15th NOVEMBER 2017
A little over a year on from my first post about my new life in Cambodia, I find - alas! - that all the bars I celebrated in that are now closed, or.... well, considerably diminished in my regard for them.
Indo Bar, a beguilingly English-pub-like little spot in the southern town of Kampot, may in fact have closed even before I put that post up; I discovered its recent demise on my next visit down there just a few weeks later (I was even more disappointed that its sister enterprise, the Curry House, had likewise closed, leaving the town without any really decent Indian food).
Picasso in Siem Reap I've been going off as well. Vivacious Aussie bar manager Sam was one of its main points of appeal, and she's moved on now. The cocktails there were never much good, really, although brutally effective; but now, alas, they seem to be tainted by the tide of fake booze that has broken over the city in the last year or two: the last few times I've drunk the spirits there, it's made me ill.... and there's only one thing that causes that, I'm afraid. Also, I've had a run of bad experiences with obnoxious punters there recently. So, it's dropped off my 'must visit' list, although I've been spending more and more time in Siem Reap this year. I still like its ambience, and the sociability of the place, but - there's not much that I actually want to drink there.
I have a similar problem with Here Be Dragons in Battambang, where I now live (the city, that is, not the bar!). It's still a very inviting little bar, but.... well, draft beer is almost never any good in this country (and I'm convinced they've switched over from the sort-of-OK Cambodia to the gassy pish of Anchor; that might be a false memory, but it contributes forcefully to my rising disenchantment with the place), so I used to drink mostly Beer Lao there - of which they had, for a time, both the stout and regular strong lager varieties, and their new premium offering, Beer Lao Gold, with its stimulating burst of hoppiness on the nose. There have been some problems with the distributor for these Lao brands, though, and I think they now only have the lager.... perhaps not even that. And no decent local beer either (no Cambodia in cans - why not??). And their novelty cocktails are invariably way too sweet for my taste. So, there's absolutely nothing for me to drink there any more..... um, except spirits, I suppose. In this less attractive drink environment, I find myself more and more pissed off by their too-high bar and uncomfortable, wonky bar stools - things which had previously been only mild irritations to me. I confess also that I'd had a major man-crush on Dave Howard, the brilliant young manager they had last year (my farewell binge with him in Phnom Penh just before he flew back to England was probably the most extreme session I've had in this country!). I like their new staff well enough, but there's just not the magic there was last year. (Also, of course, when I was just a visitor in this town, I always used to stay at The Dragons; so, it was by default my first and last stop every day. Now that it's no longer 'home' - nor even, most of the time, 'on the way home' - I don't have much incentive to drop in there.)
And worst of all, Battambang's richest gem, the Riverside Balcony Bar - the loveliest venue in the whole country, though just a little bit too 'fancy' to be an habitual three-times-a-week type of haunt - has just been forced to close (and while I was out of town, dammit, at the end of October). The owner of the property had died suddenly a few months ago; so, there's probably now some sort of family dispute over what to do with the property (redevelop it, sell it, reclaim it as a family home, tout it as a commercial space again - but at a much higher rent??), and perhaps even some uncertainty as to who the new owner actually is. I had thought Frazer and Frankie, the charming young couple who've made this place into such a beloved institution in the town over the past two years, had another year on their lease; but it seems not. They'd got a bit bored with the place, and were looking to move on anyway. But they had been hoping to get an extension for at least one more year, so that they could sell the bar as a going concern; and that hasn't worked out - so, the place is suddenly derelict. Unbearably sad.
At least dear old Oh Neil's (also in Kampot) is still there, and still as great as it ever was.... although it's gone through some rough patches in the last year or so (being without a kitchen for long periods, and giving up on daytime opening - factors which combined to rob us of Neil's 'breakfast roll', one of my very favourite guilty indulgences: an entire cooked breakfast somehow crammed inside a baguette!), and I gather it is unlikely to survive beyond the end of its current lease.
So, where have I been drinking over this last year or so, as these early favourites faltered and fell?? These are my newer loves - all of them predictably divey!
