By far the most popular form of transport in Cambodia is the motorbike, they are everywhere and seem to outnumber cars by a factor of 20 or more.
Motorbikes are used to transport just about anything you can think of, and the ingenuity that the locals use to load up all manner of odd things is amazing. They are adept at loading up their motorbikes with unbelievable amounts of stuff. The strategy seems to be to load as much as you can until it is simply impossible to load any more – and then they add some more anyway.
Motorbikes are used as a people carrier (towing the the ubiquitous Tuk-tuks), they transport produce, livestock, building materials, (with or without a trailer) and almost everything else. This afternoon I saw 3 large pigs draped across the back of a motorbike – apparently when they are laid out on their backs they pass out (due to lack of blood to the brain), and are therefore “easy” to carry.
Pillion Art
The locals have turned the concept of pillion passengers into an art form… it is common to see two more people on a single moped and not unusual at all to see a family of 4 and occasionally even 5 people crammed aboard. Nathan has a photo of 6 people and a dog on a single motorbike (Mum, Dad, two babies in mums arms, child squeezed between mum and dad and another standing in front of dad, and the dog in a basket on the front).
Officially you need to be 16 to ride a motorbike (and then less than 50cc until your are 18), but there seem to be plenty of kids much younger that that out on the roads – particularly in the more rural provinces.
Just as a very quick example… the gallery below is a selection of shots over a 15 minute period mostly at the one (not particularly busy) street corner.
