Phnom Penh: Cycling Madness

Cambodians seem to love bicycles. The moment I started unpacking and assembling it next to the airport entrance, I had an audience of 7 gathered around me, seemingly suffering with me as I sweated and moaned from the effort, smiling and noding to each other whenever a tire was inflated or a rack screwed. Then I was off to the city and its absurdly chaotic traffic, with tuk-tuks and mopeds all over the place driving too often against the current, everybody horning in the junctions thus declaring his right of way-except there is always too many doing it, in the end its a typical city where if you want to cycle you have to decide early on whether you'll be on-guard constantly, manuever and survive, or enjoy the scenery and probably die a horrible death. Funnily enough, the traffic lights have a countdown, and while it progresses the little green guy starts going faster and faster until in the final 10 seconds he's running his ass off.

Don't get me wrong, after spending a day cycling around the city I believe it's an experience worth having, and after you get used to it, it becomes really enjoyable. The only real hassle is the amount of dust and smoke in the air, so like most of my fellow Cambodian cyclists, tomorrow I'm getting a mask...