~is it you

fresh off the boat~

I got into a huge argument (almost physical ~ but I was pretty 

sure I could take him) with a Tuk-Tuk driver over the fare.  He
wanted an outrageous amount of money ($8) for a round-trip
ride because I was a foreigner he felt like I didn't know better.
I gave him what I knew it should have been
($5 ~ and I literally did not have anymore money on me). 

Are you my mother Tuk-Tuk Driver?

He wouldn't take my money so finally after 3 minutes of going
back and forth I put the money behind him on the Tuk-Tuk ledge
and walked off.  He ran after me and grabbed my arm (I had 
just reached our security gate), I turned around and swatted his
hand off me and then the yelling began.  He put his finger a
centimeter away from my face and said (yelled) some choice words
(I am assuming) and he really did look a little evil and crazed
(Billy thinks he probably had been drinking). I asked him (yelled),
"Do you want to fight, do you want to fight me?".  He kept yelling
and pointing but also glancing behind me over my shoulder
(but I didn't dare turn around to see what he was looking at).  

Too Young?

Not the right color Tuk-Tuk

Finally, I backed away from
him (on the other side of the gate, which he could not come
into) and turned around. There,
behind me, was a Scandinavian
man and woman (both 6ft tall)
and I quickly walked over to
them.  It was them who he was
glancing at and they were my
little (tall) guardian angels!!  I
talked with them for a moment
and they commiserated with
me. I then went upstairs (still
shaking just a bit) to the 
haven of my home. 

Tuk-Tuk Gang

When Billy came home I told the story to him and he told me I 
had to be more careful as the guy could have pulled a knife on me -
oops, hadn't thought of that. So I stayed in our apartment for the
next 2 days so the evil Tuk-Tuk driver (and his gang) would give
up stalking me (just kidding, it isn't that dangerous). 

I Made His Day

Then on Sunday I put on my "bug" glasses and my helmet and got on my 

scooter and eased out - I had a fiver in my pocket and had decided to find 

Mr Tuk-Tuk and give it to him because I really don't want to be the one that 

causes someone else to have an angry heart (even if I didn't think I was wrong). 

Hindsight, I wish I could have told him to wait until Bill got home and paid him 

at least $1 more (or maybe more) but the communication barrier works against 

me and my brain wasn't quit there either.  Anyhoooo, I saw someone who 

looked like him and went over and touched my heart with my hand, said I was 

sorry and gave him $5 (I didn't have any ones and didn't think I could ask for 

change!).  Well, I am pretty sure this guy was NOT the same Tuk-Tuk driver 

(but I certainly made that guys day and he  could now take the rest of the day off).  

Wrong Country

Now I just always carry $3 in my pocket in case I see him
(or someone else that looks like him), that way I will always 
be prepared to give it to him.  I've also decided to never wear 
my cute pink headband ever again (or my bright pink top), 
while in Cambodia, since that was what I was wearing that 
fateful night (just in case he sees me first and comes after me)!  
It is interesting too as the next week there was a security truck 
in front of our building so maybe that has scared him off as well.  

It's not You, it's Me

It was a good lesson for me in so many ways - first off, I 
used to get a little crazy (mad) while driving on my scooter.  

I thought, "These people are INSANE drivers".  

But after this incident (and Billy telling me the story about 
how one of Kenny's friends pounded on a car hood of a driver 
that was cutting him off [been there, done that] and the driver got
out of his car and punched Kenny's friend in the eye), I decided 
that this is their country and the way they drive works for them.
So I’ve adopted the motto "if you can't beat em, join em"!!
So now I understand the rhyme to their reason and I don't 
get angry anymore while driving!  I just expect everyone 
to drive crazy and I just go with the flow!!!  It has made 
me have a happy loving heart (and is the last step of my 
"12 step driving program in Cambodia").

