Breakfast by the river again (pancakes and fruit). We needed to wake up Long and the driver who had slept in. We hit the road back to Phnom Penh. The drive began with very green lush scenery, rice fields, Brahmin cattle and people tending the fields. We passed some little villages and townships on the way.
One of the things that catches your eye is the amount of garbage, absolutely everywhere
. Bags and bottles, plastic and rubble. Anything that is thrown out is, well, just thrown out. Out the door. On the ground. Even where they live - in the waterways, in the street. We saw kids and adults just drop or throw stuff as they went about their day, without a second thought. There is some rubbish collection in the city (pretty irregularly I'd say), but not in country areas. When an animal is slaughtered, every bit of it is used, with plants, everything is used - the skin, the flesh, the seeds, the husk, the silk...absolutely everything. Plastic and packaging just gets chucked. Plastic bottles and cans get recycled but that's about it. Long days it is good for locals to see tourists using bins (where available - and they are few and far between) and not throwing rubbish on the ground.
The most popular form of transport is the motorbike. Helmets have just become compulsory this year. In the city probably 70+% wear them but this is much less in the country areas where helmets are the exception rather than the rule
.
There are lots of other vehicles on the road as well - large numbers of motorbikes modified into carts with various additions for transporting every item known to man, along with bicycles and cars, trucks and buses.
The traffic in Phnom Penh is mind blowing. It took us hours to get through the traffic. After 4 1/2 hours some of us needed a loo stop and the traffic was going that slowly that we got off our bus and went to pee in a petrol station but it didn't have any toilets. We got directed to a car dealership up the road which we went to on foot. Lovely staff, very accommodating and beautiful toilets. Thank you Hyundai! Then we exited and got back onto the bus which had slowly made its way toward us.
It was fascinating watching how the locals negotiated the traffic. Motorbikes would zigzag across and through three or four lanes of traffic, going around trucks and carts like a bizarre maze. The motorbikes were loaded up with one, two or three people, sometimes parents with a couple of kids. Even cars and vans would zigzag amongst the traffic
. At times it was necessary for people to get out of vehicles and direct the chaos. What was three lanes became five lanes, plus the footpath being used as an extra lane. Driving here is not for the faint hearted. A drive that was meant to take 3 to 3 1/2 hours took over 4 1/2 hours. It was at such a standstill that Long actually got off and bought us all steamed pork buns so that we wouldn't fade away! They were very good too! There had been 1.7 million people in the city earlier for the funeral procession of Kem Ley, the commentator and activist who was murdered in a coffee shop a couple of weeks ago. You can read more about Kem Ley here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kem_Ley?wprov=sfsi1
This added to the traffic chaos.
Eventually we made our way back to the Cardamom Hotel. After half an hour to sort ourselves out we went for a walk to the central market and tried some local snacks. We had crispy prawn crackers, battered banana and some crickets. We also tried sticky rice waffles and pork and chive dumplings
. That filled us up and made us extra heavy for the cyclo tour. The cyclo drivers are usually poor, from rural areas and they come to the city to try and earn money to send to their families. They don't earn enough to rent a room so they generally sleep on the side of the road. A benefactor has come forth and formed a corporation (Cyclo Corporation and Careers Association) that offers them somewhere in the city to use toilet and washing facilities and somewhere to sleep.
We then went to the night market. The central area was covered by tarps and there were bamboo mats on the ground. We selected some foods from the surrounding stalls then sat on the mats to eat our meals. We had fresh spring roll, fried prawn that was coated in some minced fish and then crumbed. Some sort of fried dumpling and I also had a chicken foot. (I have to say I liked the chicken feet I had in Hong Kong a whole lot more). We also had green papaya salad. It was very fishy - too much fish paste or dried shrimp. Mike says my version is much better...thanks Darl. xx
The Dance of the Traffic
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Takeo, Takeo Province, Cambodia
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2025-02-15