The moto ride...

If you have ever visited Cambodia or if you've ever had nightmares about the world's scariest roads, then you know how the roads are in Cambodia. Scary pretty much sums it up. Red lights are only suggestions and it doesn't matter that a car/tuk tuk/moto is coming, they will turn anyways. People drive on the wrong side of the road, people don't check mirrors. To anyone who didn't grow up there, it's just chaos! Scary chaos. They can fit a family of 5, or 3 grown men, on a moto. Kinda like this:


Pretty standard to see sleeping babies too and these moto drivers drive like they are not afraid of death! I always said I was way too much of a wuss (or I liked living too much) to ride on the back of a moto. Funny enough, on this particular day, I was even thinking how scared I would be to ride on one through this certain market that we had to take to get back to the home. It was so crowded and people came out of nowhere, which didn't seem to matter to any driver on the road as they kept up their normal speed.

After spending a few hours at a hotel to swim, Vong came to pick me up. He is Remember Nhu's tuk tuk driver. I can't really explain the feeling of panic that swept through me as he motioned to his moto bike that his baby daughter was crawling all over and said, "Sorry, no tuk tuk!" I considered telling him I just wasn't capable of hopping on for this 20-30 minute ride to the end of my life! There wasn't really another option though, and I thought if I could do this, I could do ANYTHING! A little dramatic? Sure, but you have to keep in mind I was about to be dead!

I usually throw the word "terrifying" around lightly, but this was very legitimately TERRIFYING! To be fair, I didn't feel as unstable as I expected and I knew Vong was a good driver. I just didn't trust the other drivers. Then the unthinkable happened...his daughter fell asleep. Of course, neither the little girl nor I had helmets either. I had been holding on pretty tightly to the bar behind me with both hands but now that the child (maybe a year old?) between me and the driver was SLEEPING, someone was gonna have to hold her on!! Here I am, holding a sleeping girl with one hand and gripping the bar behind me with my other hand so tightly thinking, 'Surely this is how I'm going out.' One lady side saddling a passing moto looked at the girl, looked at me, at the girl and back up at me. I gave her a smile that said, "Yeah, isn't my daughter pretty!"

I was trying to look relaxed and natural, like I had done this for years, but I kept imagining how my hand behind me must have looked! I was literally holding on for dear life! It was such a long ride and somehow that girl slept the whole time.

I'll never forget how proud of myself for being alive I was when we rode through the gate at the home. The girls greeted me cheerfully and I handed Vong his still sleeping/still living baby girl.

The moral of the story is...
Apparently, you can trust me with your kids in ANY situation.