How safe is it to travel around the rural areas?
Some foreign embassy reports (i.e. Canada, USA, England, well, all of them I guess) and some guidebooks have advised against overland travel for security reasons. This is complete nonsense, highway banditry hasn’t been a problem since 1999. Any “roadblock” you encounter is some form of a toll (though the legalities of these tolls may be subject to debate, you as a passenger need not be concerned with them). Except for the tollbooth on NH 4 on the way out of Phnom Penh which is a proper toll plaza, here a tollbooth is a bamboo gate and some guy in a uniform will move that gate when you give him the money or alternatively, he just waves a baton at whoever he wants to stop. They even issue receipts at some. But whatever form of a toll it is, if it even is one, it is entirely between the driver and the person with their hand out and has absolutely nothing to do with you the passenger. There is nothing whatsoever for you to be concerned about if you’re hurtling down the highway in a taxi or
For many years foreign embassy reports (i.e. Canada, USA, England, well, all of them I guess) and some guidebooks advised against overland travel for security reasons. This was even then and certainly now, complete nonsense, highway banditry hasn’t been a problem since 1999. Any “roadblock” you encounter is some form of a toll (though the legalities of these tolls may be subject to debate, you as a passenger need not be concerned with them). Except for the tollbooth on NH 4 on the way out of Phnom Penh which is a proper toll plaza, here a tollbooth is a bamboo gate and some guy in a uniform will move that gate when you give him the money or alternatively, he just waves a baton at whoever he wants to stop. They even issue receipts at some. But whatever form of a toll it is, if it even is one, it is entirely between the driver and the person with their hand out and has absolutely nothing to do with you the passenger. There is nothing whatsoever for you to be concerned about if you’re hur