Froog's New Top Five Favourite Bars in Cambodia
5) The Roadhouse Saloon (Siem Reap)
Or 'Anna's Place', as I like to think of it. The likeable Khmer landlady is coy as to how this bar came about, where the concept came from. It is such an authentic rendition of a classic American bar (subdued lighting, stone-topped bar, classic advertisements and b&w photos of dead rock stars on the walls) that I am inclined to think that there must have been a foreign partner involved at some point; but she won't be drawn on that, and appears to be in sole charge now. Her house special gin & tonic (a huge measure, with lots of lime juice, served in a brandy balloon) has become my favourite brain-bludgeoner this past year. Again, alas, as with so many of my original picks above, there's not much on offer in the way of beers - which stops this place being more than an occasional indulgence for me. Its other major drawbacks are irregular opening and a complete dearth of customers most of the time. While I have much enjoyed being able to introduce a couple of visiting friends to its charms in recent months, it has been completely deserted just about every other time I've looked in - which hasn't tempted me to stay. Perhaps I've just been unlucky; Anna assures me she's had a number of spectacular nights where large gaggles of visitors kept her up until the wee small hours. This, it seems, is her common excuse for not always opening very early, or at all - she's recovering from one of her big nights (exhausted? hungover? feeling that she's made her money for the week??). With a better clientele (it's got good potential, I think, as it enjoys a very prominent location - on the big roundabout at the start of 7 Makara Street, directly opposite the horrendous Hard Rock Café), and a more varied range of drinks, this could become my favourite bar in the country.... or at the northern end of it, anyway.
4) Mekong Crossing (Kampong Cham)
The Mekong Crossing is a barebones little guesthouse that I've often stayed at (well, two out of three times so far) in the quaint provincial capital of Kampong Cham. It's got a great corner location, right opposite the riverfront promenade, with some nice sidewalk seating (and also a narrow wraparound balcony on the first floor, which is scarcely used), and some of the keenest drinks prices I've found anywhere in the country. The food, unfortunately, is not up to much (I prefer the nearby Moon River for that). But they have a really friendly group of staff in there; and I've developed a huge affection for the place in just a few brief visits. (Indeed, Kampong Cham is rapidly becoming my favourite place in the country - largely because it has just about zero foreigners [only a handful of Western tourists at any given time, and it's fairly easy to ignore them; no resident expats that I've ever seen!]. Sometimes, I just get really fed up of the kind of Westerner that predominates here; and KC - just a few hours out of Phnom Penh on a bus - is an excellent place to get away from them.)
The Mekong Crossing is a barebones little guesthouse that I've often stayed at (well, two out of three times so far) in the quaint provincial capital of Kampong Cham. It's got a great corner location, right opposite the riverfront promenade, with some nice sidewalk seating (and also a narrow wraparound balcony on the first floor, which is scarcely used), and some of the keenest drinks prices I've found anywhere in the country. The food, unfortunately, is not up to much (I prefer the nearby Moon River for that). But they have a really friendly group of staff in there; and I've developed a huge affection for the place in just a few brief visits. (Indeed, Kampong Cham is rapidly becoming my favourite place in the country - largely because it has just about zero foreigners [only a handful of Western tourists at any given time, and it's fairly easy to ignore them; no resident expats that I've ever seen!]. Sometimes, I just get really fed up of the kind of Westerner that predominates here; and KC - just a few hours out of Phnom Penh on a bus - is an excellent place to get away from them.)
3) Kampot Hilton (Kampot)
I don't love the name: the reminiscence with the 'Hanoi Hilton' doesn't conjure positive associations (nor, indeed, does any reminder of the ghastly Paris Hilton); I fear the Hilton Hotel chain might sue one day; and, well, it somehow just doesn't sound like a bar to me. But a bar it is, and a very good one. A very new one, too: only open two or three months at this point, I believe. It was always an appealing space, and a promising location (facing the small grassy square just inland from the 'Old Market' on the riverfront); but with its previous incarnation, a would-be New-Orleans-y bar called NOLA... well, that had its moments, but the tenant had got depressed by some bad experiences in her business and personal life, and had rather obviously given up interest in the venture.... It was slowly and painfully dying on its feet over the last year or two. Its revamp - under a boisterous Aussie biker couple, Jono and Ricky - is long overdue, and seems likely to prosper. The newcomers are putting a lot of effort into special events, including some kind of promotion involving cheap drinks or prize draws every night of the week (and putting on a rather awesome brunch buffet for Melbourne Cup Day while I was visiting recently). The major draw, though, is Ricky's pub grub, which is really very impressive (she apparently dumps a full Bloody Mary into every serving of her excellent chilli - which is an inspired innovation, to be sure, although I worry what it does to her profit margin!!). I was in there very nearly every night of a recent two-week stay: it's not often that happens with me.
