Getting Around

Motos, scooters, or mopeds overrun the roads.

City life means figuring out how to get around, and there are many options for getting around Phnom Penh. Most of the forms of transportation involve motorcycles in one way or another. It's the creativity with the motorcycles that truly makes getting around Phnom Penh an interesting endeavor. First, there are the motos, or scooters, that are the standard form of transportation in and outside of the cities. Have a family with 4 kids who all need to go to school? No problem! Everyone on the scooter for a quick trip to school. But if you don't want to take your kids to school yourself in the morning, there are a plethora of vans that act as school buses for the plethora of private and English schools throughout the city.

You can also get a moto ride just as you would a taxi from any of the moto drivers prowling the streets. If you need to go somewhere with your friends, there are also tuk tuks, which are similar to rickshaws. They have a moto attached to a more elaborate cart with a comfortable seat and roof. They're another taxi equivalent, but they're more closed to the elements than a moto something you'll want to consider if you see plean threatening in the sky. Want to go more old-fashioned? Take a pedi-taxi, which looks like a big chair attached to the front of a bike. Personally, I've never taken one, so I can't recommend or warn you against them, but I do see some people taking them closer to the city center for shorter distances. There are also truck taxis that take people to and from the provinces to Phnom Penh, which are trucks with benches in the back. Lastly, there are the all-too-familiar mode of transportation in the US: cars. Having a car usually means your family is pretty wealthy, which is why there are so many motos and scooters on the roads.

Tuk Tuks getting friends from one place to another.

Isn't there some form of public transportation in the cities? The short answer is no, but there has been much talk in the past decade of installing some form of train or bus system at least in the capital. For with all of the motos and tuk tuks on the road, it can get very crowded in the morning and evening rush hours, not to mention the crazy traffic patterns. However, given the length of the talk and the general inaction, I doubt anyone is planning on seeing its construction anytime soon.

A group of vehicles beginning to turn left.

Traffic in Cambodia follows one rule: go with the flow. Quite literally, the roads are like an ocean. You have the minnows which are the pedestrians and people riding bicycles, the motos are your standard-sized fish, the tuk tuks and carts are the bigger fish, and the cars, vans, and other trucks are the whales of varying sizes. All of these submarine participants in the flow of traffic make for a ride anywhere that is simultaneously frightening and awe-inspiring.

The group made it successfully across with a few more following suit.

Why is it frightening? While there have been an increased number of traffic lights installed and enforced in the major cities, other traffic laws common in the US, such as not crossing over double lines, one way streets, and stop signs, are generally considered optional or nonexistent in Cambodian traffic patterns.  This means that when you want to go somewhere, you just do it. This is how the roads begin to resemble an ocean traffic pattern. If you want to merge into traffic, you simply begin inching out till you become one with the rest of the flow. This laissez-faire style of traffic is the main reason I plan on sticking to being transported as opposed to transporting myself in Cambodia.