Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.  I left on a bus from Bangkok at 7:30am and arrived in Phnom Penh at 11:30pm.  The roads here aren't exactly paved all the way so it was quite a bumpy ride accompanied by Khmer karaoke music videos and terribly dubbed action movies.  Crossing the border from Thailand to Cambodia at Poipet also proved to be a two hour ordeal unto itself.  I get to my guesthouse and the owner can see that I've had a long day and takes me out for a drink, we talk and he introduces me to some people, both locals and foreigners living here.

The next day one of the locals I met, Khouch (pronounced koo-wit), takes me around the city on the back of his motorbike so I can get some flying around the city footage.  Khouch owns a food stand so our first stop was a local market where he buys all his ingredients.  Side note: I had him teach me how to make the most amazing mango shakes I have ever had.  The first place we go in the market is a stand where they sell iced coffee.  The small yellow glass is a free glass of tea that seems to always accompany meals and in the middle are fresh mangoes in a bag.

After iced coffee I explored the market, camera in hand...

 

Above is Khouch.  I told him to smile but he wouldn't, he preferred the cool straight-faced look.

I don't know if I am able to convey through pictures the experience of walking through this market.  Each turn brought something completely different and completely new.  For example, above is a hair salon but with only two walls, on either side was stands selling anything from food to household cleaning supplies.

After the market we rode around the city and Khouch showed me all of the major sights.  A major added bonus for me was that we happened to be riding around during magic hour, so very nice.

One of the more reasonable motorbike arrangements I've seen.

Modified moto-stroller on the left.  On the right is what's called a Tuk-Tuk (pronounced took took).  They are the standard form of transportation here in Cambodia and in Thailand.  The ones here are just motorbikes attached to carriages that they pull but in Thailand they were actual solid units.

The rules of the road in Cambodia: nope.  There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the flow of traffic here, it is absolute madness.  I'll find myself watching and just laughing.  Back home if I want to make a left turn at a green light there is a certain understood window of time that I look for, a gap between cars that will provide enough time for me to complete my turn.  Here the window of time is maybe a few feet of space in front of the motorbike coming directly at you.  They drive on the same side of the road as in America though, which actually makes things very confusing coming from Malaysia and Thailand where this is not the case.

A Hummer?!  Get out of here, you're too big for these streets.