Cambodia A Cabbie Abroad

This programme contains some strong language and some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

Eastender Mason McQueen drives one of London's 22,000 black taxis.

The London cab driver is naturally a nosy bastard.

We're the eyes and ears of this city.

Last year, he left London to live

and work as a cabbie in Mumbai for a BBC documentary.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

It's chaos. It's like Mad Max meets The Kumars or something.

Big bus, big bus, big bus.

What have I got myself into here, eh?

Now, Mason has accepted the challenge to drive

a taxi in three very different cities around the world.

Can it get worse than Mumbai? I don't think so.

In the far north of Canada,

he'll be battling some of the worst conditions on the planet.

Oh, whoa, whoa.

Just losing control of this vehicle!

And meeting a lost people.

Would you rather have today's life or would you like to go back?

I rather go back.

He'll be setting off for the paradise islands of Fiji.

-Bula!

-Bula!

London? Where's that?

And an unusual local cuisine.

200 years ago, be an Oxo cube up the bum and that'd be me in the pot.

-Where am I going?

-Straight.

-Straight?

And in the capital city of Cambodia...

CAR HORNS BLARE

Mason will be getting to grips with a very different kind of taxi.

You have got to keep your eyes open here,

otherwise you ain't going to make it!

My God.

It's one London cabbie's journey to find out how people

live in some of the most extreme and exotic parts of the planet.

It's the same the world over.

If you want a lowdown on a place, speak to the cab driver.

Phnom Penh is the capital city of Cambodia,

a country of 15 million people between Thailand and Vietnam.

Once known as the Pearl of Asia,

it's now a popular tourist destination for backpackers

intrigued by the vibrant markets, famous temples and exotic culture.

But this is a country still coming to terms with a dark past

of tyranny and genocide under Pol Pot and his infamous Khmer Rouge.

Now, decades on, there is widespread unrest

and protest over inequality and low wages.

And the poverty here means that, instead of cars, the streets

are choked with hundreds of thousands of scooters,

creating a chaotic nightmare for any driver.

London cabbie Mason McQueen has travelled more

than 6,000 miles for the ultimate test of his driving skills.

Here we are. All the life is here, right?

Passing this bridge here. This is Cambodia. Oh, my God.

This is bonkers. You're just seeing everything on bikes.

You're seeing families of four or five.

God knows what they do when they go and do a big shop.

I don't know where they put it all.

It took me ten minutes to cross the road.

I was clean shaven!

HE LAUGHS

Mason's heading into the heart of Phnom Penh

and the banks of the Black River.

Poverty's jumping out at you, right in your face here, you know?

It's really... It's clear to see.

It's a bit of a mess.

Well, it is a mess, but that river, God, ugh.

He's come to meet his Cambodian host...

This looks like his street, Waterside Apartments.

46-year-old taxi driver, Polo Doot.

-Hey!

-Hello, mate.

-Nice to meet you.

-Yeah, how are you doing?

-All right, fella?

-Yeah, yeah.

-You OK?

-Good.

-Very good, yeah! Yeah!

THEY LAUGH

Please come inside, meet my family. Yeah, OK.

Polo lives in one of the poorest parts of the city with his wife,

Bea, and their son, Sok Leang.

-Bea.

-Yes.

-Hello, Bea, nice to meet you.

This is my son. Yes. His name is Sok Leang, yeah.

-You OK?

-I am fine.

-Oh, good!

-I am OK.

MASON LAUGHS

-How old are you?

-I am eight years old.

-Eight years old?

-Yeah.

-Whoa.

With just two rooms, home comforts are basic, to say the least.

This is my bathroom and toilet. OK. Yeah.

So, it's the toilet and the shower in there, Polo?

Yeah, the toilet and also the shower, yeah.

I hope you'll enjoy.

THEY LAUGH

Yeah.

My kitchen.

Right, this is the kitchen.

And the food are here.

The downstairs area serves as living room, kitchen, bathroom

and study for Sok Leang.

For a few nights, it's going to be Mason's bedroom, too.

-I'm staying here, yeah?

-Yeah, you stay here, yeah.

-Right here. Lovely.

-It's cool, huh?

-You're going to be OK with me staying here?

-Yes.

Thank you, Sok Leang.

They may be from different ends of the world,

but all cabbies love to talk business.

-You're working in the taxi long hours?

-Long hours, yes.

-Long hours.

-Yeah.

Well, how many hours do you do in your shift?

Every day, depend on my customer.

