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There was rioting (see this article on cnn.com and there are some pictures also) in the streets last night, over a thai actress’s supposed comments that “Cambodia should give Angkor Wat back to Thailand.” (Angkor Wat is a World Heritage Site, considered the eighth wonder of the world, is on the Cambodian flag, and is considered far and wide to be wholely Cambodian)

I was in the Diamond Web internet cafe when I heard loud cheering outside and motorbikes honking horns. I thought maybe it was a parade, so I went outside to see what it was all about.

It was not a parade. It was a mob of at least several hundred young men, most wearing the typical slacks and white button down shirt of students, some waving big Cambodian flags. one man climbed the nearby billboard advertising a Thai company, and started beating at it with a stick and ripping it down, to cheers from the crowd.

A part of me was curious to see it, but another part of me was scared to be so close to it, not knowing where the crowd might turn next. I went back inside and got the full scoop off the net, where the story of the burning of the Thai embassy was just starting to be posted.

I holed up in the internet cafe until about 10pm, closing time, occasionally going outside to watch the mob going up and down the main street, often stopping to do more damage to the sign.

The people at the internet cafe said I’d be fine, as the violence was only directed at Thais. Still, knowing that a mob mentality could turn at any minute, I felt uneasy.

I only had 1km or so to go up the main road (Monivon) to get home. As I rode away from the cafe, a huge mob of motorcycles, many passengers weilding stick, raced my direction, shouting and cheering and honking. Very worried, I got up on the sidewalk and tried to be inconspicuous.

I rode a few more blocks further to be confronted by a huge crowd, with ambulances, riot police, and billowing smoke from a large fire in it’s midst. I did a quick U-turn, very frightened. This was not where I wanted to be.

I went down a side street, and pulled out my map. I figured out a detour, and managed to get to the turn off to the backpacker ghetto without further incident.

And that’s when the motorbike hit me. I guess it was partly my fault, for not looking behind me as I went to turn. But at that point, I’m pretty sure I was nearly on the center line. I was signaling though.

I think he hit my rear tire, and I went down hard, skidding on the pavement. He didn’t even stop.

As I got up, and watched him and his wife ride off I felt anger more than anything. A couple people stopped to see if I was ok, and I moved over to the sidewalk to pull myself together. I was fine, only a few small abrasions and bruises on me and my bike. My biggest injury was a healthy size bruise on my inner thigh where I got clocked by the end of the handlebars.

A sucky ending to the day, but I feel lucky my first less in Cambodian road rules didn’t turn out worse than it did. A moto driver I was talking to today said it’s normal to drive away from a crash if you can, to avoid having to pay money, both to the other person, and to the police.

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In researching some news links for this entry, I ran across an article published today in The Nation titled How close we came to war with Cambodia in The Nation. I don’t think anyone here had any idea how close things came. It would have been extremely bad, if it had gone that far.

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