where cider meets condensed milk
Monday, August 27, 2007
Around Phnom Penh on a basket-bike
Yes, people do go to the gym in flip-flops. Haven't seen a towel yet. The only time it's cool enough to get a good workout here without passing out is at dawn, which is a bit of a drag, but better than... you know... passing out. August and September are the wettest times of year in SE Asia, and only a few degrees removed from the fiery heat of the springtime. When storms come through, the power of the rain is amazing.
My biggest accomplishment so far in Phnom Penh is learning to bike around the city without dying. I do not go out or do much of anything alone because I'm a big chicken with notoriously bad sense of direction, but I am a very good Professional Tagalong. To the gym at rush hour? To Olympic Stadium on a crowded boulevard with irrelevant stop-signals? To the post office, going round and round on the 5-lane roundabout? Lead the way. I shall follow. Most people ride motorcycles, with 1 to 5 passengers and 1 to 5 additional pieces of cargo. After that comes tuk tuks and bicycles. Least common are cars or trucks. If you drive a car, the point is to advertise the what it is, such as LEXUS in huge silver letters. Or, once, I saw a LEXIS. Unfortunate spelling ruined the illusion of genuine brand-name quality.
Crashes are rare, but you have to understand the hierarchy. Bikes can go faster than cars but need to get the hell out of the way. Motorcycles don't need to really obey lights, but tuktuks and cars do. Men driving cyclos (bicycle rickshaws) plod along at any speed they choose, as do people walking carts of food and drinks along the roads. Everyone avoids the elephant. If you are a man between the ages of 16 and 75 and you see a foreign girl walking, you should honk, yell "Moto? Moto?" or "Hello!", and/or stare at her as if she's not wearing a shirt. Seriously. Creepy.

Tim, what are you doing?? I said to pretend to push Shannon down the stadium stairs! On second thought, maybe it's not just the Khmer men that can be creepy.
posted by Raychaa @ 10:48 PM  
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Name: Raychaa
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About Me: “No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this - 'devoted and obedient'. This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman.” (Florence Nightingale)
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