Transport in Cambodia – specifically Phnom Penh

Transport in Cambodia – specifically Phnom Penh

A few people have suggested that I cover transport here in slightly more detail, ever happy to please my gentle readers here is a summery of the various means of getting around Phnom Penh and off out to the outlaying towns.

Rules of the Road
There are none. He whom is biggest wins. It is fast, dangerous, wild, unpredictable, potentially life threatening but great fun – get used to it!

There are a few general principles that should be remembered when driving here, they may help, they may not, things like:

• If you are a Johnny-Foreigner and you have an accident, you are in the wrong, regardless. You will have to compensate whoever else was involved. If the police turn up, you will have to compensate them as well...
• Work on the principle; that you do not have the right of way
• Assume that everyone else on the road is a homicidal maniac with a death wish and that you are their target
• Assume that the idiot that has just cut you up is an off duty police officer/military police and that he is armed
• Do not make any sudden move!
• Avoid making eye contact with other drivers, they will assume that you are staring at them


The Various Modes of Transport

Walking
Yeah, right, good luck.
The temperature here ranges between 29C and 44C with the humidity level in the rainy season hitting a high of about 90%
Flash flooding in the rainy season can deliver a foot of water in 20 minutes.
Most pavements are either; nonexistent, broken, have open sewers, are covered in rubbish, converted to street stalls/barbers/roadside garages/bedrooms/toilets/et cetera.
Every 10 seconds a moto-dope driver will pull up alongside you saying ‘moto, moto, moto……’

Walking anywhere in this city is both a physical and mental test of endurance. The one exception to this is a stroll along the river, about 7 or 8 blocks worth of peaceful stroll – with the exception of the moto-dopes…

Motorbike Taxi (Moto-Dope)
Literally thousands of these roam the streets of Phnom Penh touting for business. They vary from fairly new bikes and drivers that speak English, to those bikes held together with string and blessings to Buddha. Regardless of where in that spectrum your ride falls, the driver will tell you he knows where your destination is and how to get there. There are four important things to remember when he says that.

He will be lying He will be lying He will be lying He will be lying

Your average moto driver does not know his way from one side of the street to the other, the majority of them are from the provinces, they come into town for a month or so at a time to earn some money and then head back out to the provinces until the cash runs out. They will have no idea where anything is. If you show them a map of the city, they will stare at it with great interest – but only because it seems to be important to you, their potential fare. To them it is just a pretty piece of paper with colours on it. The only sure fire way of getting to where you want to go is to read the map yourself, then as the driver is hurtling down the wrong side of the road, lighting a cigarette and answering his mobile phone all at the same time, just keep pointing left or right at every junction until you get to where you want to go. Having said all that, a trip from one side of city to the other will only cost you 2000 riel - US $0.50 - and it will be the quickest way to there.

Taxi
There are a few cars around PP that act as taxis. These can usually be found hanging around outside the larger hotels or outside the airport. Comparatively speaking, they are expensive. A minimum of US$5 for a journey, US$7 to or from the airport. They can be unreliable, and not turn up on time – or at all. If you find a good one, get his phone number!

Shared Taxi
Leaving from the various markets (P’sars) around Phnom Penh they just cruise around until they have a car full. That is to say, until they have the Khmer equivalent of a car full; four passengers in the back, two on the front passenger seat and one between the driver and his door. Us foreigners (Barang) often opt for paying for the entire front seat to ourselves – believe me, it is worth it! Once the car is [Khmer] full, it will then head off to whatever provincial town is the destination. It will head off at breakneck speed, dodging other traffic, children on bicycles, water buffalo, stray dogs, chickens, people, whatever. The driver will be desperate to get you all to your destination as quickly as possible so that he can get another run, or two, in that day. The best tactic to cope with this style of driving is to have 4 or 5 beers and a valium before you get in the car and then keep your eyes shut for as much of the journey as possible. Offer prayers to whomever your personal deity is and try to relax :-)

Cyclo
Imagine a large bicycle [almost penny-farthing style] with one wheel at the back and two at the front. In between the 2 front wheels is a large wicker basket/seat in which you sit. High above and behind you is a skinny, 6 stone, very fit, but sweaty, Khmer guy peddling like mad to get you to your destination. It is usually a much more sedate method of travel around the city – if you can shake off the neo-colonial feel of the journey. However, cyclo-drivers obey the same rules of the road as everyone else, they will turn into the oncoming stream of traffic, weave in and out of the on coming cars and slowly drift over to the right side of the road. All of which can be slightly disturbing for you sat right at the front, head on to the traffic…

Tuk-Tuk
The tuk-tuk is starting to make an appearance now in Cambodia – though only it seems in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Two and four seater versions are around, but they tend to be a lot dearer than the 10,000 moto-dopes that operate in this city, so it will be a while before they become as popular here as they are in Thailand. I find them to be handy for meeting people at the airport when they have luggage, you can not many suitcases on a moto and a car is expensive. The tuk-tuk does fill that nice middle ground.

Bus / Coach
Local bus services do not exist. Large air-conditioned buses are available however for long distance travel. The bus from Phnom Penh to Kompong Som (The beach) takes about 4 hours, and is an almost pleasant way to travel across country. Although the air-conditioning may or may not be on/working/set very low, plus they will probably be playing Khmer karaoke on the TV at full volume…

Your own motorbike
If you are an experienced biker, fool-hardy, have suicidal tendencies, or any combination thereof, you may take the option of buying your own transportation.

As I am going to be here for 26 months, I decided that this was the best option for me. Having looked around at the second-hand bike market for a month or so I came across, what I thought, was a bargain. I bought a Honda KL400cc for US$450. The 250cc trails bikes that seem to be the requisite ride for westerners out here starts at about US$ 1,200!

It is old, and a little rough around the edges, but the roads and traffic in this city [Country] are physically tough on bikes, not to mention cars, so the fact it was not pristine does not matter.

It is a big, heavy, ugly bike, which in this country means that it is unlikely to be targeted by the many many bike thief’s that live and work here!

I love it. The sense of freedom that you gain by having your own transport in a city that does not walk and has no bus service is well worth the cost.