Chasing Cars, September 23, 2008

With Pchum Ben festivities nearing, both the police checks and bag snatching have increased, is this not a contradiction?

Despite the outbreak of police checks, moto's with mirrors are still increasing but not in majority. The same applies for helmet wearing drivers, 40-50% now have taken to wearing helmets. Still if you have witnessed the effort the traffic police have dedicated to pulling moto's up, the figure might represent a disappointment, possibly something is going wrong with the enforcement.

Witness Crossing Cambodia did of a bag snatching incident. Two guys pull up next to 2 girls, chat, chat, laugh, laugh, lung, grab and tear off down a side street. Be careful out there!

• The government is now pressuring oil companies to get their prices down. All the posturing resulted in the prices at the pump drop by a whopping 0,02 $US! This article in the Phnom Penh Post sums up all the claims: prices have failed to go down.
  But the government responds:

  'International crude oil prices soared more than 84 percent by June 2008, while the price of petrol in Cambodia only rose about 40 percent, the [Finance] minister said, crediting the difference to the government's "silent subsidy" of petrol'.

  Unfortunately the 'silent subsidy' claims that the government probably stopped increasing it's import revenue on petrol, changing from a percentage tariff to a fixed amount. So no subsidy, just less income. Then again why should the government get more by fleecing the consumer?
  

• Bangkok, this weekend, saw the 'Car Free Day'. And that does not mean that cars were exempt from paying toll on the elevated highways! No, it means grab a bike or take the bus. Funny thing is it is government endorsed:

  'In Thailand, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Bicycle for Health Society, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation and Green Peace Southeast Asia will join 14 of the world's largest cities in the car-free day'.

  The closest Cambo authorities get to even mentioning non-motorized transport is when they slag off all too poor for having no wheels. The gov of PP mentioned:

  'Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema said Sunday that the citywide pavement narrowing project will help make more room for cars, and should not be problematic as few people use the capital’s sidewalks anyway.
  “I want to reduce all the sidewalks to be smaller and smaller because our people use cars and motorbikes. We do not like to walk” Kep Chuktema said'.

• Car Free Day was 'celebrated' in Vietnam as well.
  

• In Vietiane they have a novelty:

  'The Vientiane Urban Development and Administration Authority is in the process of installing 50 road name signs around Vientiane ...'

  but

  'Forty road signs have already been installed, but the authority lacks sufficient funds to continue with the project and is waiting for further support from the International Association of French Mayors.

  Thank god for the French.

• Why Cambo airlines will never get anywhere: more than a year after an air crash involving South Koreans the relatives have actually have to sue the Cambodian airline to get some kind of compensation. Let's hope they're not holding their breath.
  What are you in for?

  'South Korean investigators have concluded that the accident was caused by pilot error, problems with the airport's automated radar terminal system and defects in the plane'.

• A very strange article in the Sydney Morning:

  'Malaysia's worst in the world taxis tarnish image
  In a survey by the local magazine The Expat, some 200 foreigners from 30 countries rated Malaysia the worst among 23 countries in terms of taxi quality, courtesy, availability and expertise'.

  Well quite correct to take those taxi drivers to the cleaners, my opinion is similar: they are not at all what Malaysia makes them to be. Then again, Malaysia = truly Asia, so not such a big surprise. Cambodia counts itself lucky they weren't part of the survey on the grounds of having no taxi's to speak of. Could Cambodia not have entered moto's instead., they are after all our local 'taxis'? See who then would end at the bottom of the heap. Our moto drivers are no where near a KL taxi driver ...

• Another bad Poipet experience:

  'We also got shepherd into a mafia taxi with another couple, we all pay 15 usd each. The mafia man taking charge of getting us into a taxi was getting angry with us because we first lied about having our visa already when he approached us at immigration on the Thai side, then we didn't go straight to his taxi and wanted to look around. He kept saying we could trust him, he was with the Tourist Police and we told him we didn't trust them either.
  We couldn't find any other option so took his anyway'.

• Back to the bag snatchers. There are also amateurs entering this profession:

  'BYSTANDERS BASH BAG SNATCHER
  Chea Dara, 16, was severely beaten by a crowd of bystanders after he pulled Kong Darany, 28, off her motorbike in an unsuccessful bag snatching attempt on the corner of street 109 and Russian Boulevard in Prampi Makara district of Phnom Penh at 11:30am Monday. The police said that Chea Dara, who was pulled off his motorbike by the bystanders, "was severely beaten by the people until he lost consciousness". He is currently in police custody awaiting trial'.

• More things increasing:

  'Some 1,777 traffic accident casualties were reported by hospitals, health centres, private clinics and traffic police departments in 24 provinces for June, an increase of 20 percent over May, according to the Cambodian Road Traffic Accident and Victim Information System'.

Chasing Cars, the Preah Vihear peace edition

Everywhere there's Preah Vihear in the media, here, there and everywhere. Which is quite surprising. It's been here/there for centuries and hopefully will be here/there for more, however politicians and/or soldiers seem to need to uptake the issue of whether the temple is here or there to fulfill their cause, as if here/there are no more pressing issues?
Final word on the issue, with the Thai side closed and the Cambodian side nearly impassable (rains), don't hold your breath on the temple becoming the second Angkor Wat or what, within the foreseeable future that is.

• A first on the election front:

  'Two party activists killed in collision'

  is an item from VOA as published on KI Media.

  '"This is the first time a political party activist died in an election campaign due to a traffic accident," he [Pok Pulrith, chief of traffic police in Takeo] said'.

  Make that first and second. Usually, party activists are killed by murder. Do not know whether this is a change for the good ....

• More from the front, ... the election front that is, not the Thai-Cambo front! Vuthasurf writes about campaigning with government cars albeit without license plates:

  'According to the new road traffic law, the vehicle’s drivers without license plates are subject to a prison sentence of between six days to one month and a fine ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 riel'.