Sometime I wake up six o'clock and then I come back, no customer,

I come back here about 10pm, something like that, yeah.

-Wow.

-Yeah. A lot of taxi now.

-It's more competitive?

-Yeah, more competitive.

This is similar to London.

The only thing, we are the best, though.

-Black taxis are the best.

-Ah! You're the best?

-We're the best.

-Oh, me too!

Yeah, you too as well, you're the best.

Yeah, the best, yeah.

-Do you want to see my taxi?

-Yeah, sure.

-Yeah, come.

-Let's go, have a look.

-Come with me.

-Let's go.

-OK, yeah. Please.

If Mason thinks he'll be driving anything like his black taxi

here, he's in for a surprise.

-This is your cab?

-No, no.

-No?

-It is mine.

-Oh, no!

This is yours! I thought it was this one!

-No, it is not mine. This is mine.

-This is Polo's taxi.

-Yeah.

Oh, this one, this one. I thought it was this one!

It's not mine. Yeah, this is my taxi. Yes, there's mine.

You look, look.

THEY LAUGH

Look, yeah.

I wanted air conditioning! I wanted air conditioning!

The fresh air. You're a sod. You're a sod. You got me.

-You got me, didn't you?

-Yeah, so!

THEY LAUGH

Polo drives a tuk-tuk, and Mason's got just ten days to master it.

# Tuk-tuk took me to a party! #

Every bit as iconic as the black cab in London,

the tuk-tuk is the low-cost cab of choice around Asia.

Carrying up to four people or more, the Cambodian design

is as simple as they come, a scooter trailing a makeshift carriage.

6,000 tuk-tuks ferry passengers across Phnom Penh every day.

Their tinny engine noise is the soundtrack to the city streets.

It's rush hour in Phnom Penh.

The perfect time for Mason to experience

the joys of the city traffic.

Are you... Bikes coming from everywhere!

No, you ain't going to get down there, are you?

-Yeah.

-Is it? I know, right here, but for you, difficult.

T junction. It's chaos.

Yeah, yeah, like this.

Got the right of way! People just go like that.

It's like a free-for-all!

It's like a jumble sale with a cashmere sweater, everyone's just...

-Here, go this way.

-Oh, what a brute!

-Mind out, that's a truck. That's a truck.

-It's all right.

Yeah.

With few buses or trains, and with cars an expensive luxury,

Phnom Penh is a swarm of scooters.

Cambodians buy a quarter of a million each year.

-Yeah. Oh, my God.

-Oh!

Mind the baby. Mind the baby.

THUD

In London, I'm surrounded, I got the music on, everything's good,

I'm relaxed.

Here, it's just in your face. There's so much going on here.

He's not stopping, he's not stopping, Polo.

It's every man for himself back there. It's really...

It's scary, it is, and I'm only sitting in the back.

Wait till I'm in the front and I've got make the decisions for myself,

cos it's my decisions that is going to, you know, consequences

are going to come from that and that's what I'm worried about.

Slightly concerned that I might be over my head here. I really am.

The noise of the city keeps going through the night,

and Mason is left to contemplate the scale of the challenge ahead.

Just frazzles you. Really does, the traffic.

Unbelievable. And these scooters are moving at really high speeds.

I dread even thinking about having an accident

and knocking someone off their bike, I really do.

On that note, I shall get my head down, or try to,

and get over this jet lag.

SCOOTER HORN BEEPS

ROOSTER CROWS

It's an early start for Polo's family and their new house guest.

-Feel good now, Bea.

-Yeah.

-Feel good.

-Yeah.

BEA GIGGLES

So another day begins. Lovely shower, I feel fresh.

Yeah, seven o'clock in the morning and...

life's begun here straightaway.

Everyone's hit the road running, you know?

Scooters coming out of places that I didn't even know

existed in this street, and if they're not coming out of there,

people are pushing them out of their houses.

The wheel's a fantastic creation, I tell you.

Everyone's got wheels.

Door to door butchers, eh?

Is this just your business, a family business?

That's a tough gig.

Madam, I hope you have a busy day and you sell all your meat today.

In Polo's house, it's Sok Leang who's first out the door.

Polo hopes that education will give his son a better life than him,

even though it comes at a cost.

Teacher. This your breakfast.

-Breakfast.

-You buy something to eat.

-You have to pay the teacher, Polo?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Every day?

-Every day, yeah.

It'll be worth it in the long run, huh, for the education.

He'll have a good job.

-Bye.

-See you, Sok Leang.

