Bus Driver is Nuts
- Login to post comments
Had to visit the family in Siem Reap this Water Festival, felt confident in investing in a Mekong Expression bus ticket, PP-SR (ie, the "luxury bus").
Anyways, call me a mouse, but my god, I don't want to travel on a long distance bus again here, not only were two of the windows on the side broken (but not missing), at regular intervals, the back axle gave a dangerously-sounding crunching noise, even with small bumps in the road.
I am not a natural moaner, but the driver must have thought he was behind the wheel of a Mustang, the way he was driving, it scared the shit out of me, overtaking sometimes in highly-risky situations relying on intimidating oncoming cars (and buses) to the extremes of the sides of the highway, rather than any considerations of spatial or distance factors.
I tried to sleep it off, but I was too adrenalized with fear.
These guys, they should be more mindful of safety of the 40 or so passengers, and realize it's not a childish game or race.
Next time, I get a private taxi, or fly, never buses again for me.
Better Call Saul
Its NOT just the Siem Reap and other domestic routes that this happens on...the Saigon To Phnom Penh Buss experience is very similar
See this
The bus run - Phnom Penh to Saigon
Kamikaze Pilots the lot of them
and it isn't all of them. I and friends have been on many bus trips in Cambodia. Luckily it was my friend not me who eventually drew the short straw and got the bus driver from hell who managed to cut an hour of the usual travel time to Battambang (and a few years of her life)! Terrified she was... and she's a hard female not easily scared by speed.
it could've been worse ... at least it wasn't the angkor express double-decker with the bent axles (all 4 wheels looks like they're trying to turn left when the bus is driving straight ahead) lol
You think a private taxi would be less scary?
Or flying with Angkor!!!!
Which begs the question: Is there any form of long-distance transport in Cambodia which is safe? I have been here over a decade and I can't think of one.
Hopefully Cambodia Angkor Air can expand to more domestic destinations.
Since they have technical back up from Vietnam Air they are quite a safe option as Vietnam Air has a very modern fleet and is internationally recognized.
Man, I've been on some scary Vietnam Air flights. Some of the planes (PNH to Vientiane for example) look and feel like they're going to fall apart. At least no old Soviet planes but zeesh...still Angkor Air flights I've taken were just fine.
I flown vietnam air to both laos and hcmc recently and found their planes to be new and in good shape. From what i know they have one of the youngest fleet of aircraft in SE Asia and compare favorably to all Thai airlines i have flown with.
Taxi has to be worse,at least in a bus one can sit near the back and maybe survive the collision.
After seeing a head-on collision between a bus (not sure which co) and a dump truck outside Siem Reap, which obliterated the front half of the bus and the entire cab of the truck, I definitely try to sit towards the back now. Not sure that would help in such circumstances though. Mini-bus or taxi is worse, agreed.
Taylor, I agree with marklatham... Taxi far worse. Very scary.
safest way for long-distance travel?
if you don't have a car, get a rental SUV for a few days ... basically anything reasonably new, and sits a bit higher above the road ... bull bars are a bonus ... can't do much about all the other drivers on the roads, but at least if you're driving yourself ... ? ... .....
Not bad advice azza.
But i drove a SUV up north a while ago and hit a stupid cow-sorry very politically incorrect language.
Thanks to airbags and seat belts we were OK,but the cow was very sick.
i just drove a moto tonight from PP to pech nil on the way to kompong saom.
Crikey it was dangerous,motorists seemed to have no regard for motos.
Sorry if I am being politically incorrect about cambodians bad habits again.
Even the august mr galloway has claimed on these forums that cambodians have just as much social responsibility as any other race.
What are these people smoking in phnom penh nowadays?
Where can i buy some?
Outside the FCC?
Cambodians on the whole are bloody shocking drivers. Not saying is collectively their fault, just take the license test ( OK snigger snigger) and it is obvious why.
No sensible rules, no enforcement anyway, no road education.
Perhaps some NGO's could focus on that topic instead of whatever it is that many of them apparently do.
Driving is one thing that I normally enjoy in life. In Cambodia its just hard work. I havnt started the car for 9 days, might go to Riverside later just to give the car a run.
The more expensive the car that a Khmer drives the less respect he or she will show to anyone else on the road.
Taking Motos or Tuk Tuk is even more dangerous.
Keep Safe people.
Cheers Banker
We sometimes get the Capitol bus from Kompong Saom to PP n back because it's easier than driving. But our latest trip was white-knuckle stuff. Apparently a new driver who had previously been on the PP-Siem Reap run. Absolutely no regard for motos. This moron was honking even when there was nothing on the road!! I reckon he forced every moto we came across onto the dirt.
The drivers of big company trucks tend to have good road manners. They invariably indicate when it's NOT safe to overtake and move over - don't think he's indicating that it's safe though. The worst drivers have to be taxi vans, buses and of course, big black (hey! look how corrupt I am) suvs.
If driving between PP and KS - or anywhere else for that matter - it's safest to pick your time and day for travel, although this may not be convenient for some. For instance, try not to drive from PP on a Friday and back into PP on a Sunday. The main difference between the KS-PP run and others is container traffic, so try to leave KS early in the morning to beat the containers. Also, a lot of big truck drivers take a break at lunch time, so try to have an early break and drive through lunch time when on a main highway. The best time to drive from PP to KS is Sunday morning. If you can arrange an early-mid-week trip, you'll likely arrive without incident and be more relaxed. PP is a total bun fight now - I avoid it like the plague.
for short distnce hops within PP, cyclos are perhaps the safest ... they're slow, low centre of gravity, stable, no mechanical parts to break ... and the passenger is surrounded by a cage of metal ... gets a bit crowded for 2 or more ppl though ...
"Perhaps some NGO's could focus on that topic instead of whatever it is that many of them apparently do." Er ... there is an NGO working in this area: http://en.handicapinternational.be/Cambodia_a551.html
came back on the evening bus from sihanoukville -> PP night before last ... the missus and I got seat numbers #1 & #2, luck of the draw, huh? it was the paramount express double-decker, so no driver in front ... and the driver made the trip in record time, 3hours 40mins, INCLUDING the obligatory half-hour rest-stop ...
now i sit here and wonder ... why did i take the bloody bus ... ? ...
I took that paramount express bus sr to pp in august. 17 stops we counted including driver smoko and loo breaks, and almost 8 hours to get to pp. not fun!
worst 2 bus trips i've taken in all the years i've been here ... the number 1 spot goes to the "Express" service from siem reap -> ban lung (via phnom penh) ... and on a close 2nd would be the sihanoukville -> bangkok service ...
i know i said the worst 2, but the 8-hour trip from phnom penh -> koh kong is a pretty close contender as well ...
The road rule is Big car even i saw NGO car driver it worse also. Taxi far worse then bus.yes you can get driver license with out test drive. Government need to do something about license & road role.
Kchau
Wow 3 hours 40-terrific.
I was on google earth tonight looking for the best back road to PP.
Looks like i will go to kampot and take the old road 127 about 20ks from kampot up highway three and hit highway four a few ks on the pp side of kompong speu.