Traffic

Phnom Penh is a wonderful city to bike in, once you've acquired the courage to do so. I equate it to playing Frogger, except you're actually IN the computer. At first glance, the constant streams of traffic are overwhelming, one wonders how the carstrucksSUVsbikesmotorbikesbusescyclospedestriansandvendorcarts all manage to merge together without accident. While the biggest of intersections have traffic lights, the majority do not. There seems to be a universally understood rule, which so internally diametric, it boggles the mind with impossibility. The Rule is: Everybody goes, Everybody yields. All the time. At one intersection, I simply observed for several minutes as all the vehicles coalesced into a single mass of motion.

When at an intersection and turning left (they drive on the right here), one turns into the LEFT lane, directly into oncoming traffic, and proceeds to weave between the approaching and passing carstrucksSUVsbikesmotorbikesbusescyclospedestriansandvendorcarts until you have the opportunity to drift right into the proper lane of traffic. Preposterous that this is standard practice, but nonetheless its how its done. Once in the right lane, the first instinct is to relax a bit, but this is a mistake, for you now have to watch out for all the vehicles coming from the side streets and now turning left into YOUR lane. YIKES! You must constantly be alert and look out for the next cartruckSUVbikemotorbikebuscyclopedestrianorvendorcart or you will most certainly get knocked off.

There is an order to the chaos however, and the system works smoothly. Luckily, very few people drive fast, and everybody follows The Rule.