Alert and focused are the watchwords when we travel the roads of Cambodia. This is especially true while driving at night. Any sort of movable entity may move or park on the darkened roadway. Trucks of all sizes and shapes moving faster than the normal traffic, moving along with normal traffic and moving slower while swaying and dancing along. The road often becomes a parking lot. Trucks park anywhere in, near or on the roadway. These trucks may or may not have illumination.
Two wheel vehicles present a different challenge. Whether the two wheels are side by side or one in front of the other these vehicles are found anywhere along, across or in the roadway. Two wheeled vehicles may carry passengers with produce on top, on the side or in front. The movement of the two wheeled vehicle may be at the pace of a snail or faster than normal movement. Passengers will ride anywhere space become available. Occasionally a passenger may be seen several feet above the driver seated on produce. In the darkness an astute driver must look for moving shadows to avoid an undesirable incident.
The illumination of oncoming vehicles may virtually blind a driver so that the roadway cannot be seen. Or an oncoming vehicle may have no lights. A single light may or may not mean a two-wheeled vehicle. Very bright lights outshine the dim lights leaving the driver wondering about the number and style of vehicle making their rapid approach. Multiple lights of several colors most often indicate an approaching a very large trunk. White light most of the time means a vehicle will pass soon hopefully on proper side of the road.
Pervasive darkness of the roadway illuminated by scattered light reminds one of the chaos of life. I wonder if the light I bring to the world is as erratic as the lights I see while driving in Cambodia? Maybe I need to make a studied approach to both the path I take and the roadways of Cambodia. Would I the be a Road’s Scholar?
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