Phnom Pehn

Phnom Penh
We arrive in the city and head to the “backpacker ghetto” by the lake. We intend to take a tuk-yuk, but as usually the cunning drivers say it is no longer possible, knocked down etc. We therefore walk, along with our friend domingo, in the amazingly fierce Cambodian sun. The temperature is intense and I later realise I have some hardcore sunburn from the boat, which masked the sun with a sea breeze. The area is still up and running, but it is facing demolition slowly, as developers move in and use the land – still we find a nice chilled atmosphere and a very cheap room at just over £3 a night!
The area is actually all the cooler for being semi-demolished, it is now a sort of underground backpacking Amsterdam, with “happy shakes” and stoner cafes all around. It isn’t our scene but we enjoy the isolation and relaxing vibe in an otherwise chaotic city. We also learn that the prices here are half what they are elsewhere, with the riverfront area resembling any holiday destination in Europe.
We enjoy a relaxed afternoon of wandering around and eating and drinking, getting a feel for the city, on the way back I relish catching up on united highlights (5-0 good to see where tearing the premier-league apart – just a shame all the matches are at 3am!), and having a few beers. As I watch the match some due offers me a toke on a spliff, I decline and ask if it is legal here as I hadn’t realised. He says it isn’t legal but comes out with an awesome quote – “ there is no law in Cambodia because there are no fucking police”, he explains how this is bad and good, as it gives you much freedom, but also offers you little protection. While I’m watching the footy Kath goes online and finds out Johnny-Boy is in the city at the okay geusthouse. We deliberate e-mailing him to arrange a meeting but instead I think it will be cool to go off the cuff and try and catch him.
We head down to the place via tuk-tuk and, with the aid of helpful hotel staff, engage in some heavy breaches of data protection to find his room number. His key isn’t at reception so we think he is in so we bang away at his door for ages. Unfortunately we get no response and despite hanging around for a while see no sign of him. We therefore stash a note written on the cardboard part of a bog-roll under his door. On the way back we catch an amazing pyro-technical fountain display, synchronized to cheesy music.
Back in our area we join up with domingo for a beer and starving grab a falafel sandwich for dinner in a crazily relaxed Israeli bar – something you rarely see in these parts. At the end when the bill comes he asks me what we had as he can’t remember (I’m pretty sure he’s stoned), luckily I’m honest and settle up fairly.
As we prepare to head home I hear some underground hip-hop blazing from a dingy bar across the street. We head across and are amazed to read a sign that says spliffs, joints, reefer $1. We drop in for a beer and get chatting to the owner and find he is a dude from Leicester who has somehow managed to run a bar here for 4-5 years now with an initial investment of £600. He has a cute young lad who wanders around the bar and an attractive Cambodian wife, who it seems isn’t so keen to join us for a chill. The place is unreal, seriously revolutionary shit, playing pure underground hip-hop and d&b and absolutely no bullshit. It consists of a tiny room with a pool table in the middle and a few seats, no fancy lighting or furniture, just a grimey hip-hop hole! I keep wondering if the place is even real, as he puts on non-phixion for me at block shaking volume! He tells us a lot about his crazy times in Cambodia, dealing with the corrupt police, hookers and the seedy underworld created by tourism. He is by far one of the most interesting characters I have met and I just hope he keeps up and running so people can visit and see that I haven’t made it all up!