In just over a week,

Mason will also be heading off to work the city streets.

Today is his first day learning the ropes as a Cambodian tuk-tuk driver.

The first lesson is that, unlike London,

there are no official taxi ranks.

Each driver jealously guards his own pitch or stand-by.

This is my stand-by.

This is your cab rank, this?

-Yeah, yeah, I stand-by here.

-Stand-by here.

-Yeah.

Polo has a plum spot outside this backpacker's hotel.

As an English speaker,

he's well positioned to tap into the tourist market.

Polo, what kind of places do you take them in town?

This Royal Palace.

-The Royal Palace.

-Yeah, and National Museum.

-National Museum.

-And Night Market is this one.

-Night Market.

-Yeah, and Russian Market.

-Another market, Russian market.

-Yeah.

-A lot of markets.

-Yeah, a lot of market.

-Markets, tourists, crowds, dollars.

-Yeah, tourist dollars.

-Yeah. You like the dollar, yeah.

I like dollar!

THEY LAUGH

There's no meter in the tuk-tuk and no fixed fares.

Drivers negotiate a rate for each journey.

Polo needs to take about 20 US dollars a day to cover

the costs of fuel and keep his family afloat.

Do you get 20 every day?

With so many tuk-tuk drivers in the city,

there's fierce competition for fares.

How long you waited for a job?

-18 years.

-Yeah.

How long today you been waiting?

Oh, today...

-Really?

-Yeah.

You haven't done no jobs?

So how many jobs you done today?

-Only one.

-One job?

-OK, yeah.

-One trip.

-One trip.

-One trip only.

-From here?

-From here to the...

-Central Market.

-Central Market.

-How much did you get for that?

-Maybe only three dollar.

-Three dollar?

-Yeah.

Back on the road,

Polo's showing Mason some of the most well-known tourist hot spots.

Whoa.

So along this road, a lot of restaurant, a lot of guest house.

Every night-time, a lot of tourists go.

They will like to come to see the river.

This is a public garden.

-Independence, yeah?

-Yeah.

Phnom Penh is steeped in history, but in recent years,

the city skyline has begun to change dramatically.

Billions of dollars of foreign investment has led to

a property boom in Cambodia, and signs of new wealth have

suddenly become visible on the roads.

Nice car, Polo, huh?

Yeah. Oh.

A new, wealthy elite is beginning to make its mark on the country.

Luxury developments are springing up across Phnom Penh.

Polo is taking Mason to see one of them

on an island in the middle of the Mekong River.

So, Polo, where are we? What is this place?

Now we are at the Diamond Island.

-Diamond Island?

-Yes.

Diamond Island is an exclusive playground for rich Cambodians.

It's a complex of apartments, shops and leisure facilities.

It's like a theme park without any theme. It's tacky.

It's a bit tacky, don't you think?

Some of the statues and that, they're like...

-Yeah.

-Very corny, very fake, you know? It's weird.

It's a strange place.

Apartments here cost anything from 200,000 to 1 million, out of reach

for most people in a country where the average wage is less

than 90 a month.

No place for me, you know? This is too expensive!

For the poor people? No, say no.

This area for only rich people.

More than a quarter of Cambodians live in extreme poverty,

and there's little evidence that they're

benefitting from Phnom Penh's boom.

This building here, well, it's telling you, isn't it, really,

the future of Phnom Penh, whether you like it or not, on the wall.

For people like Polo,

earning enough for even the bare essentials of life is a struggle.

-Fried fish?

-Yeah.

Oh, my God.

That's quite chewy.

So, Polo, is this a regular meal, the fish and the rice all the time?

-Some people are getting it and some people ain't.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

COCKEREL CROWS

Today, Mason is going to take his first step to becoming

a fully fledged Cambodian tuk-tuk driver.

Polo, you ready? Shall we go?

Polo is taking him

somewhere a little quieter to learn to drive the tuk-tuk.

The route takes them

past another recent addition to Phnom Penh's skyline.

What's that? Look at that.

-The Prime Minister building.

-Oh...

These are the new multi-million dollar

offices of Cambodia's Prime Minister.

Hun Sen is leader of the Cambodian People's Party

and has ruled this country for the last 30 years.

Political opposition and freedom of speech are routinely suppressed.

OTT, eh? Over the top.

On a deserted road behind Hun Sen's swanky new building,

it's time for Mason to get to grips with his new cab.

I haven't rode a bike for seven years, since I did the Knowledge,

but it's a bit different now, see, and I'm pulling a caravan.

