Driving ... an organized chaos

 We got our driver's license and let me tell you, I will not be driving any time soon here!!!

We were given a three months visa when we arrived Cambodia,  we applied for an extension as soon as we got out of quarantine, it took a little bit time and our one year visa came back after 3 weeks, then after getting resident letter to prove we are legally here, we went to the Licensing department, pay money ($10,000 Kriels, which  equals to $2.50 US) for vision test and then another US$35 to get our license.

Let me explain how Cambodian drive:  Everyone has the right of way!  If you want to go thru an intersection, you cannot just wait for your turn; depending on who get to the interaction, that person/car/motto are the one who have the right of way.  Same with pedestrian crossing the street, if you wait for your turn, you will never cross the street, so we just step out of the street and cars and mottos will slow down or stop for you to cross!  a little bit crazy and dangerous I know, but now I feel like the road belongs to me, haha!

We got a car once we get our license and the same evening, Ted almost got T-boned at an intersection, people go full speed at intersection without checking for oncoming traffic on the cross road and luckily, Ted was able to drive around him!  Same examples of this organized chaos that we have seen so far are:
1.  you can turn from any lane: for example, I have seen someone on our right turning left right in front of us when we are going straingt
2. with blinker on to make a right turn, multiple motto (motocycles) would drive pass you to go straight. 
3.  A lot of the road a one way, but it does not prevent people from driving on the wrong side of the road for a few blocks so that they can cross over to the "right" side of the road: I had to hold my breath when I was riding on a tuk tuk with sister missionaries to go to the wet market!

Needless to say, you have to have your eyes watching all directions, tuk tuks, mottos, bicycles, cars and people!  Ted has gotten very brave with me as second "back seat" driver, telling him to pull out and wait for on coming traffic to slow down so we could make a left turn, It is crazy but it is life here!  So pray for us so we won't get in any accident!

Ted finally got pull over by the police for running a yellow light!  Here in Cambodia, the police would come out in packs: one would be driving on the road, you might not have done anything wrong, they will pull you over.  We were told to have a second wallet in the car with documents and if we ever got pull over to hand over this second wallet which would have some amount in it (a few thousand kriels - US$1-2), they will return your wallet with money gone and then let you go.  When Ted got pulled over, they said he ran a red light, which he did not, and they asked for $350,000 Kriel (US$80), Ted showed them the wallet, they just took his wallet and emptied the money out - he learned a lesson, he is going to have a wallet that has a $1,000 kriel instead!  The traffice polices are so corrupted here, he also radio ahead for someone else up the street to pull you over!

Here are some pictures of the traffic situation here:

One lane road becomes 3, all trying to convert into one lane to turn right!

A car making a right turn in front of you as you are going straight, first come first served!!