The Mother of All Cluster F@#@'s

I soon came upon a traffic jam, so I all got out to investigate. I saw over a hundred cars jammed up on my side and the same on the other side of the commotion and in the middle was what I like to call The Mother of All Cluster F@#$’s.

Imagine a huge eighteen wheeler semi truck stuck in the mud and tilted over about 40 degrees because of the soft ground, only to be supported by three huge wooden log beams. That was part of the blocked road path. Then there was another part you could go through, but it was a big dip down and then up in the mud and water holes. A small truck had already tried to go through it unsuccessfully. There was a huge crowd all around trying to figure out what to do. Then another small truck came barreling through between the two other vehicles and got stuck himself! Later another guy with a winch and a bigger truck tried to pull the recent brainiac.

Meanwhile other geniuses couldn’t wait and took matters into their own hands. Now picture one side of the road with a steep downward hill and the other side with a small plateau covered with trees and a hut. So these geniuses drove up the grassy hill through the trees, slowly around the hut on the edge, straight down the other side, and then had to cross a little creek. The first car made it, but the second car got stuck and everyone laughed. I really really wished I had a photo of all of this to show.

My first impressions of Cambodians were that they didn’t seem to think ahead. They just went for it and dealt with the outcome later. At least that was what I saw in their driving skills.

After about two hours people helped push the car through the creek only to have another car get stuck. The guy with the winch managed to pull the other truck through and then plowed through himself to the other side, but then someone else tried and got stuck. Finally a huge CAT with a giant scooper came and I thought it would fill up the holes and make a proper path for all the cars… nope. I’m not sure what it was doing, but it developed mechanical problems and had to be taken away.

Eventually, the plateau was cleared and my driver decided to take chance to go the opposite way. Luckily he succeeded and I were on my way again.