Packed in like sardines

Tomorrow all of the volunteers need to travel back to Phnom Penh for the last three days of in country training. I had discussed hiring a taxi to Phnom Penh with some of the group but no one seemed interested. Tuesday afternoon I purchased a bus ticket to Phnom Penh.  Later in the afternoon, I had a call from Sara; she was trying to arrange a taxi to Phnom Penh. I said I was interested, even though I had already purchased my bus ticket.

Later in the day Sara called to say that she had arranged a taxi, there would be five people and lots of space. Great, the taxi only takes two hours, the bus three hours.

Wednesday the taxi came to pick me up at 13:00. It was a very old Toyota Camary. It was already with four ladies in it. I thought that I would put my things in the trunk and squeeze in. The trunk was already full. My bag with clothes, helmet and my computer would have to go in my lap.

We put two ladies in the front seat and I was in the back with two other ladies. It was a tight fit. I thought “they give sardines oil when they are packed this tight”.

We drove non-stop to Phnom Penh, we thought if we stopped and got out we would not be able to get packed back in. We crossed the bridge over the Mekong into Phnom Penh. We were lucky, there was not much traffic, some times, and we have been waiting in traffic to cross the bridge for an hour.

Just shortly after the bridge, we pulled over into a parking area. We still have a way to go. I said “why are we stopping”? Come to find out, we could not have two people in the front passenger seat. We all got out, I moved quite slowly after sitting in the same position for two hours. I switched into the front passenger seat and all four of the ladies squeezed with a little help of the driver pushing on the door into the back seat. We loaded my lap with luggage. The driver kept pushing the luggage down so it did not show in the front window.

We finally arrived at the guest house. When he opened the back door, people and luggage popped out like opening a container of Pillsbury Crescent rolls.