My wife and I recently made a road trip during the height of Khmer New Year celebrations, the perfect opportunity for some A-Grade Hive content.
One Last Trip To Our Room In Pramaoy 🛺
This year my wife's birthday, Khmer New Year, and the last trips to our rental all coincided. I was a bit hesitant to transport items during Khmer New Year because there are usually many citizen roadblocks. These roadblocks are usually part water fight, part dancing, and it usually ends with some powder.
We were having success initially by waving off the roadblocks, letting them know we're transporting items and have paperwork onboard, but two different roadblocks carefully timed some full buckets of water, nearly destroying my phone and some important paperwork I was carrying.
I decided we could no longer trust our fellow humans, so I decided to drop the rain doors and hit the brakes as little as possible. On one of the trips we had our mattress hanging out the back, a bit exposed, but luckily it arrived dry and not covered in baby powder despite efforts of the roadblock partyers.
Peace & Calm At Steung Kach 🏞️
When a day of moving household items is over, the peace and calm of our place is unmatched. The sound of the rapids drowns out all other sounds, and even makes conversation hard at times.
Sometimes Monkey-B and I do our morning wash down by the river, assuming the water is not too cold of course. After a nature-filled morning river bath, it's back on the highway with the wife, filled with chaos, drunk driving, water fights, powder play, and music playing through PA speakers.
Khmer New Year 🔫
We didn't risk taking any photos not from behind the safety of the Ape's windscreen, so you'll see my wiper blade in a lot of these shots. The above photo is a perfect example of the New Year's roadblock. People on motorbikes have no chance at all, and those within the back of a pickup truck often have water weapons of their own to fight back with.
Drive 5 minutes, negotiate passage through a roadblock, then repeat, and that is how we made these trips, with New Year officially lasting 3 days, the 14th, 15th, and 16th of April.
Not A Camry Advertisement 🚘
This was one of the best sights of our trips, 5 people sharing the trunk of a Camry sans rear hatch. We were able to slowly pass them with our 10 HP of three-wheeled fury, and they were equally amused at us.
These are the moments when I remember why I love and live in Cambodia. There is always something of interest going on, and sometimes you need not even take your eyes off the highway. There is nothing a Toyota Camry can't do, I'm fully convinced of it.
Up Into The Clouds ☁️
After navigating the water war on the flats, it's time to climb Phnum 1,500, where everyone but us always stops to take selfies. I almost never see anyone taking photos of the natural beauty here, only selfies, I guess a sign of the times we are living in.
That leaves me to take pictures of the selfie traffic jams, where rich Phnom Penh tourists park their cars in the middle of a steep mountain highway full of switchbacks, absolutely irresponsible and dangerous. Apparently it's gotten so dangerous that an officer is now stationed there during the days, and he looks less than amused with his responsibilities.
It is these selfie tourists that are the ones leaving their trash behind at every stop, not thinking about the consequences of their actions. After passing through what I now call "Mt. Selfie," we arrive at home 15 minutes later. We are so glad to be done moving our stuff, and now we can focus on working to improve the property here.
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Return from 🛺 5 In The Trunk 🥳 & Other Totally Normal Khmer New Year Road-Trip Sights 🔫 to Justin Parke's Web3 Blog
