Honking and Sweeping

We've arrived in Phnom Phen several hours ago after a bus ride that included about 100,000 horn honks by our bus driver. So far as I can tell, these are the times that Cambodian bus drivers will honk their horns:

• When stopped, to make sure people don't miss the enormous green and orange bus on the side of the road and run into it
• When passing a single bicyclist on a otherwise deserted road to make extra-sure they know the very noisy bus is there. Bonus points for waiting till the last second to do this or starting early and giving frequent honks at .5 second intervals. I'm guessing most Cambodians are nearly deaf which is the only way they could miss the racket of the bus bearing down on them. Presumably they are deaf from getting horns honked in their ears. Which just seems like a vicious cycle
  
• When trying to pass into other oncoming buses also furiously honking their horns, from what I can tell the one who has the loudest and/or frequent honks gets to make the pass
• When passing a mixed group of any of the following - pedestrians, cyclists, ox-drawn carts, tractor hybrid things, motorbikers and cars, so they know you are there. Even of they are already on the median of the road and looked back and clearly saw you hundreds of feet away
• When not playing chicken trying to pass other buses, to greet other bus drivers
• When stopped at a red light, to voice your displeasure
• When passing through a small village, to let the naked children playing in the road to watch out. This one seems justified to me
  
• Random times, just for fun

At one point during the ride I was staring at the back of the drivers head, fantasizing about the ways I would like to kill him.

Next to honking, the favored activity in Cambodia seems to be sweeping. I have seen more sweeping here than I have the rest of my life combined. Sweeping of steps, sweeping of patios, sweeping of leaves on a good 5k portion of 15 km loop around Angkor Wat, sweeping of streets. All this sweeping is done with some sort of twig brooms that don't look like they are very effective. While I appreciate the lack of dust all this sweeping contributes too, I do wonder why some of the energy used sweeping isn't instead directed at cleaning up the huge number of pieces of garbage blowing everywhere? I'm considering forming a NGO called LSMGP (Less Sweeping, More Garbage Pickup). I think it could make a huge impact.

Onto less weighty matters. Had a great last couple days in Siem Reap. Hung out by the pool one day, got a sunburn, visited Tonlé Sap Lake and the floating villages there, toured this NGO called PEPY Ride/Tours (www.pepyride.org), went out a couple nights and on one of them smoked the first very good Cuban cigar I've ever had. I've had a couple before but they have been crap, either fakes or just bad ones. This little coronito was smooth, complex and had an excellent draw. Apparently there is something to the Commie hype. Met some crazy expats who were going to take me dirt biking but chickened out thinking of the injuries/robberies that could befall me in the Cambodian countryside.

Just had a great bowl of noodle salad that included the following: Rice noodles, lettuce, basil, mystery herb, beef (i think?), pork belly, sweet and savory peanut sauce and fried spring rolls. Delicious! Now off to this art gallery and then to get my last meal in Cambodia. I leave tomorrow at 6 am to travel to Saigon so I can get my 2 pm flight to Phu Quoc Island. Everywhere on the island I've tried to book so far has been full so I'm either sleeping on the beach or in a roach motel. Should be fun either way.