Our own ....personal...tuk-tuk
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Rarely have I ever felt so free, especially on this latest tour of Southeast Asia, as when Mr. Tha cooked up his mean
machine to what must have been something like 30 miles an hour. Man, we were whipping. Well, maybe not but the wind it
generated more than made up for our slow travel times. In fact, it was often a bit of a anti-climax when we actually arrived
at a temple and had to disembark from our own….personal….tuk-tuk. The only thing that made the heat bearable was we
knew that as soon as we returned, good old Mr. Tha, perhaps fast asleep in his trusty vehicle, was waiting to whisk us away
to another temple. And for that time at least, we would be cool and in good hands. No thoughts, no worries: not with Mr. Tha
at the helm of our chariot of fire.
You have to do some negotiating with the driver of your choice and it is always best to find one on your own. The fewer
middlemen, the more you can pay the guy that really is your key to enjoying the many sights of Angkor. A simple three-day
tour generally runs about thirty bucks but if you want to go further afield, like Bateay Srei, you will be asked to shell out
more. That said, there are a lot of these tuk-tuk’s now and there is accordingly more bargaining power. We arrived at a final
price of thirty bucks for two normal days touring along with the extended trip to Banteay Srei. We also got a sunset pre-visit
thrown in. If you buy your pass after five in the afternoon, you get to go in for sunset and return the next day for your first
day on the pass. So, we had Mr. Tha’s services for the duration.
The driver’s are quite willing to run back and forth between town and the temples for lunch but, generally, it is easier and
less time consuming to just stay for what amounts to a very long day. Generally, you want to get there before sunrise at
least once and if you are smart, every day. Not only is the light best early in the day but it is much cooler too. The drivers
figure most travelers will wimp out at least one of the three days but Mr. Tha begrudgingly picked us up in the dark each
morning, once he realized there was no talking us out of it. We also stayed for sunset each day. The only time Mr. Tha
caught a break was the third afternoon, when we decided to head back into town for our favorite lunch and gave him that
time off, asking to be brought back to the park only close to sunset.
I would have to say, he was a most agreeable guy and though fairly quiet and only moderately knowledgeable about the
sights, we found him most unobtrusive and a joy to be in the company of. He also knew some choice food spots. When it
was all said and done, I gave him a five-dollar tip. I have to admit I felt a bit of a hard bargainer and though it is a lot of
money in this impoverished country, I felt he deserved more than ten dollars a day for the amount of time he put in. I don’t
think he expected it. In his unassuming way, he just looked up from the money with a beaming smile, unconsciously shaking
his head yes, and said, “thank you.” I shook his hand and said, “no, Mr. Tha. Thank you.”
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