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On the advice of other travellers we headed for the Lakeside area to find accommodation. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea as although it has lots of guesthouses and restaurants to eat, play pool, avail of happy hours, watch DVDs and chill out in a hammock, it's really just a backpacker ghetto where you only meet other travellers. Stepping out on the narrow street means that you get bombarded by shouts of "Tuk-tuk, sir!" or "Mot-uh-buy" and upon refusal the more subtle offers of ecstasy or gan-ja are murmured. We stayed at the Happy Guesthouse (No. 11) for a few nights, which has a great common area and good food, but eventually our mosquito ridden oven of a room got too much for us and we retreated to a tiny AC room in the Grand View for a couple of more dollars a night. Everyone seemed desperate for custom and in such a narrow area they all pleaded with you to come to their bar or restaurant. Eventually, I convinced my other half to go to the city one night to check out the infamous Heart of Darkness bar and she acquiesed finally, although stating her displeasure at patronizing
Sunset at Lakeside
One of the most beautiful that I've experienced ... an establishment where taxi girls were plying their trade (so called because you call them when you need them, take a short ride and pay). At the entrance of this forboding disco-bar all foreigners are searched for weapons, but most Khmers not (what's with that?) and inside is as you would expect. We installed ourselves at the corner of the bar and noted that the taxi-girls seemed more interested in playing pool than attracting clientele. A waiter at Frizz had told us that he disliked this bar because it was a gay bar and as the night went on we saw why, with guys dancing together and the taxi girls gravitating towards any foreigner within their orbit. Obviously the place has such a reputation in all the tourist guidebooks that it's change of orientation hasn't been stressed and so it gets this mix of local gays and taxi-girls with foreign tourists - strange. It can still be a nasty place, as we heard from another tourist that when leaving had witnessed a Khmer who had stolen another locals wallet being chased down the street by a gang and stabbed repeatedly. Just as well that we left after a few drinks
Lakeside - Number 11
Lakeside is a real backpacker ghetto, but the guesthouses along the lake are relaxing places. and went next door to the much more laid back Howies bar. This has cheap drinks, no working girls, good music and a small pool table with a permanent referee. Supposedly the signs saying "Foul on the black loses" and "Remember it's ONLY a game" weren't effective enough and so this little chap is employed to keep the peace. We had so much fun here that we eventually realised that we only had a dollar and bit of change left to get home. Fortunately, a guy agreed to take us the 2 km to lakeside for this amount and we apologised and told him next time we would pay him more. As it transpired on our return from Siem Reap, we went to Howie's and the same guy remembered us and we were obliged to pay him 2 bucks just to go to Riverside. This happened all over Cambodia - the worst thing you can say to a Khmer is maybe later or the next time because the always remind you and take the maybe as a definite promise. They know how to play on the tourists guilt and sense of fair play!
Besides our chill out days at Lakeside
Riverside from the FCC
The Foreign Correspondents Club has a real colonial feel, great pizzas and class cocktails - happy hour 5 to7! (which was most of time) we managed to make it in to visit the royal palace and the silver pagoda. The palace building are colourful and impressive, but then again they are not much more than a hundred years old. The silver pagoda - so called because of it's solid silver plated floor - is ultimately disappointing as all the floor, except for a small railed off section, is covered in carpet. The curious thing for me about the palace and it's principal resident, King Sihanouk, is why the Khmer Rouge did not destroy it and execute him when they took over in 1975 - I suppose we'll never know. After that massive effort we walked back along the Mekong towards Riverside (the more upmarket tourist area). Under the fluttering flags that line the rivers walkway, sat locals of every description, eating the street food and playing with their children, it seems to be the main area for socializing. With these images still fresh in our minds we ascended the stairs of the FOreign Correspondents Club to tuck into a jug of happy hour sangria. Another day saw us brave the central market, with goods and food of every description
on sale, we got to know it all very well as a huge thunderstorm and downpour erupted as soon as we entered and didn't let up for several hours. Despite walking around nearly all of it (twice) we didn't see the AK-47s, bullets, handguns or kilo bags of ganj that were on openly on sale 10 years, as described in the book "Off the rails in PP". I hear that you can still purchase said items if you know the right people. Anyway, downpour over we had to literally wade our way through the streets to the dry refuge of yet another bar - Sharks poolbar and tex-mex restaurant. Life is tough!
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