Extortion on the open road February 4
I was just extorted for “protection money.” I’m so angry I could spit. I left Phnom Penh today at 1pm. Too late to ride 70km. I ken that. But I didn’t think it was going to be a problem. I’d just ride the last hour or two in the dark - the road was supposed to be good. And it was. I stopped about 5km outside of Skon, as I needed a small break, and some food.
I sat, perched on a mile marker, eating the last of my mangos, when two men on a motorbike rode up. They stopped, the passenger said hello, and then not much more. The one driving was giving me, and my bike, a look that was very unnerving. He got off the bike, and approached me, getting uncomfortably close, without saying anything.
I came down off the mile marker, sure I was about to be robbed of everything I own.