Well-dressed teenage girls sharing a cyclo covertly point and giggle at young men while waiting to turn at an intersection. Men talk on cellular phones and scoop heaping spoonfuls of curry and rice into their mouths at a streetside cafe. Street-side vendors sell cigarettes, tea, noodles and film. Women balance huge flat trays on their heads offering food including rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves. Others, in patterned sarongs, carry children on their hips.
Children carry younger children on their hips.
Motos carry piles of produce as well as passengers. It is hard to imagine that 24 years earlier these streets were virtually deserted. The Khmer Rouge entered on 17 April 1975 and the angry young men emptied the city of all its inhabitants who then clogged the roads as they trudged slowly to the countryside. No one imagined it would be four years of unbelievable death and tragedy before the survivors would return. The devastation of Phnom Penh's past is quite noticeable, despite attempts at restoration.