  He then concludes:

  'the enforcement of traffic law is still weak, and only the poor and ordinary people have been punished and fined'.

• Khmernews.com on the same issue, reveals that the 2008 parliamentary election campaign is actually:
  

  'A Lot of Unlicensed Vehicles Campaign'.

  Though that's what the opposition thinks ...

• Vietnam is now irritated about subsidizing petrol in Cambodia. Considering the bill they have to pay for subsidizing their own petrol last year was over $1 billion, subsidizing Cambodia in the process can hardly be worth being irritated.

  'The Market Monitoring Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that petrol smuggling in the Mekong Delta tended to increase lately, with some 15,000 liters of petrol smuggled to Cambodia per day'.

  At 0,30 $US profit margin / ltr, this might represent $1.5 -2.0 $US million, probably not even a percent of this years bill. Cheap neighbours nah?

• More from the frontier of the illegal fuel smugglers, this time from the other (now irritated?) neighbour ostensibly known as the 'Land of Smiles'.
  A fuel truck overturns. As 3 journo's (or is it journies?) happen to pass, they see this as a great photo op. Not so.

  'Then two men from a Mitsubishi car which came, with a license plate of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces [RCAF] with the umber 2 2809, jumped out and hit the journalists with their hands and kicked them and brutally twisted their arms and boxed them'.

  Journo no. 1 had

  'his nasal bone ... broken'

  , journo no. 2 had

  'his camera ... broken'

  , while journo no. 3

  'was able to escape from the hitting'.

  Luckily for Cambodia, that these guys fight for us! Pity that now the stream of cheap fuel from Thailand will come to a stop.

• There are some 'normal' news facts from Cambodia itself:

  'Cyclo drivers in security guard smackdown'.

  From the Khmeri Prosperous blog:

  'Phnom Penh’s cyclo drivers say security guards around the city’s markets are chasing them off and making it increasingly difficult for them to earn a living. ...
  “About half of all of cyclo drivers have faced problems with market security guards, usually asking them for money,” she [Cyclo Center coordinator Nouv Sarany] said, adding that guards at Phsar Thmei (Central Market) and the Sorya Shopping Center were the leading cause of headaches [is that literally or a figure of speech?]'.

  Shame on those guards! ABC adds:

  'The drivers have also accused the guards of seeking protection money'.

• Paying protection money? Yesterday's (July 18, 2008) Cambodia Daily mentions:

  'Tuk-tuk drivers form unofficial union at port'.

  What for?

  'to control access to tourists arriving ... at Phnom Penh Autonomous Port'. ... In return for the monthly payments, security guards will ensure that only members of the group [or 'unofficial' union] will be allowed into the area where tourists arrive.

  The manager of the port though seems to be a bit slow:

  "Nowadays we don't take money from the tuk-tuk drivers ...",

  but then regathers himself, contemplates and believes it's a grand idea, charging 'protection money:

  "but in future, we might charge some money", Hei Bovy [Phnom Penh Autonomous Port Authority General Manager] says.

  As their formation was to halt:

  'limiting earning for drivers',

  one guess should suffice to who will eventually ends up paying the 'protection' money!
  Next time take the bus and hope the bus company doesn't do the same! Fat chance....

• Finally from the statistics front: April saw 176 less citizens in Cambodia, which represents a 21% increase over April 2007 Cambodia Daily reports (18 July 2008) from a (unpublished?) monthly report by RTAVIS.
  Again the police are quoted on how the traffic law is being disrespected. Well police, do something about it!
  

Chasing Cars not so often anymore

• Has anyone noticed? It's election time! That means the party in control can use cars without license plates which are an apparent improvement of cars with military, state or police license plates. Details from this article on KI Media. Seems to be all the same to Crossing Cambodia.

• From someone called Tynan (Scottish?) an extensive coverage of a recent rail journey from Battambang to the capital. Photo's are available here. He (or is it a she?) seems impressed:

  'Calling it a passenger train is a bit of a misnomer, though. ...The train is slow, probably the slowest train in the world. The fastest I clocked it with my GPS was 17kph. ...
  The journey from Battambang, a city reasonably close to the Thai border, to Phnom Penh takes four hours by air conditioned bus. I've been on the train for 17 hours now and there's been no word on when we'll finally arrive. The official timetable claimed it would be 5 hours ago. ....
  We once stopped unexpectedly because one of the four car's bumpers had jumped onto another one's'.
  

• Another unexpected train stop occurred the last week:

  'A train for transporting oil collapsed on Saturday at 12: 30 p.m., destroying at least three homes along its rail way in Tuol Kok district’s Boeng Kok I commune. Fortunately, no one injured of the accident and it did not contain oil in the time, or it could cause fire. The victims demanded for compensation, but both local authorities and police did not know the company deal with the case'.

• The same derailment though seems to have drawn some attention: some of the victims are continuing their pursuit of compensation. More intriguing for Tynan:

  'S'im Tang, 63, whose house was flattened in the derailment, complained that the train had sped through the neighborhood on an unsafe track'.

  Must of been at least 20 km/hr, then!

• As if the railways haven't enough headaches, a cement truck

  'crashed with a running train'.

  The report states that there were no injuries, but not what the possible damage could of been. The police though blame the railways:

  'The train officer should have given sign to travelers when the trains crossed the road, he [Angkor Chay police chief Keo Vibol] added'.

• More unexpected stops, this time with fatalities:

  'A Korean driver killed five members of one Cambodian family [traveling on one motorbike] while speeding under the influence of alcohol [and driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, police said Monday'.

  This quote from KI Media. Khmer News.com refers to a
  

  'brutal traffic accident'.

