West Meets East
I began my transition into another extended SE Asia holiday by sipping happy hour beers on padded wicker chairs out front of the Hope and Anchor and the Garden Bars. While tourists strolled and backpackers shuffled - looking for an evening meal among the many bars and restaurants along the Sisowath Quay riverfront - locals competed for their dollars. Waiters and waitresses clucked open tables or daily specials in badly broken English with odd Khmer accents. Motorbike and tuk tuk drivers touted taxi rides and young girls peddled postcards and pirated books. Boys shoved wheelchairs of big brothers missing arms and legs in search of handouts. As darkness fell, tour boats drifted up and down the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers with their colorful lights reflecting on the water. Street-side venders jockeyed wheeled carts steaming with exotic eastern foods along the western riverbank. Phnom Penh had made its own remarkable transformation from day to evening.
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