Outside of the city most roads aren't paved in Cambodia. They are generally au-natural, which means dirt roads, full of bumps and other obstacles.
I've been on some pretty nasty roads in my time. Some of the worst roads I've seen were in Mozambique, sometimes I would wonder how we made it through as I was certain we would get stuck somewhere along the way or the crevices in the road would just eat up our vehicle. To keep myself from being scared, I would pretend I was riding a roller coaster. Including throwing my hands up and yelling "weeee" on some pretty treacherous hills. The staff would just laugh not knowing my true motivation for the outburst.
Recently I was in a northern province in Cambodia riding some bumpy, dirt roads. As I am being jostled about and trying not to bang my head against the window, one of the staff from Australia reminded me that people in Western cultures pay to have off-roading adventures - we get to do it as part of the job.
One of the Khmer staff who speaks English caught on to the paying part and asked some clarifying questions about off-road tours. He then proceeds to explain to the driver in Khmer that "barangs" (foreigners) pay money to drive on bumpy roads. The driver laughed so hard I thought he was going to lose control of the vehicle, there were actually tears streaming down his face and he was shaking his head in disbelief. Crazy barangs!
That is soooo funny!
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