• Prices are going up, Vietnam is preparing more measures to stop smuggling:
  

  'Under the ministry’s decision, border gas station customers will not be able to fill containers with fuel'.

• Despite fuel prices going up, transport prices will only change next month, surprisingly after the elections:

  'The Phnom Penh municipality held a meeting on Friday with the transportation and the parking lot owners to keep the price of the transport price on the campaign as well as the election day'.

Chasing Cars, the weekend before ...

Not much!?

• Which flights into Cambodia are not taking place? This article sums it up: Chiang Mai - Siem Reap amongst others. Great to blame it on the off-season.

• Another method to tackle the rising fuel prices is put forward by the Cambo government:

  'Finance Minister Keat Chhon has ordered a special ministry committee to be formed to monitor the price of gasoline amid fears the fuel companies were gouging prices, which have crept towards record highs of 6,000 riels ($1.50) a liter during the past few days, a ministry official said'.

  So if someone is profiteering, we decide to monitor them?
  

• More monitoring, the expat males over at Khmer 440 are looking into moto prices: are moto prices going up? Follow the discussion:

  'The longer you stay and are known the less you pay'.

  Conclusion:

  'since the price of petrol has shot up I would say 1500 riels/km would be a good measuring stick to go by'.

• This photo would go some way to off-setting the cost:

• On the same Khmer 440 forum a report on an accident with this advice:

  'Avoiding becoming collateral damage is also part of the expat experience'.

• Safety concerns? Authorities say yes, but police blame it on bad luck. The Cambo Daily (June 5, 2008) reports on a number of deadly accidents which resulted in six killed in 4 seperate accidents in Phnom Penh. Police comment:

  'It is very strange for our traffic police. It was a bad luck day'.

  By the way all victims were travelling on motorbike.
  

Chasing Cars, June 2, 2008

• How safe is traffic in Cambodia? Well, if even UFO's are having accidents over or near Cambodia, then we can clearly say that the traffic situation in Cambodia is not so safe after all.

  'A UFO has exploded in mid-air over a southern Vietnamese island, according to reports.
  Villagers say they heard a loud blast yesterday and later found shards of metal near the island's coastline.
  The sensational revelations come one day after neighbouring Cambodia's air force retracted a report of a mysterious plane crash.
  The Vietnam News Agency said residents of Phu Quoc island, six miles off the coast of the Cambodian province of Kampot, found shards of grey metal, including one 1.5 metres long'.

  Pictures of shards obtained in Cambodia are here. So it was a UFO, but everybody has been told to hush up. From the Vietnamese press:

  'Nguyen Thanh Banh, Kien Giang police deputy chief, told Thanh Nien anyone found guilty of spreading rumors from the incident that would negatively affect security on the island would be dealt with according to law'.

  That's good to know, that the law will be upheld. What does the Vietnamese law say about spreading rumours? Do they actually have a law on spreading rumours? Do they have legislation on UFO's? Does the traffic law in Cambodia have anything to say on UFO's?
  

• The train was back in the news last week. It derailed surprisingly:

  'The reason for the overturn appears to be the decrepit old railroad tracks which could no longer support the weight of the wagons'.

  Possibly the same train also derailed a few days earlier in Battambang. The reason:

  ' "It rains a lot previous day that land under the rail ways went down", he [an official] say'.

• What with fuel wagons being derailed and pilfered (see above), more problems behest the fuel situation in Cambodia:

  'On average, 10,000 –15,000 litres are smuggled into Cambodia through Kien Giang Province every day ... the province’s Department of Industry and Trade has instructed oil enterprises to limit monthly supplies to retailers in border communes to 150,000 litre'.

  Darn! No more cheap petrol for Cambodia!

• How much value are employees to your company? Sufficient enough to give them helmets? Well, Crossing Cambodia would think so. But why would this logical line of thought need to be highlighted:

  'Hence, the hotel [Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa] did something about it – by generously supplying helmets to all staff members. “The staff members were overjoyed as they were given one helmet each for free,” said the beaming general manager.'

• More non-news: current and most probable future Cambodian PM, Hun Sen, wants his high ranking officials to foot the bill themselves for driving:

  'Hun Sen wants to condition the members of the upcoming Cambodian government with a new measure: the end of all service cars (for VIPs)'.

  Q.: will it happen? A.: don't think so ...
  

• Do we have any indication on the situation on the road to Koh Kong? Tales of Asia forum reports:

  'The bridges are now all complete and coaches, a.c. nice seats, toilets, towels and water are now doing the run for 10 $ U.S. It's six hours, with a lunch and loo stop to P.P. so maybe a half hour less to Sihanoukville, no change of bus'.

  Khmer 440 forum adds:

  'A friend of mine said yesterday all bridges are allowing traffic even though two bridges are incomplete'.

  ...

  'Regarding the bridges, I took the bus from KK to Sihanoukville and got there in 4 hours without changing bus, all bridges were fully functional. I just wonder if Asean Hotel in KK overcharged me on the ticket, paid 15$ U.S. '.

  A.: yes, but only by 50%!
  

• The road Siem Reap-border:
  

  'nasty weather made the road very muddy'

• Frizz restaurant has got it's Cambodia Travel guide updated. Why they don't simply put the info on wikitravel is beyond Crossing Cambodia, possibly a potential to plug themselves, though they are a restaurant not a travel agency. From the Dangers and Annoyances section, some sound advice:

  'Definitely the most dangerous aspect of Cambodia: the traffic. This country has a shocking number of traffic casualties, even more so if you consider the still relatively low number of cars.
  In the cities it's not so bad. Although chaotic for the western eye, traffic in cities tends to be slow and when accidents occur it's usually limited to material damage.
  You will see a quite different situation on the roads between towns: speeding cars and old trucks and minivans dangerously overloaded with people and goods. ....
  Many visitors are tempted to hire a moto or even an off-road bike. You should be an experienced driver if you want to ride around Cambodia. Give yourself time to get adjusted to the traffic 'rules' and always wear a helmet!'

