Michael Batson

Koh Kong is about six hours by bus from Phnom Penh, part of it along Cambodia’s most dangerous road and the rest through some of the country’s most spectacular scenery, the Cardamom Mountains. National Route Four heads west from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville across the flat expanse of Kompong Speu, a province known in Cambodia for its numerous palm trees, stretching off into the distance across endless rice fields. Two bus companies usually ply the route, Sorya and the more dubious Virak-Buntham Express for $8 and $9 respectively. Road travel in Cambodia is dangerous, with almost four people on average killed on the country’s roads every day. Road accidents are now the biggest cause of trauma in Cambodia, having overtaken landmines and other various exploding ordnance. A characteristic finale of any fatal accident is a report that the driver flees the scene, a trait shared in other Southeast Asian countries. After one such accident last year on a night bus from Siem Reap to Vietnam, which killed and maimed several tourists and locals, the driver duly legged it. Having seen photos of the vehicle after the accident, it’s a wonder how he managed such a feat given he would need to be Iron Man to have survived the impact. Even by Cambodian standards Virak-Buntham has a battered fleet. The company advertises that its buses are equipped with toilets, a mixed blessing given you need be three-feet tall to use them, and have an industrial