ENGINE REVS

OK, good luck Mason! Yeah, good luck.

Seems...easy enough.

Mason!

You be flying, yeah! You are good!

-It was fun.

-Yeah.

It was a great road to practise in.

It's nice and quiet but, you know, I'm in the middle of town,

there's the Prime Minister's house here.

We're right in the centre of Phnom Penh.

Why is it so quiet?

Mason, look. There's many construction in Cambodia.

So this is valuable land, huh?

Yeah. A lot of construction.

Mason is standing on the edge of Prime Minister Hun Sen's

latest pet project.

This vast area, the size of 200 football pitches, was once a lake.

Until recently, it was an oasis in the centre of the city

where local people farmed vegetables and fish.

It was also a tourist attraction which supported a thriving

community of guest houses and small businesses.

But a few years ago, the developers moved in.

The entire lake was drained in preparation for a vast new complex.

SHE SOBS

20,000 local people were evicted and their homes destroyed.

Mason is driving through some of the last remaining streets.

This is...very quiet.

There's no-one here now, Polo, huh?

Funny atmosphere here, you know?

On the edge of the construction site, some of the locals

are determined to save what remains of their community.

These ladies are part of a group standing up to the authorities.

While their husbands try to find new ways of earning a living, the women

have taken to the streets, demanding rights to their land

and a fair deal for those who have lost their homes.

But their protests have been violently suppressed by the state.

Hundreds have suffered beatings

and 13 activists have been thrown in jail.

Ladies, how do you feel about the government and the company,

the building company, that's doing this?

This community is under constant surveillance by the authorities.

ANXIOUS CHATTERING

Who are they? Police?

Police.

PEOPLE SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE

Bit hairy, really, isn't it, you know,

I'm being told to not film here and what we doing?

We're only talking to someone,

listening to their plight which is, you know, bad enough,

and then you got the police telling you stop filming here.

The government want to silence the voices of the protestors

at the lake because they are highlighting an issue that

affects the whole country.

Human rights organisations like Global Witness

and Amnesty International claim that Cambodia's political

and business leaders are making vast fortunes from developments

that have seen more than 400,000 people evicted from their homes.

MONK RECITES PRAYER IN OWN LANGUAGE

A monk's in this street doing his house calls.

You give him a donation and then he will pray with you and for you.

He's like a little bee, I suppose, pollinating everyone's life.

It's lovely.

It's the first time I've ever met a monk.

HE RECITES PRAYER IN OWN LANGUAGE

Could you tell me what prayers you said for me and Polo today?

Ah.

Mason is going to need all the help he can get.

Today, he's going to brave the Phnom Penh traffic, in charge of

the tuk-tuk for the first time.

-Here we go.

-Yeah.

-This is it.

Yeah.

To get to grips with the rules of the road, he's enlisted the

help of a local driving instructor.

This your teacher.

Hello, sir. Nice to meet you.

First, he'll need to brush up on the Cambodian highway code.

What about this one here?

-Explosion.

-Explosion.

OK. Something else to worry about.

And what does that mean? Is that...

Millimetres, not metres, obviously, what I've seen of the driving here.

Metre?! You're kidding me!

-Everyone drives like that, next to each other.

-No.

Theory over, it's time to hit the streets.

Well, he looks pretty cool now,

but I don't know how he's going to feel in about 20 minutes.

Mason. Next turn is straight, right.

-Go straight.

-What, straight?

-No, no. No, not too straight.

I can't hear you properly with the crash helmet on!

Whoa!

How close do you want to be to me?

-Where am I going?

-Straight.

-Straight?

HORNS SOUND

Jesus.

On the streets for the first time, it's dog eat dog.

Oh, I've got the right of way, mate.

I'm in front of you now.

In Cambodia's urban jungle, it's survival of the fittest.

You have got to keep your eyes open here,

otherwise you ain't going to make it!

My God.

CRASH

You all right? OK? You OK?

Just lost it. It just swung out at me on that dirt and...

There was a lump in the road, we hit that and I just...

I couldn't control the back of it.

And the weight, where we... I only got one guy in there.

To have four people in there, it's going to be...

You've really got to take it easy.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's really scary, that was, cos that come out my hands.

I couldn't control it. That's livened me right up, that has.

Be careful.

How did it go, Mason?

I had a slight prang. Slight prang, but nothing to worry about.

Your tuk-tuk is fine, honestly.

Yeah, good.