• Then some quirky khmernews:

  'Bus Transports Illegally Luxurious Timber
  A bus, which contained a lot of cubic meters of luxurious log, was stopped by Kampongcham province police. The timber was illegally transported to Vietnam'.

Chasing Cars in mid May downpours

Before launching into another non-descript overview of Cambodia's traffic related news, an apology from Crossing Cambodia: wearing helmets is out of fashion this week, we're now back to where we were a month ago, a helmet wearing rate of (just?) 20-30%.

• What does the road to Phnom Penh look like from Saigon?

  'The road is quite smooth and comfortable and there is plenty of interesting scenery to look at'.

  If you consider unendless stretches of rice fields interesting! Anyway the write-up is meant for Viet readers.
  And if not interesting enough, when leaving Saigon one can skip the drab that's Phnom Penh all together on yer way to Angkor: it's a

  'new luxury bus service'

  and

  'is expected to prove especially popular with budget travellers, the company predicted'.

  Contradictory? Luxury travel for budget travellers? EAS, whom are mostly long-term citizens of Phnom Penh give the same story more spin:

  'Budget travelers no longer need to endure the bone shuddering roads from the Vietnam border to Phnom Penh, only to have to change buses for another six hour hike to Siem Reap and the Angkor temple complex'.

  But the first link said the road is smooth! Can the two go together?
  

• More Viet-Khmer news:

  'An Giang [Vietnamese border province] Province’s Market Management Department estimated some 40,000 to 60,000 liters of fuel were trafficked out of the province daily'.

  At a profit of roughly 0,4 $US / liter, it's a lucrative trade, for sure. On a an annual basis Vietnam is giving about 7 million $US to Cambodia! But some people get greedy:

  'Sometimes they add tra catfish oil into gasoline to export'.

  No wonder so many moto's blast belching black smoke!

• Vuthasurf gives a couple of examples of a Phnom Pehn taxi station:

  'Sometimes, the arguments broke out between taxi’s owners and clients because of grabbing belongings and losing property'.

• The previously mentioned highway 48 to Koh Kong has been opened. Koh Kong will now change from a remote, pleasant and relatively undisturbed corner of Cambodia to an industrial and casino boom town! Let's hope not. However with elections nearing, Cambo's PM will not be deterred by asphalting the country and claiming it a success:

  'Hun Sen had “inaugurated some new national roads and bridges of more than 400 kilometers, during the last two weeks,” the prime minister told a crowd gathered for the opening of 152 kilometers of road and four bridges in Koh Kong province. “This is a marvel in the 21st Century, in what the Cambodia government and the people are cooperating with development partners to make for our Cambodians'.

  This marvel is also the root cause of all the traffic deaths? Well, let's admit that not much is been done to avoid traffic fatalities.

• A pleasantly sounding caption:

  'Cambodian Airways to be cleaned up'.

  Well, considering there are hardly any planes flying on national route's especially after PMT's plane crash of last year, this spring cleaning will be finished in a jiffy!

  'To maintain order and ensure security and safety, aircraft and other flight equipment which are not registered at the SSCA [State Secretariat for Civil Aviation] will be prohibited from operating anywhere in the kingdom, Mao Has Vannal, secretary of state of civil aviation, said in the announcement'.

  Ah, it's just a case of registering and .....

• This report on the (non-existent?) birth of Cambodia's flag carrier reveals that Cambodia is dubbed the 'New Thailand'. Besides handing Cambodia with an unbeatable tourist attracting slogan, the writer is clearly very positive:

  'A new national carrier is the first step for Cambodia along the road to tourism success'.

  Crossing Cambodia thought that Cambodia was already a success?

• EAS also report on a cyclo 'rally':

  '10 foreigners and 20 cyclo drivers, who took one hour shifts on 10 cyclos, cycled the 320 km round trip from Phnom Penh through Prey Veng and Kampong Cham to raise awareness for the Cyclo Centre Phnom Penh and to support “world no tobacco day”, 31st May'.

  Let's hope somebody has not forgotten the World Naked Bike Ride on June 7; so far nobody has shown the initiative, despite it's lofty challenges:

  'In March and June 2008, in cities around the world, people will be riding bikes naked to celebrate cycling and the human body. The ride demonstrates the vulnerability of cyclists on the road and is a protest against car culture'.

  Does Crossing Cambodia see any hands? Or is it a case of 'Unseen Cambodia'?
  

Chasing Cars Cambodian Style, a week before Kmer New Year

• A week before Khmer New Year? Cambodian Daily (4 April 2008) reports that the police are stepping up patrols, taking no holidays and putting special emphasis on the streets around pagodas. According to a police district chief:

  'the hope is that an increased police presence will make it safer for those who hold impromptu dance parties on the streets and ...'

• Phnom Penh Post (April 4-17, 2008) mention an apparent non-event: the bridge over the Sekong river near Stung Treng has opened, thus bringing Lao closer. This, months after it was finished and you could pass if you kept office hours and asked the guard of the bridge politely!

• A 'only in Cambodia' accident:
  

  'Twelve people have been killed and 11 others seriously injured in one of Cambodia's worst ever traffic accidents. The crash occurred on Tuesday when a mini-van packed full of travellers collided with a truck as it tried to turn across a highway in eastern Cambodia, district Police Chief Heng Vuthy said.
  "It is a tragedy caused by driver negligence," he said.'

  This according to ABC. More or less the same article can be had over at KI Media, but to spice it up they have included the photo's which were published by a Khmer language newspaper. Buy a Khmer newspaper and you get to see all the victims of whatever crime and/or case of bad luck. Cambodia Daily (April 3, 2008) adds a quote attributed to the provincial police chief:

  'Most drivers don't understand the traffic law or understand how to use their own vehicles and motorbikes'.