~1st step . . . denial

I have taken at least a million pictures of the (what I thought of as) contumelious traffic here in Cambodia. I’ve come up with 12 reactions a 
person will experience as they encounter the flood of movement as they 
travel in this remarkable country . . . . . The 1st is DENIAL!

I mean, I really, really cannot believe that the whole country hasn’t been injured while on the streets of Cambodia.  It is total chaos and everyone just . . . goes.  They seem to travel in their different modes of transportation as if they are the only ones on the road.  No one stops at the stop signs (the few that they have) or at any intersection even if it is a side street going onto a major street.  At the few stoplights that are in place (at some of the major intersections) when the driver sees that they only have 3 seconds till their light turns green they all start moving into the intersection (while the light is still RED).  The masses are what control the traffic not the other way around.  If you plan on getting across the street (as seen in the picture above) you just ease out with the other vehicles that are going your way and move on out!  It just doesn’t seem possible that there are not accidents on every single road every single day.  It really truly is hard to believe - 
bottom line ~ it IS unbelievable!!!

We’ve hired SeNahn to be our TukTuk driver for 

the Month.  He is super sweet and simply wonderful. 
Each time we would stop and Bill would run into a shop, 

SeNahn would try to teach me some new Khmer words 

(more like reteach me the words I already learned but 

that I am pronouncing incorrect).  He is great!!  

~born to be wild

Sometimes as we traveled around Phnom Penh, Kenny would 
ridehis Motor Bike and Billy and I would follow in a Tuk-Tuk.  
It seemed easier for the Tuk-Tuk driver just to follow Kenny 
instead of Kenny constantly giving the driver directions.  After only 
a short time did we realize that this was not always the best way. 

Kenny drives like he is Khmer and the Tuk-Tuk driver kept losing sight of him.  Even when we were here last summer it was hard for Billy and I to keep track of Kenny when he would get too far ahead of us.  I would try to stay right on his tail but  after almost getting run into by a car I nipped that little idea right in the bud!  Here are a few videos - Kenny is in a white shirt (far and away of us)!

Now You See Him, Now You Don't

There He Goes . . . 

Notice the people crossing the busy crazy street!

~elephant walk

We had an amusing incident on the way to the Jeffery Holland Fireside (which by the way was fantastic!). We got stuck in traffic and waited in grid lock for about 45 minutes. We rode with Kim and her kids in their 12 person van (including the driver) and so we were all just visiting and having a nice time!! 


I happened to glance to my left and there were these two huge elephants with riders on their backs. It was the craziest! 

They meandered along and then proceeded to CROSS the main street (just off the freeway exit ramp, like if you were getting off the freeway at the Provo exit to BYU). There are security guards everywhere, all day long and this was no exception. The one guard blew his whistle to get everyone’s attention and held up his hand so that the elephants and their riders could slowly ramble across the 6 lane street (even though it was a 6 lane street, there were eight rows of cars. I don’t think they understand the concept of the lines in the roads either. But then again you will be riding down a busy 3 (4) lane road going east and all of a sudden you realize the car in the far left lane is stopped, well actually parked in the 3rd lane).  
IT WAS HILARIOUS!!

Taking a side street home we came across a herd of 
cows on the other side of the street - so funny!!!

~Let me share with you a few interesting things about Thailand~

•First of all, it seems like every woman and girl are a size 0 to 4, 
I wish I was kidding here, I am not a large person 
but it has already damaged my self esteem. 

•2nd; all the drivers are crazy; they are very, very aggressive – not hostile but rather forceful in their driving. Fortunately, they all drive like this so somehow it works. They all watch out for one another (there are no rules, motorcycles weave in and out every second - and you don't have to take a test to get your license, at age fourteen, I think), they do not understand the concept of stop signs or stop lights and motorcycles have the right of way - ALWAYS! 

•3rd, the food is great 
(I mean all the fruits and vegetables and rice and noodles). 

•And 4th, the people are very nice and kind, it is even more 
than that as they truly live by the ‘golden rule’ 
mostly because of their Buddhist beliefs.