The examiner, I think he might be on pills for the rest of his life,

but that is the most scared I've been, I think,

driving in a foreign country.

But if Mason's going to hack it, he'll have to climb straight

back in the saddle.

I'd rather be in your seat, I know that.

With confidence at an all-time low...

Oh, leave off. No left turn.

..and Cockney charm in tatters...

TUK-TUK HORN BEEPS

Come on, out of my way, love. Getting on my nerves now.

Polo's showing no mercy putting Mason through his paces.

-Yeah, I can do it.

-Right. Thank you.

Here we go, left here, yeah?

-Keep going.

-Straight on.

-Keep going.

Mason has to master the routes between the tourist destinations.

I've got a reputation to keep here, you know.

If I don't get this right... I'll never hear the last of it.

Before long, the old cabbie instincts start to kick in.

-Whoo-hoo!

-You're smiling.

-You like the ride?

-Yeah!

-You having a good time?

It's comfortable in tuk-tuk, man!

Got a hunch.

I think I want to be heading east, and then I want to take a right

and be heading south.

Royal Palace, sir.

Beautiful!

Phnom Penh's most famous landmarks are the palaces, the temples

and the markets.

But during a break in the training, Polo wants to show Mason

a very different type of tourist attraction.

The S21 Genocide Museum is a memorial to one of the darkest

chapters of the 20th century.

In 1975, after the war in neighbouring Vietnam, Cambodia

fell to the brutal regime of Pol Pot and his infamous Khmer Rouge.

Pol Pot wanted to build a rural communist paradise.

His army emptied the cities and drove the entire population

to work in the fields.

In the brutality and chaos, families like Polo's were split up.

-So you worked in the fields?

-Yeah, a little rice field.

Hundreds of thousands died of overwork and malnutrition,

but this was just the beginning of the horror.

Pol Pot unleashed a genocide, executing anyone suspected of

opposing the regime and burying them in mass graves.

These were the killing fields of Cambodia.

-Oh, my God, that's barbaric.

-Yeah.

-That's dreadful.

This building, known as S21, was to play a dark part

in this terrible story.

-Just a high school?

-Yeah.

You know, a high school is normally a place that you look back at

and you think of happy memories, not putting it together with

genocide at all and a place of death and torture, you know?

Suspected opponents of the regime were brought here and tortured.

They were forced to confess and betray their friends

and families, then they were murdered.

In total, 14,000 innocent Cambodians came through these rooms.

Only seven people survived.

-Interrogation here?

-Yeah.

-And punishment and torture if you're not giving them information.

-Yeah.

Come, come, let's get out of here.

He was a nine-year-old boy when all this was happening.

It's like everybody, you know, two million people,

it's got to affect most people in Cambodia.

I was seven when it started.

I was having the best time of my life in London, you know?

Summers used to last for ever, riding my bike every day, you know?

On the other side of the world, this was happening.

Polo's uncle, aunt and grandmother died of starvation during the

regime and, as a small boy working in the fields, Polo was a

witness to the horror.

They caught him.

-Oh. You saw this?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Brutal.

-Yeah.

Absolutely brutal.

It must have been a living hell for you, Polo, like living in hell.

Come. Let's go.

Polo, what's he got to do?

Wake up every day with that story engraved in his head

that happened to him that's with him for the rest of his days.

ENGINE REVS

When atrocities like that happen...

You know, and the people that survive have got to live with it,

it's just unbearable, thinking about that, and it's not only him.

You know, you come to Cambodia and something like that, you know,

everyone knows someone who's affected by the war

or by the genocide and, boy, did they do some damage.

And the stories you hear, it's just...

Oh, it's dreadful.

Sunday morning in Phnom Penh is a rare chance to relax.

I see all the pictures.

Up there.

And who's this?

-You have a daughter?

-Yeah.

So where's your daughter now? She doesn't live with you?

How old is your daughter?

Polo's daughter lives in the countryside, and Mason is

joining the family on one of their regular visits.

A nice gentle Sunday away from the traffic, hopefully.

I can't see there being loads of traffic out there

and just bikes going like that, so that's going to be nice.

HORNS BLARE

It's a 25-mile journey south along the busy Highway 3

to Kandal Province.

# Going up the country

# Baby, don't you want to go?

# I'm going up the country

# Baby, don't you want to go?

# I'm going to some place where I've never been before. #

Hello. Back in your village!

This is different from Phnom Penh.

There's my home town.

# I'm going to leave the city

# Got to get away... #

MASON CHUCKLES

-Hour and a half in there.