  If you see how law is not being enforced, possibly the police fail to understand the traffic law as well!

• The Cambodian Weekly (March 30-April 5) highlights the business of selling cars, which are hot Khmer New Year presents apparently.

  'The boulevards of Phnom Penh are choked by more cars ...'.

  Prices have gone up by $1,000 as a result of the 'increase in import tax'. According to sellers this increase has not 'dampened demand'. One seller however had a problem: he had sold out of cars and had an empty showroom, that in the week before Khmer New Year.

• Finally, from the Cambodian Daily (April 3, 2008) lamentations concerning the price of petrol. Tuk-tuk drivers and moto's now have trouble making ends meet and tourists are frustrated as they believe they are being overcharged:

  'They don't believe that this is the price. I tell them the guidebook is very old," Neang Kunthea [tuk-tuk driver] said. "Some people don't understand that gas prices are high" '.

  Neither does Crossing Cambodia.
  

Chasing Cars, Cambodian Style, Friday the 14th of March

• Not so much this week. Over last weekend there was the motorcross.

• And coming week there is a vintage car rally:

  'The rally is a slow ride between Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi, stopping at the most elegant hotels along the way and costing each participant some 46,000 U.S. dollars.
  
  The cars, driven by a diverse mixture of nationalities, have already wound through Thai and Lao valleys and are currently rattling across Cambodia's scenic plains before entering Vietnam'.

• Safety issues: somewhere in this weeks Cambodia Daily was a reference to the number of causalities in February which showed a rise, which the authorities then blamed on Chinese New Year. But the reality: just a few weeks ago the same authorities were backslapping and congratulating themselves as :

  'According to Cambodia Daily reported that “during the Chinese New Year accidents in 2008 dropped down because of some people understanding and obeying the traffic law"'.

  A dispute? Quickly click to www.roadsafetycambodia.info for official confirmation! But despite a surprising amount of uploads on their website, their statistics are still only of last December.
  More intrigue if you believe the Vietnamese. They report a drop in deaths in Vietnam during Tet due to the compulsory helmet rules.
  

• So what's on road safety wise? An announcement on the Road Safety Week / Khmer New Year Campaign with one of the objectives being:' Extend the responsibility to the road user - think before you start the vehicle'. A photo competition. And a number of training courses. And in depth report on the UNICEF report concerning child deaths? Nah!

  'Road accidents are the second-biggest killer of children in countries where traffic is typically congested and chaotic and laws are often ignored. The highest number of traffic deaths occur in the teen years. "Road traffic is a major, major issue in countries like Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia," said Hisashi Ogawa, regional adviser for healthy settings and environment at the World Health Organization's Western Pacific office. "It's not just kids on bikes, but also kids on the streets," said Ogawa, who was not involved in the study'.

• With the increasing price of fuel quite a few people will be thinking before starting the vehicle. Odd that it's Xinhua doing the report, nothing in the Cambodian press.

• Khmer 440 have a poll on Cambodia's traffic police: how much should you pay? (ongoing)
  

Chasing Cars, Cambodian Style 12-12-2007

• Connecting Phnom Penh to Europe, Air Finland is connecting us with ...., no not Finland, but Sweden and only 3 times per month and only for a couple of months. And you can only book seats if you can read Finnish. And the future is bright, as the five year old company has only 1 plane, according to Wikipedia (Dutch version, English version is not up to date).

• The price of fuel (continued): Vrom Vietnam comes the lamentations concerning subsidizing their petrol prices and a big chunk of Cambodia's fuel bill. The result:

  'Vietnamese farmers cannot purchase oil for their pumps because filling stations and privately owned petrol shops only want to sell oil and petrol to Cambodians who will pay more'.

  So what to do? In Vietnam the response is to lament:

  'Our staff is too small to deal with the strong force of illegal exporters, Mr Tien, Head of the Ha Tien Border Gate’s Customs Agency said'.

  On the other side of Cambodia, local Thai authorities are not sitting idle:

  'People in Cambodia's Koh Kong province are facing a shortage of cooking gas after Thai authorities stepped up a campaign against unauthorised exports of cooking gas'.

  Again supplying Cambodia with subsidized gas is the culprit. And what is Cambodia's view of the situation? Sokimex (a local fuel supplier) owner, Sok Kong, he just reiterates all the complaining Cambodians who are stuck with high 'official' prices but for their moto's it's a low price, because the Thai and the Vietnamese are subsidizing them.

  'And for us, we are so poor that we don't have that[subsidies]'.

  He does however have some hope for Khmer citizens:

  'We might be able to reduce the oil price in 2010 or 2020 when we can extract our crude oil'.

  An anonymous writes in on KI Media:

  'The price of gasoline is kept artificially high to ensure that Sokimex (owned by Sok Kong) and Tela (owned by Bun Rany) can smuggle cheap gasoline from Vietnam and make extraordinary profits'.

• And what happens to the collected taxes and savings made from not financing increasing global warning: a 10 million dollar road programme is 'corrupted':

  'Many roads are left the same; nothing improves .... he [foreign engineer] reported that he did not see any repairmen or equipment on the road in Kampong Thom province'.

• Letter to the Editor, Cambodia Daily, December 11, 2007:

  'Phnom Penh's Traffic Problem needs Fixing
  With influx of tourists and foreign direct and indirect investments, public transports have now become, to me personally, the biggest problem facing Phnom Penh. Currently in Phnom Penh most of the roads are jammed all the time, which affects public order, loses us time, blocks most economic activity, and negatively affects other financial benefits of the people and entities. Cambodia seems to have no traffic experts at all, and everyone seems to be ignorant about the impact this problem could have on the economy. I hope the government acts now to facilitate everyone's livelihood, as well as attracting even more foreign investment.
  Lay Vicheka, Hong Kong'.

