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I sipped a Negroni at a rooftop bar, watching the neon lights in the distance light up as the sun dipped below the horizon. Thirty-seven floors below, a honking traffic jam heralded another chaotic Friday night as revelers headed out of town in search of the next good meal or bar to wash away the stress of the workweek.
The scene is familiar in many bustling Southeast Asian cities, with rows of skyscrapers vying for air space. But this is Phnom Penh – once the region’s “rural cousin”, a sleepy town that has gradually emerged from decades of civil war and unrest, and a city historically ignored by mainstream tourism.
While it still takes a backseat to Siem Reap (gateway to World Heritage-listed Angkor Wat) in terms of visitor numbers, Cambodia’s capital has certainly come a long way since I first visited in 2009. Back then, the tallest buildings were the beautiful two- and three-story French colonial mansions that earned it the nickname “Pearl of the Orient.” All the tourist action happened by the river, where the bustling FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) was a harbinger of night.
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