-OK.

Oh, that's a jolly.

Mason, this is my brother-in-law. My sister.

OK, nice to meet you both. Nice to meet you both.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Polo grew up on this small farm.

Polo left the farm more than 20 years ago to live in the city.

CHICKS CHIRP

You love it so much here, you know?

It comes across that you love your farm and being on the farm.

Why do you live in Phnom Penh?

And then when he's older, you'll move back here?

No. God's country, living off the land.

You don't have to pay for anything, Polo, do you, here?

The farm provides just enough food for the family to survive.

Hello.

HE SPEAKS LANGUAGE OF FAMILY

SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

But Polo's mother is bedridden and needs constant care, as well

as expensive medication.

The reason Polo's nine-year-old daughter Susu lives here

is to work as a full-time carer for her grandmother.

Polo's a good man and it's very important to have family

support to help you.

I couldn't understand why Polo's daughter lived with you,

but now I understand.

It's been so different, meeting his family

and coming away from the street, you know?

You're in this little village. It's a real eye opening, meeting Susu.

She's in the deep end, really, isn't she?

You know, nine-year-old girl and cooking and chores.

SHE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

You know, she's been sacrificed, really, for the situation.

This is where I feel for him,

cos the alternative... There isn't any alternative.

It's a difficult one for them all - his sister

and his brother-in-law and his daughter.

Life in the fields is hard,

but the Cambodian people have survived far worse.

During Pol Pot's famine, people had to resort to

desperate measures to stay alive.

They would eat anything to combat starvation and some of that

food remains on the menu today.

This is what you did, yeah?

This is how you caught yours?

When I kid, I hunt like this, you know? Hunt like this.

It's your friend.

Aaargh!

-TRANSLATION:

-I ate the spider.

-IN ENGLISH:

-If I don't eat like this, maybe I die, you know?

The Pol Pot regime is finished now, so we don't need to eat spiders.

MUSIC: JAZZ VERSION OF SPIDER-MAN THEME SONG

But washed and seasoned with garlic and chilli,

then lightly fried,

spiders are now considered to be a tasty snack.

I don't want... You know, I want to experience Cambodia

and this is experiencing Cambodia.

I actually thought it was going to shrivel up to a little ball

and it's actually expanded in full tarantula flight, giving it...

"Eat me if you want... but I'm here."

Ah, it's just...

I don't know, I just can't.

No, I just can't.

-I don't think I can do this now.

-Please.

I don't think I can do it.

I've got to it, I've got to it.

Oh, they're really hot, aren't they?

I just got all itchy.

Oh, look at the body on it. Oh, mate.

Mmm!

They're looking at me like I'm a lunatic.

HE SHOUTS WITH MUFFLED SPEECH

Good?

Weren't too bad.

I've actually eaten a tarantula.

Welcome to Cambodia.

Mason's back in Phnom Penh and back on the tuk-tuk.

Tomorrow, he'll be going solo, so he's brushing up on his

navigation skills one last time.

Right, yeah?

Polo, right?

A-ha!

I got to get to the National Museum

and the National Museum is next door to the Royal Palace

and the Silver Pagoda.

Yeah, so if I get there, I can do three...

locations in one.

But getting there is the tricky bit.

It's doing to be trickier than Mason thought.

What's going on here?

Where is this? What's this here?

-Freedom Park.

-Freedom Park?

-Yeah.

It's all blocked off here, look, Polo. Can't get through.

Police everywhere.

-Protest?

-Yeah.

Wow, a lot of people.

What they protesting about, Polo?

The Cambodian garment industry is worth 5 billion a year.

Many of the clothes we wear in Britain are now made here.

But working conditions are poor and the wages are very low.

Mason has stumbled across one of the many demonstrations

by garment workers fighting for improvements.

But the authorities are determined to crush the protests.

During strikes in January, security forces opened fire on

protestors with live ammunition.

-How many people were killed?

-Five people.

-Five people?

Yeah.

Jesus.

The political situation in Cambodia is getting more and more tense.

Victims of land grabs and protesting workers are now joining forces.

Violent clashes with police are becoming a regular feature

on the streets of Phnom Penh.

It's murder, isn't it, really?

It's like blatantly killing someone on the street

cos they're protesting about something.

Everyone's got the right to protest in a peaceful way.

Don't mean you should get shot for it.

It's scary.

It is a bit scary, especially when you can see 'em

all in force with their guns.

-Yeah.

-OK, let's go.

Shall we go, yeah? Come on then.