  Key words: ignorant

Ripping off Vietnam

One way of earning a decent living in Cambodia is by smuggling gasoline from Vietnam, where it's cheaper. Not allowed in Vietnam, openly traded in all Cambodia. Pity the Vietnamese regularly pick up smugglers. Thanx to KI Media:

Gasoline Smuggling in Kampot province and Kep city

While the price of gasoline in Cambodia is higher than that in neighboring countries, gas smuggling is on the rise in provinces bordering with neighboring countries.

In Kampot province and Kep City, gas smuggling is done by sea. Kep residents who have no jobs, and who are very poor, as well as other villagers from Trapeang Lapov district, Angkor Chey district, Dang Tung district, in Kampot provinces, are involved in the smuggling. A large majority of these people act as laborers transporting gasoline for large businessmen, and only a small number of them are independent smugglers.

41-year-old Korm Samin said that he is into the smuggling trade for the past one year because his fishing trade is getting continually worst. He complained that currently, the smuggling trade is also getting more difficult as well, the profit is low, and he also faces police arrest.

Korm Samin said: “In this (smuggling) trade, you fear that you will be caught (by the police) because when you get caught, you lose, and we wouldn’t have anything to eat at home for 2 or 3 days. It’s never sure, sometime you leave (from home) at 5:00 PM, and you get there (Vietnam) at 7:00 PM, then you return back at 9 to 10:00 PM to come back home. [The amount of smuggled gas] is not steady, sometime you smuggled in 100 containers, but at other times, you would bring in 70 to 80 containers only. Before, it was cheaper, when the price of gas was cheaper, the cost is a littler over 50,000 riels (~$12.50), and we get here over 60,000 riels (~$15.00)”

Gas smugglers operate by sea using small boats departing from Kep city, they head to the Vietnamese border, in Ha Tien province. After purchasing gas there, they have to head back home in the middle of the night, and they have to make it back before daybreak in order to avoid large waves.

20-year-old Khieu from Kep City is working for others to transport smuggled gas. He said that each trip earns him up to 20,000 riels (~$5.00) only. “They call us to be the boat skipper for the large smugglers. They are the ones who make a lot of profit, for me, I receive only a small amount, about 10 to 15,000 riels only (~$2.50 to $3.75). Sometimes, if we make the wrong run, and take a bad path, the Vietnamese could shoot us, some even died from this shooting.”

50-year-old Chak Kol is another transporter of smuggled gas for others. He said that some of those who transport smuggled gas have been arrested by the Vietnamese authority and thrown in jail for 4 or 5 days, before the Cambodian authority asked for their release back. “We don’t get much, but we have nothing else, so we just do it, we have to endure it, no matter how hard it is. When the Vietnamese [authority] catches us, they confiscate everything, the gas, the boat, and they throw us in jail. One time, some of the smugglers were arrested [by the Vietnamese], then our side [Cambodian authority] went there by boat, and asked for their release, it was then that [the Vietnamese] release them and they could come back home. It’s not like we can do whatever we want, we cannot just transport [the smuggled gas] day and night as we see fit, we can’t do that.”

According to the local people, the large gas traders, who have the backing from officials, are the ones who can smuggle in tens of thousands of liters of gas and bring them into Kampot province and Kep City, but for the small time smugglers, the most they can bring in per trip is about 100 liters only.

Kong Chea, the police chief of Kep City, claimed that his police force used to arrest the small smugglers there, but that the majority of them travel to Kampot province instead. “There are smugglers here, we always arrest them, and now they don’t come here anymore. My force lacks transportation means to patrol at sea. We cannot go to sea, if we want to go to sea, we must rent a boat. But, in Kep City, there is not much to worry about.”

Thach Khon, Kampot province governor, admitted about gas smuggling in his province. Each month, the authority confiscates about 20,000 liters of smuggled gas. He said that because of the vast extent of the sea shore, the authority has a hard time eliminating this problem.

Thach Khon said: “… we try hard to arrest them, a report just came in that almost 5,000 liters of smuggled gas were caught, and each month, we confiscate tens of thousands of liters of gas. But, our sea is large, and we lack equipment, this doesn’t mean that we don’t make arrest, we do make arrest, like today, I just signed in a report saying that more than 1,000 liters, almost 2,000 liters [of smuggled were confiscated].”

Even though the authority claims that it intensely goes after gas smuggling, smuggling still take place in Kampot province and Kep City.

A local official of the Adhoc human rights group said that the authority only arrest poor people who smuggled in 1 to 2 gas containers, but it never arrest large smuggled gas traders who have the backing of high-ranking officials.

Tales of Asia: a 'readers' submission

Today's travel advisory referred to the Tales of Asia site. Besides advice there are also readers submissions. 'Butch' recently (3 March 2007) has written a few words on 'Driving in Cambodia'. Take it away Butch:

'Unless you have spent time in a state mental institution or indulged in hallucinogenic drugs there little to prepare you for the rolling catastrophe which is Cambodian traffic. I spent four years as a London motorcycle courier, which I thought was a fairly bonkers occupation but I felt like a boy scout in Baghdad on my first days biking in Phnom Penh. In London drivers are aggressive and impatient, but predictable. In Cambodia drivers are seldom aggressive, occasionally impatient but completely unpredictable'.

End of first alinea: Cambodian drivers are 'unpredictable'. Cambodian traffic is a 'rolling catastrophe'. Will jot that down for the final evaluation. Let's read on:

'Basic road rules: Driving on the right is the norm, unless you want to drive on the left in which case that's fine too. Priority is in order of size, big smoke-belching lorries do what they want and everyone else gets out of their way, then in descending order: 4x4s, minibuses, pickup trucks, Toyota Camry (Cambodian national car) then motorbike and trailer combinations, Honda Dreams (national motorbike), ox carts and lastly cyclists pedestrians dogs and chickens.

