exploring phnom penh by tuk tuk

This was on the way back to the airport, namely when I freaked out because I realised I could do timelapses on my iPhone. (That little camera is boss as hell, 1080p on YouTube with no effort on my end needed? Uh, yes. Also please watch the above in HD as I spent an hour googling how the hell to make that happen.) Instead of opting for a fancy car as our fancy hotel recommended, we rolled out and basically found the first Phnom Penh tuk tuk that would take us for about USD$8. The streets of Cambodia are pretty nuts, as you can see it's kind of a free for all when it comes to traffic flow and lanes and sane driving. Travelling them by tuk tuk is all the more intense though, since you can feel the gush of wind as motorcyclists rush past, blink away the scattered dust as you buzz along and hear the overwhelming roar of traffic at every turn.

In Phnom Penh, tuk tuks are a little pricier than you'd expect in Siem Reap or Sihanoukville and all the drivers we had were about that hard sell. Everyone seems to have a laminated card of all the tourist attractions and will shove it in your face until you make up some bullshit lie about how you already have a driver planned, then they all make exactly the same 'I know you're lying and I'm disappointed in you' face. To which my immediate mental reaction was always YOU'RE NOT MY MOM.

Prices ranged from $3-5 depending on where in the city you head off to, but it seemed like a lot of the drivers' end goals were to take you to the Killing Fields. When we asked one kid if he wanted to pick us up in an hour after the Royal Palace, he hesitated before admitting he wanted to find someone  else to take to the Killing Fields since it's further out and therefore more expensive. Kind of a weird thought given that it's a genocide museum, but not holding it against him. Money is money is money, as the saying goes.

I digress. Go jump on a tuk tuk if you can though, especially if you're keen on saving that sweet, sweet dollar as it's one of the cheapest ways to travel unless you jump on the back of someone's motorcycle. Plus, it's thrilling as fuck.