Dying to yourself; committing to living in community is a major aspect of the World Race. One of the ways that is created is from stripping away entitlement and freedoms you are accustomed to having in the United States. A seemingly obvious one is the use of a car. In America you jump in your car and head off in numerous directions for any number of reasons; to the extreme that the car you drive becomes apart of your identity. Fear not, right now I am not going to go down the trail of having your identity tied to the car you drive.
In Cambodia freedom to a certain amount was restored! Our contact blessed us in an unprecedented way by giving our team the green light to drive a jeep, tuk tuk, or some motos. I was stoked! The thought of driving the crazy streets where logic reigns, and rules are mere suggestions. To some degree driving just makes more sense in other countries….one example would be passing in the “breakdown” lane is perfectly acceptable. It was common to have cars or motos coming at you on both sides of the car at once; and skirting around the moving moto-restaurant was an art in itself.
After driving around Siem Reap for awhile going on grocery store runs, eating out, or just coming up with any obscure reason to use the jeep we learned the lay of the driving land quickly. So when off days came around we had the surrounding area at our fingertips. Finally off days could be spent going to unique places and not having to worry about finding a taxi/bus/tuk tuk or some other way to get there.
Our first off day adventure that was conjured up at a coffee shop about midday was to go to a floating village. Once enough people were on board with the idea; a quick Google Map search later we hit the streets. After an hour or so of driving, a stopping a couple times to clarify directions we stumbled upon our destination….a place to a boat tour of a floating village!
In the above photo you will notice those are school children in white shirts that are loading up in boas to paddle home. It is crazy to see how different cultures commute to school. I grew up walking or taking a bus, and here it’s no big deal to let your children paddle off.
Our second off day was slightly more planned in the sense that we knew we wanted to see a waterfall. A quick search later we found out about Phnom Kulen National Park had one of the tallest waterfalls in Cambodia…so off we went. Probably the best part of this adventure is once we found the National Park it had only a single dirt road leading into the park; so the one way flow was heading out so we couldn’t drive our jeep in. Thankfully we could rent some motos and I talked them into being an experienced driver so they let me drive one. Off roading on steep roads on a moto was a blast! Here are some pictures from this adventure!
Our final off day excursion lead us to one of the seven man made wonders of the world…Angkor Wat. This day started at 4am to watch the sunrise….I will let the pictures do the talking for this adventure!
Yes, I am looking forward to the freedom of a car but have appreciated the lifestyle of surviving on public transportation. I know I will be a lot more thankful about having access to a car once I return home.
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