Exceptions to this rule are: Large Mercedes or Hummers with fancy wheels and blacked out windows, their drivers are always heavily armed and so have extra priority. Convoys of Mercs, Hummers, Land Cruisers etc with flashing lights get extra double priority as they will be taking the prime minister's wife shopping and this is vital to the economy. Cyclo taxis are given way too because people feel sorry for a six stone pensioner pedalling a half-ton tricycle. Monks; easy to spot because of their bright, saffron coloured robes and therefore easy to avoid. It is seriously bad karma to run over a monk, so they have extra triple priority.

Cattle: Locals have allowed their cows to range freely for centuries, safe in the knowledge that they will return home at dusk, building a main road through their territory will not alter the cows' daily routine one jot. Small herds wander down the busiest of highways stopping to graze on the verges and sometimes lay down for a nap in the centre of the road. Killing a cow is not as bad as killing a monk, but it will be expensive and can damage your motorcycle.

Safety: This being a Buddhist country, everything is down to fate and luck so making an offering at a shrine is considered more useful than checking if the tyres contain any air. Wearing a helmet or seat belt shows you are a non-believer and also marks you out as a bit of a sissy.

Junctions and traffic lights: Stopping at a junction will cause an accident, no one ever stops, so don’t, or everyone else will crash into the back of you. Ditto pulling out onto a main road, stopping to look out for oncoming traffic is also seen as a sign of weakness / sissydom / lack of faith. Traffic lights are used solely for paying police wages. Cops will exact fines for ignoring traffic lights and anything else that takes their fancy such as wearing an offensive shirt or not washing behind your ears.

Overloaded vehicles: Except for the aforementioned Hummers and Mercs which need space for assault rifles, bags of cash etc. Cambodian vehicles are always chronically overloaded. Families of five or more squash onto a moped, taxis carry at least six persons in town and around nine on a long journey. Minibuses load up with cargo and small motorbikes then fill the remaining space with passengers, once the van is full a further ten or so climb on the roof. These vans have poor brakes but loud horns and the screaming passengers on the roof will usually alert you to their presence.

Gasoline couriers: These deserve a special mention, filling stations in Cambodia range from the modern forecourt style to little roadside stalls selling petrol in old pop bottles. Supplying these outlets are small motorbikes carrying five or more plastic jerrycans, all lashed to the seat with string.
Riding an incendiary bomb does not make these riders any more careful, and so ranks them in the world’s most dangerous jobs, right up there with Alaskan crab fisherman and Harold Shipman's cleaning lady.

Night driving: All of the above apply except that around a quarter of all vehicles do not have lights and there is no actual offense of drunk driving. Enjoy your trip!'

Yes, traffic in Cambodia is essentially a bag of fun! Unless of course you have an unfortunate accident and run into the police. Other than that, no worries. Tah, Bruce.

Creativity I

In combating the at best 'irregular' Cambodian traffic scene the government of Cambodia is increasingly using creativity.

It has been mentioned quite often that, despite all vehicles required to drive on the right hand side, there are a great many cars (including police cars) with the steering wheel on the wrong side: being the right side. This certainly does not ensure traffic safety and in the past the government has refrained from registering these vehicles (for this reason apparently).

But just over half a year ago this policy was reversed: better to earn money from these unsafe vehicles than putting a policy in place which will eventually result in these right hand-drives being banned altogether. Enforcing the ban would not seem to be such an effort either, or would it?

Well, the source of these right hand steering vehicles is Thailand; there they drive on the left, so that looks quite logical. And in Thailand there are no vehicles with the steering wheel on the wrong side, let their be no doubt about it.

But the Cambodian PM Hun Sen seems to sense the problem. At least that's what's in today's (February 26, 2007) Cambodian Daily. Well, actually Hun Sen believes that smuggling is the problem, not that the smuggling would lead to unsafe traffic situations. Smuggling is bad apparently because it provides illegal organisations outside the governments' official (and unofficial) reach of funds. The blame for the smuggling lies with Thailand apparently:

'If authorities on the Thai side cannot control the smuggling it will be a disaster for both sides', Hun Sen said.

Can't the Cambodian side control smuggling? Like the fuel smuggling.

'He also warned that Cambodian officials involved in the smuggling to change their ways or risk losing their positions'.

Not so long ago this nearly happened. But what about imprisonment, surely 'losing their positions' is not a sufficient deterrent?

'Hun Sen said more than 1,400 right hand-drive cars were smuggled into Cambodia from Thailand last year'.

According to who?

Lao warning

A vendor rides on a bicycle with handphone-shaped baloons for sale along a street in Vientiane. Communist Laos, one of Asia's poorest countries, can achieve its goal of becoming a middle-income economy by 2020 if it pushes reforms and manages its natural resources wisely, according to the World Bank.

Wise advise from the World Bank? Who knows?

Anyway the consumers in Lao will be paying slightly more for their gas, thanks to a fuel tax raise. The government explains where the money comes from and what it uses it for, what the amounts are and why it's not adequate.Transparency from a staunch 'Communist' led regime?

Safety first

In various previous posts Crossing Cambodia has looked into the issue of street side petrol sellers. Even recently the government tried to rid some of the bigger streets of these, but are not so successful. Their reasoning was that the petrol sellers pose a terrorist (!) threat. But clearly it's not a safety thing ... or is it?
Today's (13 February 2007) Cambodia Daily reports on a fire caused by a cigarette tossed near two fuel side seller's tanks; they exploded, naturally.

