Phnom Penh, Cambodia: A raucous city with wild tuk tuk rides

December 22, 2010

At first glance, Phnom Penh seemed like a smaller, less developed version of Kuala Lumpur, the high-rise capital of Southeast Asia. From our air-conditioned van, we first saw Phnom Penh, noticing that it had no skyscrapers and buildings only as high as 3 stories. But, you don’t really know Phnom Penh until you take your first tuk tuk ride. And, the kids and Ken had their first tuk tuk ride today.

A tuk tuk is a little open-air buggy attached to the back of a motorbike. You might think it is a slow, put-put of a tuk tuk ride. You’re wrong. We learned that you only become a part of the pulse of Phnom Penh once you careen, dodge, and force your way into on-coming tuk tuk traffic. You’re screaming as if you’re riding a roller coaster at Great Adventure. And, miraculously, no one seems to get hurt in these raucous, wild streets.

And, these Phnom Penh streets sure are colorful and filled with smells of food like Chinese Noodle Soup! They are filled with soup hawkers on the side of the road, women selling gas to the tuk tuks from little tanks straight off the sidewalk, and people busily rushing to and from all the informal and formal jobs that crop up all over the city. If there’s a need, they’ll sell it! You need water, they’ll sell you ice cold water. You need a blessing, the monks will sing you a blessing. The bustle of commerce, living, and spiritual activity in Phnom Penh is awesome.

I was leery about taking an early morning run in town, concerned about getting mugged in the quiet streets. I left the hotel at 6:30am, having waited til the sun creeped up. The moment I stepped out of the hotel, there were tuk tuk drivers offering me rides and smiles, saying “Run run run!” And, the streets were already flowing with competing cars, motorbikes, and tuk tuks filled with food, parcels, and humans.

I ran next to the river, hugging the Royal Palace where it’s side streets are closed to traffic. The side streets were filled with Buddhist Monks in training walking to their Buddhist “wat” alongside local and Asian tourists walking to and from the river. I soon heard loud music from the riverside, reminding me of rocking pre-running race music. I thought, they didn’t have a race here this morning, did they? Not here! When I hit the river, I saw that there was not one set of speakers blaring exercise music, but there were many speakers. Some with ethnic Chinese music, some with local Cambodian music, some with U.S. techno dance tunes, and my favorite, one speaker blaring Latin dance rhythms. Each speaker was faced with 10 to 40 ethnic musically-matched groups. So the Chinese speakers faced 40 exercising Chinese tourists, the techno speakers had a few local Cambodian boys practicing their moonwalks, and the Latin speakers had what I can only imagine were local Cambodian women practicing their Latin hip thrusting moves. I laughed out loud, completely thrilled and surprised by this early morning spectacle.

Then I ran by a group of men playing a hard-hitting game that looks like volleyball except no hands are used. They deftly used their feet and heads to hit the rattan ball back and forth over the net. Damn, they were good at headers over the net. Yes, there were homeless families, which is more common that you’d like across Cambodia. And, yes, there were begging children and adult amputees. You’d imagine that seeing these people would be really depressing, and it is sad, but you see them in the context of this lively, bustling jigsaw puzzle that is life in Phnom Penh.

Click the words: video to see our tuk tuk ride!