After lunch I took a new colleague to purchase a sim card (mobile phone chip) for his phone. This was only the second time I have has anyone else on my moto with me. The tires were a little low on air so the ride was soft and a bit wobbly. When I am alone on my moto, I can get around smoothly, with a passenger I was a bit more careful.
To get the phone store we went up one of the main boulevards and turned right, crossed another boulevard and we were there. When we left the phone shop, I calculated that the safest way back was the way we had come.
We crossed the first boulevard and stopped at the light where we would turn left on the other boulevard. I did a standard Cambodian left turn at a light, as soon as the light turned green (or a little before) I cut sharply left to cross in front of the oncoming traffic. Good turn. Not so fast Tom.
About 20 meters down the boulevard were two policemen. One stepped out into the lane and motioned me over. Oh OH. My thoughts were, "this was a normal Cambodian turn. What's the problem?" The policeman only spoke Khmer. In English I asked "What's the problem?" He explained and explained motioning at the light this way and that way. I said "I am sorry but I don't speak Khmer." Then he drew a very poor sketch of the intersection and tried to explain it what way. My refrain was "I am sorry I don't understand I don't speak Khmer."
The other police man took over in Khmer. My response was the same. While all of this was going on my passenger was patiently waiting on my moto. After about five minutes of this, the first policeman called on his radio. Oh reinforcements.
Shortly policeman rode up on a moto. He looked at my driver's license and said American said I could go. Whew!!!
The trip back to work was uneventful after that.
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