That was getting a bit edgy there.

Cut the atmosphere with a knife.

Prime Minister Hun Sen himself once fought with the Khmer Rouge.

Under his regime, the economy has grown, but many people are

frustrated by 30 years of autocratic rule.

A younger generation, less haunted by the Pol Pot regime,

are taking to the streets.

Hun Sen has threatened to beat them and cage them.

Going be dangerous here to protest, Polo, isn't it?

Polo's wife Bea was once one of more than half a million

young women working in the garment factories.

Knowing the conditions, she is sympathetic to the protestors.

SHE SPEAKS IN HER OWN LANGUAGE

'It's ridiculous.

'You know, everyone's got a right to protest in a peaceful way

'regarding their situation.'

And is that right, for a government to...put fear into people?

Supposed to be there to

make your life better, the government, isn't it?

And listen to what you've got to say.

Morning, butch.

Have a good day, my love. Be lucky.

It's the day of reckoning for rookie tuk-tuk driver Mason McQueen.

Can I have some prayers to keep me safe in tuk-tuk

and have a profitable day?

You look, I make for you.

Mason McQueen and his mean machine.

MASON LAUGHS

-Mason...

-Yeah?

I look like Larry Grayson on safari.

-Monkey.

-Monkey?! Monkey?!

Have a good business! OK, bye-bye.

Finally, after ten days of training,

London cabbie Mason McQueen is a Cambodian tuk-tuk driver

riding for hire.

That is, if he can make it out of Polo's street.

Whoa, whoa!

Polo!

Down in the...

-Do you reckon you can help me get it out?

-Yeah, OK.

Right.

See you! Here we go!

Phnom Penh, the pearl of Asia, here I come.

For the first time, Mason will be

taking passengers out on to the city streets.

He'll have to negotiate Phnom Penh's chaotic traffic.

People constantly pulling out on you here. It's ridiculous.

Dangerous and ridiculous.

He'll have to navigate his way around the city

and try and make some money.

But first, he'll need to find Polo's cab rank.

I think that might be it down here.

Maybe not.

Oh, I think I'm in the wrong road.

Golden Gate Hotel. Way-hey!

The plan is to get some tourists on board. That's my plan.

Get them in there, take them for a tour.

That's the plan. It's simple.

You on holiday?

-No.

-Oh, no? You live here?

-Sort of.

Oh, so you don't want to ride in my tuk-tuk, then, no?

OK, thank you. Have a good day.

Tuk-tuk ride?

-No thanks. No?

-We're in a rush.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

Miss, tuk-tuk?

Tuk-tuk? Tuk-tuk?

This is a total different ball game than what I'm used to.

This is a battle before I've even gone anywhere.

-Tuk-tuk for you? Tuk-tuk ride?

-Yeah.

I've actually got a job.

Hey-hey, I've got a job.

-How long going for Russian Market?

-Russian Market, ten minutes, sir.

-Ten minute?

-Ten minutes, yeah.

-OK. Let's drive.

Russian Market, here I come.

I can do this.

I can do this. Hold on.

Hold on for dear life.

You see this monument?

Yeah, what is it?

This is the independence from... where you from?

-France.

-France. That's the place!

OK.

So you are tuk-tuk driver and guide also.

Oh, also, sir, yeah.

-Yeah, good.

-Yeah!

All part of the service!

I've also got to concentrate on where I'm going...

And not have any crashes.

They're smiling in the back, the punters are happy.

Everyone's happy.

This is it.

This is it. I meant to stumble on it like that.

OK.

Hey, you're a local driver, I can see it now.

Merci, monsieur.

You're welcome. Bye. See you.

He's 2 up, but once he's back on the cab rank...

Tuk-tuk, ladies? Tuk-tuk?

..business is still slow.

Just want to be going.

Just want to be working, earning a few dollars for Polo.

One job, three hours.

It's not great.

It's looking like a long, long shift.

Need a tuk-tuk?

-Are you selling one?

-No, I'll take you for a ride.

-Afternoon, guys. Tuk-tuk ride?

-No, we're all right.

Yeah, you're OK?

Ladies, afternoon.

Eventually, persistence pays off.

Mind your head, mind your head, yeah.

Two more French tourists need a ride to the riverside.

-Allez-vous?

-Allons-y.

OK, ladies.

-Careful, huh?

-OK.

So are you enjoying Cambodia, ladies, Phnom Penh?

Are you OK? Are you OK?

Yeah, I'm fine.

