A four-hour ambulance ride

 Shirley had been stabilized, but there were concerns that something may go wrong during the 320km (200 mile) trip to Phenom Penh.  The ambulance would travel with a full team of a doctor, two RNs and two drivers.  Add to that, Shirley’s gurney, me, and all of our luggage and it was a pretty packed vehicle. 

We left Seam Reap around 5:30 pm – the heart of rush hour.  She was ready to go long before that, but there is a “pay before you go” policy here and first, our final bill had to be tallied; then they had to reach out to our Travel Insurance company for payment.  Ninety minutes after the final bill had been submitted, the invoicing clerk came to me and suggested I could pay the bill and be reimbursed.  I burned a big hole in my credit card and got her bailed out.  Of course, 5 minutes later the insurance payment came through.  😊

So our packed ambulance pulls out of the hospital at almost exactly 5:30.  Based on posted road speeds, the drive is listed as about 5 hours and 25 minutes.  Our driver said it would take 4 hours. Lights on, siren blaring we pulled into thick evening traffic.  In Cambodia, maybe a third of the drivers actually pull over for ambulances.  Our driver deftly weaved in and out of traffic, ran red lights, went the wrong way down some roads until we got out of the densely populated city.

Our ride

My hope was that there would be multi-lane highway for the long drive.  Having seen a beautiful one between Hanoi and Ha Long, I thought it might be the same between Cambodia’s two largest cities.  This was not to be the case.  Until we reached the outskirts of Phenom Penh the road was basically two lanes with wide shoulders.  Motorbikes, carts and other slower vehicles mostly stayed on the shoulder allowing larger, faster vehicles the primary lane. 

Since we were mostly traveling at about 50% above the posted speed limit, we were constantly coming up on cars and trucks that would sometimes merge with the motor bikes to make room, but more often not.  In these cases, we’d pass them in the oncoming lane. I’d guess in all we passed at least 1,000 vehicles (not counting motor bikes).  The most challenging thing was coming upon large, un-lit wagons going down the road in the dark.  Fortunately, our driver had excellent night vision.

As this video shows, some drivers were reluctant 

to yield to the ambulance.  We followed this Ford Ranger 

for nearly a minute before he finally pulled over.  

To make the evening more interesting, we had a lightning storm that lasted most of the drive.  There was limited rain, but every minute or so, the entire sky would light up from the storm.

For the last few miles we picked up a motorcycle escort.  The road was so jammed with cars that the bikes would ride between the lanes and slap the hoods of cars to get them to pull over, freeing up a lane straddling between two. 

True to his word, we pulled into the Royal Phenom Penh Hospital at 9:28.  Shirley was evaluated by a team of doctors in the ER for a couple of hours before being sent up to an isolation room in the ICU.

I can’t say enough nice things about our travel agency and their local partners.  When the ambulance pulled up at the hospital, the first person to greet me was a new guide.  She and her driver transferred all of our luggage to their van and then waited two hours for me until Shirley was settled into her ICU room.  They had arranged to have my stay at the hotel we were booked at in PP to begin a few days early, so after seeing Shirley to her ICU room, I got a ride back to the Penh House.