Smoke can be seen coming out of the house where the gasoline was sold near Phsar Doeum Thkov market. (Photo Chauk Chey, Koh Santepheap Newspaper)

Combatting smuggling

Despite fuel been plentiful everywhere in Cambodia, the town of Pailin which borders Thailand is experiencing difficulties. After local authorities cracked down on petrol smuggling prices shot up, from 0.80 $US to 1.75 $US. In all a non-article in today's (February 9, 2007) Cambodia Daily as the prices where dropping, so where does that leave us? Here's the story.

Fuel

The discussion concerning fuel prices seems to drifted over. The opposition can claim success: prices are dropping, though the fuel corporations are not happy.
Little was made of yet another rule: apparently it is forbidden to sell fuel along some of the major streets of Phnom Penh. For safety reasons, apparently fuel sellers are more likely to commit a terrorist act, especially on the ruling elite, who only speed along these streets. Last year garages (and other messy road sites such as welding shops) were told to seek other places to conduct business (using the same argument: potential sites from which terrorists would act). Nothing came of this and the same appears with the last regulation. This morning from Sihanouk Boulevard, a street side fuel seller:

Also observed this morning a police vehicle with the steering wheel on the wrong side!

On fuel

The protest against the lack of fuel deceases is apparently going to lead to a popular protest, led by an (or the) opposition party:

Today, the latest news indicate that "international oil price fell to a 20-month low, within striking distance of the psychologically key $50 line, marking an 18 percent slide so far this month. The market has plunged more than 35 percent since hitting a record peak of $78.40 a barrel in July 2006."

Finance Minister Keat Chhon is violating the Constitution (Article 96) by stubbornly refusing to answer Member of Parliament Sam Rainsy's repetitive questions about the high level of gasoline price in Cambodia at a time when international crude oil price is plummeting.

On January 12, 2007 the opposition Sam Rainsy Party issued the following statement:

SAM RAINSY ASKS FINANCE MINISTER KEAT CHHON ABOUT GASOLINE PRICE

Today, for the second time in two months, opposition leader Sam Rainsy wrote to Finance Minister Keat Chhon asking him the following question: Why has gasoline retail price in Cambodia remained practically unchanged (at about 4,000 riels or nearly $1 per liter) over the last 6 months while crude oil price in the international market has dropped by over 32 percent during the same period of time?

....

If the decrease in crude oil price is fully passed on to consumers in Cambodia, all other things being equal, gasoline retail price in our country should not exceed 3,200 riels per liter (instead of the current price of around 4,000 riel).

Possibly a move to LPG? An article in the Cambodia Daily (November 6) describes how business interests are planning to get LPG kits for motorcycles. The cost of installment is just 100 $US and saves approximately 50% of the fuel costs. So a possible counterargument to decrease fuel prices?

Gasoline prices going ....

An article published by AFP and copied by KI:

Opposition demands a government response over record gasoline prices
Demands for answers in Cambodia over record gas prices

PHNOM PENH Cambodia's political opposition has demanded a government response over record petrol prices, which remain at over one US dollar a litre despite falling global oil costs.

"Why has the price not gone down when the cost of oil worldwide has dropped ... I want an answer from (Finance Minister) Keat Chhon," opposition leader Sam Rainsy wrote in a letter, dated January 12.

"This creates hardships for the Cambodian people," he added, saying the minister has so far refused to respond to his questions.

Crude oil prices closed at below 53 dollars a barrel Friday -- levels not seen since June 2005 -- after reaching highs in mid-2006 of around 78 dollars per barrel.

Cambodian petrol prices more than doubled as a result of the global surge last year, pushing up the cost of other essential goods as well.

While there has been a slight ease in pump prices, petrol in Cambodia shows no signs of dropping sharply.

Government officials say they have no control over fuel costs, although some have suggested that the finance ministry could urge gas companies for an across-the-board cut.

Gas companies in Cambodia have little reason to lower their prices once international markets drive them up amid a dearth of competition. There are no government subsidies to soften the impact of higher energy costs.

The situation on the local market is far from clear. Besides the big players, some with obviously good connections to the government there are a lot of 'illegal' petrol players, small time pumps selling to motorcyclists. 'Illegal', as the petrol is smuggled in from either Vietnam and/or Thailand. But as they are allowed to sell at vitually every corner, they can't be illegal. Either way someone somewhere is making a healthy profit especially if the world market prices are falling.

Update on petrol prices

A slightly older article posted ion the KI site originally reported from Agence Presse in Vietnam. Apparently it's not all small-timers involved in the smuggling of fuel:

HANOI, Vietnam(AP) - Authorities in southern fined three Cambodians for smuggling more than 6,000 liters of diesel out of the country, a border official said Tuesday.

The smugglers from Kampot province in southern Cambodiawere intercepted last week in Vietnamese waters with 6,300 liters (1,660 gallons) of diesel in their boat, said Nguyen Huu Tai, the deputy chief of Xa Xia border checkpoint in Kien Giang province.

The government of Kien Giang fined the Cambodians 2.2 million dong (US$140; euro110) each on Monday for illegal entry and illegally transporting goods across the border, Tai said.

The men were released Monday after paying their fines, he said.

Vietnam estimates that hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel are smuggled into Cambodia daily, causing substantial losses to Vietnam's government which heavily subsidizes the price of fuel.

Diesel is about 5,000 dong (31 U.S. cents; 24 EU cents) cheaper per liter in Vietnam than Cambodia, Tai said.

"It's impossible for us to completely control the fuel smuggling because the border is long and we have a shortage of staff," Tai said.

The Vietnamese government is expected to pay 12.8 trillion dong (US$800 million; euro621 million) in fuel subsidies this year.

Vietnam exports crude oil, but imports refined oil products. Its first oil refinery is under construction in central province of Quang Ngai.