How to Drive in Phnom Penh

• Today I flipped an illegal u-turn on a red light. It would have been illegal in the States. I'm not so sure in Cambodia but it felt awesome to avoid the left-hand turn and no one else seemed to care.
• Today I made multiple left turns through oncoming traffic. The trick is to slow down to a crawl and creep/pray your way through.
• Today I watched a black SUV run a red light and come within half a foot of hitting me in the middle of a major intersection. I was furious...and stunned. I understand why everyone hates cars.
• Today I forgot to shift down, and stalled trying to pull out of another major intersection while literally several dozen motos (and tuks tuks!) were flying ahead all around me.
• Today I went around a roundabout twice. The first time was brilliant. The second time there were too many SUVs for me to pull off and when I finally managed to turn, I backtracked around the edge of the roundabout about 20 yards for my street.
• Today I drove on the wrong side of the road, but it's okay if it's only for a short distance. When traffic subsided ever so slightly, I moved to the correct side.
• Today I floored my little moto until I got up to 26mph. I thought I was flying. I've never gone so fast before, ever.
• Today I only used my blinkers once. Honestly, what the heck are those for anyway? It's not like you'd want to look down to turn them and no one else does!
• Today I didn't want to wait at a stop light, so I drove through a gas station and around the block.
• Today I parked on the sidewalk, but in my defense it had been turned into a parking lot and the pedestrians were walking on the road.
• And yes, today I also drove on the sidewalk.
• This was just today.

I was going to blog about driving in Cambodia. But apparently my short trip for lunch and wheat flour was interesting enough. There are no timid drivers in Cambodia. There are only drivers and aggressive drivers. I'm progressing towards aggressive but I'm still due for my new driver "incident" so we shall see. They are never serious incidents and I always travel with my phone and my very fashionable red helmet...and 5000 riel in the event of fines ($1.5).

Drive as fast as you can (if you go above 20mph you're flying), drive aggressively, drive anywhere there's space, and remember the pecking order; cars, tuk tuks, motos, bikes, and finally, at the very end, people. Oh and don't drive during the day with your headlight on because that's the only real offense you could be fined for.