, we spent the evening walking around the city center and taking in the royal palace, the continued Cambodian obsession w bright neon lights as decoration, street food stalls, a few cocktails and a lazy night. We did find something interesting on a menu in one of the restos…
Siem Reap, more than just temples
People come to Siem Reap, Cambodia to visit the Angkor temples, 8th wonder of world which is only 5 km away, but that’s not all. Siem Reap city center is quite touristy, featuring a blatantly labeled “Pub Street”, which is exactly what you think it is. Amy accurately described it as “the Bourbon Street of SE Asia” as it’s terribly touristy but it is fantastic for people watching. Apparently temple-goers, after a long hot day in the 93 degree sun trekking around old massive archeological holy sites, feel the need to satisfy their inner cravings, whether it be by downing a few local beers & some street food, as I did, or by wrangling up a young Cambodian prostitute, as we witnessed at least 4 old white men do on Pub Street. I did mention it was great for people watching.
There’s also pretty great food. And the locals are real nice. You come to Siem Reap for Angkor, which is a can’t miss. But I think I can cross it off my return list.
Street life (kids just off from school)
amusemusings 