Transportation and Traffic

The traffic was horrendous in all of the cities. In Bangkok it was cars and in the cities in Vietnam and Cambodia it was motor bikes and bicycles. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to traffic patterns. They drove on both side of the street. Although traffic lights were obeyed, they were few and far between. Stop signs were just for decoration and when you came to an intersection everyone just kept going, zooming around each other and beeping horns. Crossing the street was quite an adventure. We were told not to stop once we started crossing. The cyclists knew to weave around you, but if you stopped it just screwed everyone up. There are over 10,000 traffic fatalities each year.

Women still carry loads on balanced pole on this very quiet street..

This was a large four-seater tuk-tuk which you could rent by the hour for $10. It took us all around Phnom Pen, stopping where we wanted and waiting for us to return. It was quite comfy and a good way to see the area. It was pulled by a motor scooter. There were also two seater tuk-tuks.

We were surprised to see Halloween decorations for sale.

There were many vendors with all of their wares piled onto the backs of bicycles This woman had cleaning supplies.

Notice the man in the distance with his heavy load of blankets.

On a farm we had visited was this man riding a bicycle with a load of something he had picked.

Even monks got along on motor bikes. Note people  talking on their phones and texting.

This is a picture of a picture in one of the museums. His heavy load is certainly impressive.

We often saw families on one bike, sometimes two children with their parents. I tried unsuccessfully to get a good shot of the young women who were usually covered from head to toe in clothing....socks, long pants, long sleeved tops with hoods, gloves, masks that covered most of their face and helmets. This was in stifling heat, but they wanted to protect their skin from the sun. Being tan is not a good thing; they wanted to be as white as possible. Sometimes the masks were just surgical masks, but often they were fancy masks made of floral prints or faux Burberry plaid. In the cities they often had on high heel shoes. This picture was taken in the country, thus the flip-flop sandals.

I never did get a good picture of the mayhem in Saigon, but this t-shrt is a perfect rendition. Also visible were the tangles of electrical wires overhead.

These elephants were outside a temple that we visited. There wasn't time to take a ride then but a few people went back on their own later in the day for a ride. Not me.

Claire and I out for a brief ride in these bicycle driven rickshaws. We were glad it was brief because they were very uncomfortable. The hats we are wearing are Cambodian and were given as gifts in our rooms. We were told not to wear the Vietnamese conical hats we were given previously because the Cambodians don't like the Vietnamese. Who knew?

Anyway we left both hats behind, no way to pack them and I don't wear hats. They usually just make me hotter. Some people, however did save them and were wearing them in the airport for the ride home. Quite a sight to behold.

Please come back, lots more to show. A different theme the next time. Be sure to click for bigger views.