Ticket to Ride

I just got out of a taxi. But unlike a taxi in San Francisco, where you pay the driver some probably really expensive fair plus tip, and then slide out the door, I had to wake up the man in front of me, say over and over again, “I stop here” because that is the only Khmer phrase I know that could convey I needed him to move, and clamber out the door. A Cambodian taxi is what I ride to get back from Siem Reap town to my village. Luckily I am along the main highway so tracking down a taxi isn’t usually difficult. We just hail a tuk tuk and tell them we are going to the taxi stand to catch a taxi to our districts, negotiate the price, and the tuk tuk driver takes us to the edge of town. There is almost always a broke-down old pick-up truck waiting there, half full of people. Today I sat in the back seat of the cab, with three other women and a small child while two other passengers sat in the front seat next to the driver. The driver somehow got us back to my site safely, despite the feet dangling over the windshield right in his field of vision because the area on top of the cab had five or so men sitting on it along with several bags. The bed of the pick-up was full too of course. Last time I counted 22 people in the bed of the taxi when we were at capacity.
The upside of this form of travel is that it costs only 5000 riehl (1.25 USD) to get home. Buses run all morning from Siem Reap down the main highway to Phnom Penh and many other cities, all passing through my village. To take a nice air conditioned bus, however, would mean paying the fare for the whole ride (more or less $5 from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh) which is pretty expensive for a 30 kilometer trip. On the way into town, however, I can easily hail a bus since ones with empty seats stop frequently at the edge of my market in town. I just hop on and it is smooth sailing into town! There is, of course, a downside to this form of transportation which is the unpredictability of the price. The first time I rode into town this way they didn’t charge me at all, whereas the second time it cost me $2, which is much more than the 3000 riehl it costs to take a taxi. I am not sure why it is cheaper to get into Siem Reap than out of it in a taxi, but then again I understand as close to nothing as possible about Cambodian logic. I do really enjoy having such easy access to Siem Reap town, as I have heard horror stories about other people’s journeys to and from their sites. Plus I am willing to pay a little extra if it means not waiting for hours in the cab of a hot truck with 7 other people sweating and breathing and using up the much valued oxygen all around me.
Another interesting form of transportation I’ve used in Cambodia is the bamboo train. I guess it runs all over the country, but I took it in Pursat province out to a smaller village. We rode the train during health training when we went to visit this village because it was rainy season and the road had washed away. The train consisted of a bamboo platform atop two sets of wheels on the track with a motor. It was pretty exciting for about ten minutes until my butt fell asleep. However, it was cool to cruise right by water buffalo and watch my feet dangle over the tracks as we crossed bridges spanning the little rivers that we came to. It was really exciting when we had to stop because a huge train was coming in the other direction. We had to stop and jump off, then the men took apart the train so that the tracks would be clear for the big train to roll through. Normally I would want to help disassemble the train for the sake of feminism and prove I can carry as much bamboo train as any man… or at least any relatively small man who works out infrequently, but in this case I was fine standing safely away from the tracks watching. At one of these stops I wandered off into the forest because I needed to pee, until I remembered what a bad idea that is because of land mines that are still unexploded all over Cambodia. I decided to squat where I was and follow my exact footsteps back to the group. The bamboo train took about an hour and a half in one direction, and only 45 minutes on the return because our only stop was to slow down enough to push another car that had run out of whatever powers these “trains” versus the three near death experiences on the way to the village.
Most people do their moving on motos. Unfortunately Peace Corps volunteers worldwide are not allowed to operate motorized vehicles, nor are we allowed to ride on motorbikes. I did not really know about this rule when I signed up for Peace Corps since I read very old material that was written when some volunteers were still issued dirt bikes or motorcycles to get around. Obviously my dreams were crushed when I heard about it, but I am glad it exits. Despite the prevalence of motorbikes, which makes them the most convenient, easiest and often cheapest mode of transport, traffic accidents are the number one cause of death in Cambodia, many of these involving motos. I am very happy to say no to the moto if it means I get to go home to America in one piece.
In any case, transportation says a lot about a place so hopefully I’ve conveyed a little piece of Cambodia to you!