Just after Khmer New Year, the old guys sitting around the tea stall were dead sure: once the holiday fuss settled down, people would start coming back. Then, when the news about visa-free travel dropped, everyone started chatting again—great, no more running in circles, soon the two-way lanes would be jammed with returning motorbikes. After that, they even started pinning their hopes on the upcoming Chinese New Year. Truth is, whenever times get tough, people always need to dream up some milestone to prove that good days are just around the corner.
Yet, out on the street, you're still choking down mouthfuls of motorbike exhaust, and when rent day rolls around, you still have to slap cash dollars right down on the landlord's table. And now, the latest word from Sihanoukville is that some anti-scam conference at the end of the month is supposed to be the big turning point. It seems people here can never live without these imaginary milestones, always needing to circle a date on the calendar just to convince themselves there'll be better business tomorrow.
At the end of the day, whether you're pulling all-nighters in a cramped rental room or sitting by a roadside stall biting into a baguette and washing it down with iced beer, you've got to have a little hope to get by. No matter if these big dates end up panning out or not, as long as you're holding a glass of iced tea, watching the figures drift down the street, and still believing things are bound to look up, you can keep pushing through.
