Traffic Changes in PP

Never mind all this travel around the provinces stuff, what the hell has been going on in PP while I have been away !?!?

Yesterday lunch I headed up to a restaurant near P’sar Thmey as I have no food in the house – yet again.

Only to discover that streets 51 and 63 have now been made into one-way streets, complete with no entry signs and everything.

Of course I was heading in a now illegal direction – along with all the other traffic…

When we hit a police road block. They see 25 Khmers on 50cc Daelim’s and one fat barang on a Honda 400

No prizes for guessing who they stopped …

After much arguing back and forth about the lack of a sign post at the ENTRANCE to the street i.e. before you get on it to drive the wrong way they demanded US$10 !?

I just laughed at them, argued for a while longer and they dropped to US$5

It was at that point that I told them that I was a volunteer, that I had very little money because I was working here with no pay to help
[yes, yes, I know what it sounds like, but hey, I was desperate am skint until payday next week]

The officer looked sceptical about this, and asked if I was sure that I was a volunteer !??! So, I showed him one of my business cards.

‘oh, so sorry’ he said, ‘I saw the colour of your skin and thought that you were a rich man’

I bit my tongue, shook my head and said that I was sorry, but I was not rich.

‘okay’ he says. ‘but could you buy me a packet of cigarettes ?’

So I hand over a dollars worth of riel with a half smile and head on my way.

I guess you have to admire the man’s honesty

‘I saw the colour of your skin and thought that you were a rich man’