Chasing Cars Cambodian Style, a day later than the last entry

• Today's (Feb. 21, 2008) Cambodia Daily draws attention to the Bokor road upgrading (highway 32 from Kampot) which seems to be going good:

  'In just a few weeks, the 30 km road that winds its wau upthe mountain, and previously famous as a challenging dirt-bike trip, has been leveled and widenend almost the entire way to the top. ... reversing the previous policy that tourists would be kept from going up the 1,000 m high mountain until the development was complete, Sok Kong [the Cambodian investor] said Wednesday that the road would be re-opened from this week.'

  Tough luck for the alternative trekking industry which had appeared. But anyway what's the attraction in going up a hill just to see a building site? Enough of them here in Phnom Penh! Why do the tourists not try Kirirom for a change, nearly just as high, more accesible and some failed investments to be seen as they were abandoned and no building site.

• Cambodia Pocket Guides in their recent publication the Tuk-tuk tales:

  'Unlike the traditional tuk tuk of Thailand and India which is a more or less enclosed single vehicle on three wheels, the Cambodian flavor is more of a trailer, secured, ahem, to a dodgy-looking hitch bolted onto a moto’s back seat. The apparatus (a metal knuckle about as big as a family-size can of kidney beans and located about an inch behind the driver’s third lumbar vertebra) looks like a grim recipe for instant paraplegia should a speeding Camry ram into the back of the hapless driver’s contraption.
  Like the taxi, it can carry four Western passengers in relative comfort, if not relative speed, or the members of up to three extended Khmer families. And unlike the moto it can carry a considerable amount of cargo, useful for moving or the late night eviction of a drunk and wild-eyed scissor-wielding loved one. They are also everywhere, easily beckoned with a casual wave unless you are like me when, like the cops, they seem to be unavailable when you really need one'.

  Why take a tuk-tuk?

  'At about $2 for a short trip or $12 for a half day or 50km, it’s a little cheaper than a taxi but definitely more, uh, fun. And with their predictable movements and constant speed they are probably safer than motos, at least for the passengers. The view is great, second only to a moto, and you can take in the sights and smells in relative protection from the elements. Also, you won’t be contributing so much to the problem of cars in the kingdom causing gridlock'.

• For those of you who like the occasional photo, parishwithoutborders, has been putting some of his best up on the web for 8 (!) years. His series of Motorcycle passengers and Cargo is now up to no. 87. Here's one of the better ones from 2007, sleep tight!