The Tuk Tuks

The persistence of the tuk tuk drivers here in Cambodia has nearly forced us into hiding. Every seven seconds, or more often at corners or markets, we'll hear the familiar call of "Tuk tuk lady?" Danielle adapted immediately and is able to ignore most of the ruckus. I, however, feel responsible for answering every single shout with a polite shake of the head or a "no thank you." it might seem more humane but it's not, it just gives them false hope. They end up grabbing their poster of attractions and following us, expending their precious energy in the heat of the day, chanting "where you go tomorrow? Want see killing fields? Museum? Tuol sleng? Discount for you." I continue to say no in every language I can think of until finally I say, "we like to walk!" and make a little walking gesture with my hands. This seems to confuse them, and they either laugh or frown at us and walk away. Although we've had many entertaining interactions under these circumstances, and generally find the drivers to be very charming, we've decided to put a stop to the incessant attacks by going on the offensive.

So tonight while we ate at an adorable pizzeria on the riverfront and watched Valentines Day revelers celebrate (apparently it's a very big thing here - it looked like a pink bomb went off in the middle of Phnom Penh), we selected a driver who had parked near our table. After we paid our bill we waited for him to walk away from his tuk tuk, then we hurried onto the street and stood right next to his little vehicle. Four or five other drivers saw us and started screaming "Tuk tuk ???" like mindless drones, but we just pointed to the driver we'd picked, the only one who hadn't had a chance to yell at us yet, and said, "We want him." Then we crossed our arms and started tapping our feet as if we'd been waiting for him for a long time.

The other drivers looked like we'd stabbed them in the heart. It must have seemed so unfair for him to get the commission when they'd clearly called dibs on us. But that one driver smiled like he was king of the tuk tuks. He swaggered over to where we were, hopped on the moto seat and took off down Sisowath Quay. As soon as we were on the rode Danielle and I broke out in peels of laughter, and we could see from the mirrors that our driver was laughing just as hard. That'll teach them to yell at us all day.

Tuk Tuk drivers: 0
Jessi and Danielle: 1

Our favorite Siem Reap tuk tuk driver, Zut (center)

(Actually Written By Jessi)