Getting Mobile

Today's world is into mobility. One of the biggest challenges for me in adjusting to my new setting in Cambodia has been a loss of mobility. No longer can I jump in my car and conveniently go wherever I want on a moment's notice. For most of my first couple of weeks my options for getting around were 1. walk, 2. bum a ride off of a friend (whether that be by car or motorcycle), or 3. hire a tuk tuk. I am grateful for these options, but they sometimes feel very limiting in comparison to the freedom that I was used to. It gives me yet another opportunity to depend on God, however, and He has graciously been providing for me. Last Monday a friend took me bike shopping and I found a bicycle - used, but in really good shape. Additionally, God answered my prayers about my transportation needs by helping me to find a great tuk tuk driver, one who is kind, honest, and dependable! I can't begin to express how thankful I am for this - it allows me to get a lot of things done that would be much harder to do otherwise while feeling relatively secure. Since for now I will be using my bike the most, I do ask for your prayers for safety as I am learning how to navigate the traffic here with my bike. I feel quite stressed when I am in a lot of traffic, which happens fairly often, and I did have one kind of scary incident which shook me up a little. I know it will improve as I continue to practice getting around this way.

If you want to get a little taste of what riding my bike in Phnom Penh is like, you can click here to see a video of part of my route from my language class back to my apartment. Sorry it is so jumpy, that's what happens when you mount a camera to the handlebars! The little carriages you see pulled by motorcycles are tuk tuks. (Note: this is light traffic, not the kind that scares me, despite the fact that I had to pull over in the last part of this video to avoid hitting an oncoming motorcycle, saying, "Some toh," which means "Sorry" in Khmer.)