Is it your first day here?

It's my first day driving.

Ah, your first day driving.

Yeah, driving on my own, yes.

-Ohhhh!

-Don't panic! Ha-ha!

Here we go, ladies.

Thank you very much. It's terrible to drive in Cambodia!

Can't go back to that hotel, it's doing my crust in.

As the evening rush hour begins, with only two fares to show

for the day, Mason's becoming desperate.

Get your hands up.

Tuk-tuk?

Tuk-tuk?

Have to pick one with a helmet on. He's the only one with a helmet.

-Hiya.

-Russian Market, please.

-Where are you from?

-Scotland.

-Scotland, bonnie Scotland! Russian Market, sir, certainly.

-Do you know, that's quite a ride, you know?

-Is it?

-Yeah.

-Never been.

-About

-5. We're not in London!

I'll do it for four.

Fucking hell, what's he doing?

Oh, come on, mate!

Fucking bike locked up and everything.

Not nervous, not nervous!

There you go.

Mason's been on the road for eight hours now

and he's starting to feel at home.

HORNS BLAST

Oh! Nearly lost it, fella, didn't you?

BLOWS WHISTLE

Bonkers. The place is nuts.

He gets one last job before nightfall.

Ladies, where you from?

Germany.

-Ah, lovely.

-Thank you very much.

-Danke schon.

-Bitte schon.

-Auf wiedersehen.

-You're welcome.

Hey, I'm speaking all lingos today, I tell you!

One London cabbie has conquered the streets of Phnom Penh

and earned his crust as a Cambodian tuk-tuk driver.

It's definitely been one of the hardest drives I've ever done.

I'm hanging, I've gotta tell you. It's been a really long day.

I don't know how the guy does it.

Really tiring, you know?

I've just had a little taste of it. These streets are...

some of the most... HORN BEEPS

..dangerous, chaotic, mental streets

I've ever drove on in my life.

Polo!

Hi, Mason, how did you do?

Now, don't be upset. I tried my best...

and we've got five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten dollars.

-Oh, ten dollar.

-For you on your day off...

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-Which you deserve, to have a day off.

I think it's good.

-It's a very tough job you do, Polo, and hats off - chapeau! - to you.

-Yeah.

Hats off to you, my friend, honestly.

While Mason's been at work, the women of the street have been

preparing a farewell treat for their new friend.

Mason, come on. Hey! I got a surprise for you, right, Mason?

-Girls! Girls, thank you.

-Yeah, enjoy.

Spread, street party!

Thank you so much.

Driving a tuk-tuk.

THEY LAUGH

Very hard, very difficult.

Polo helped me so much and this is a pleasure,

to be with you lovely people. Very nice.

When I first came into this street and when I first see the river

and the smell and I thought, "Oh, my God, Armageddon," you know?

But how wrong you can be.

People have been so fantastic here.

Spirit of Cambodian people, it's immense, it really is,

even though they're going through a lot of shit in their life

and I've had a great time here, I really have.

I don't know this one.

UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS

It's time for Mason to say goodbye, but not without one parting gift.

I've just got Bea a sewing machine.

I think it'd help her out, some extra income which they both need and...

..this neighbourhood, I'm sure she can do all the repairs,

alterations and...

..maybe even design and make some clothes, who knows?

Hi.

-Bea, got you a little present.

-What is this?

Sewing machine.

HE TRANSLATES

Yeah, a sewing machine for you.

-For me?

-Yeah.

-Yes, thank you.

-You're welcome.

I help you.

-Oh!

-There you go.

It's been a real, real treat, honestly, meeting them

and being in their life for a couple of weeks.

It's an extremely hard existence they've got, living like they do.

Every penny counts, you know?

To keep working, working, working

and not getting anywhere, I find that frustrating.

I find it wrong, and they deserve a better government, they really do.

If things get better for this country,

things will get better for Polo and his neighbours

and this community, and I hope it comes soon, I really do.

-See you, mate.

-OK, goodbye.

-Look after yourself, yeah?

-Yeah, yeah.

Thanks for everything.

Thanks, Bea. I'll see you. Look after yourself.

-I'll contact you anyway, yeah?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll write to you. See you now.

-Bye, Mason.

-Bye.

-Take care.

-Take care, yeah?

-Yeah.

Next time...

..Mason is heading to the Arctic Circle.

He'll be working in some of the toughest driving conditions

on the planet.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Losing control of this vehicle!

OK, sir?

And he'll meet a people struggling to adapt to the modern world.