I don't love the name: the reminiscence with the 'Hanoi Hilton' doesn't conjure positive associations (nor, indeed, does any reminder of the ghastly Paris Hilton); I fear the Hilton Hotel chain might sue one day; and, well, it somehow just doesn't sound like a bar to me. But a bar it is, and a very good one. A very new one, too: only open two or three months at this point, I believe. It was always an appealing space, and a promising location (facing the small grassy square just inland from the 'Old Market' on the riverfront); but with its previous incarnation, a would-be New-Orleans-y bar called NOLA... well, that had its moments, but the tenant had got depressed by some bad experiences in her business and personal life, and had rather obviously given up interest in the venture.... It was slowly and painfully dying on its feet over the last year or two. Its revamp - under a boisterous Aussie biker couple, Jono and Ricky - is long overdue, and seems likely to prosper. The newcomers are putting a lot of effort into special events, including some kind of promotion involving cheap drinks or prize draws every night of the week (and putting on a rather awesome brunch buffet for Melbourne Cup Day while I was visiting recently). The major draw, though, is Ricky's pub grub, which is really very impressive (she apparently dumps a full Bloody Mary into every serving of her excellent chilli - which is an inspired innovation, to be sure, although I worry what it does to her profit margin!!). I was in there very nearly every night of a recent two-week stay: it's not often that happens with me.
2) Elly's (Phnom Penh)
Just before I grew terminally disenchanted with Phnom Penh and quit at the beginning of this year, I had found myself becoming a bit of a regular at this newly opened bar down in the Russian Market district, at the far southern end of the city (I'd only go once or twice a week; but, given that it's nearly five miles away from where I lived, and I'd usually walk the whole way, there and back, it must have had quite a draw for me...!). It's a classic dive: dark, narrow, barebones, grungy.... cheap. But that's obviously a winning formula for many folks, not just me: this is the only bar I've found in the capital that has established an enthusiastic regular clientele (on Fridays, in particular, it would get pretty heaved out by shortly after 6pm). At first, it was a very Aussie bar (the owner appeared to be an amiable young bloke called Clinton, getting occasional help from his old dad, Don), and that was no bad thing: they do the dive bar well, the Aussies. But when Clinton moved on to richer pastures overseas (and Don also vanished back to Oz for quite a while) at the start of this year, the mysterious Elly - for whom the place had been named all along - stepped forward to take over (Don's Mrs, apparently: a feisty Filipina). The bar food menu (already good under Clinton, who had experience as a chef) underwent a dramatic makeover, going fully Filipino (there are a few other places in PP where you can sample this cuisine; but I doubt if they're anywhere near as good as this!): the occasional all-you-can-eat Pinoy Sunday brunches are particularly good (I'd often find myself the only white guy in the room, as the place had soon become a hub for the city's entire Filipino community during the daytime on the weekends - that's how good the food is!). There are, as ever, quite a few negative points: some of the 'regulars' are a bit obnoxious, all of them smoke an obscene amount, the music they play in there can be sometimes great but rather more often absolutely bloody terrible (I was unlucky enough to catch them on a Cambodian holiday the last time I visited: the usual 6pm crowd had been in all afternoon, chain-smoking, and getting especially obnoxious; they launched into a phase of cueing up electronic dance music on Youtube ['young' people - dontcha hate 'em??!!], which drove me from the bar in despair within minutes), and so on. Ah yes, and the place is romantically disastered for me: I had a brief but ultimately very unhappy affair with a gorgeous American woman I met in there just before Christmas last year. Yet still, despite all that, I am sure to go back there whenever I visit Phnom Penh....
Just before I grew terminally disenchanted with Phnom Penh and quit at the beginning of this year, I had found myself becoming a bit of a regular at this newly opened bar down in the Russian Market district, at the far southern end of the city (I'd only go once or twice a week; but, given that it's nearly five miles away from where I lived, and I'd usually walk the whole way, there and back, it must have had quite a draw for me...!). It's a classic dive: dark, narrow, barebones, grungy.... cheap. But that's obviously a winning formula for many folks, not just me: this is the only bar I've found in the capital that has established an enthusiastic regular clientele (on Fridays, in particular, it would get pretty heaved out by shortly after 6pm). At first, it was a very Aussie bar (the owner appeared to be an amiable young bloke called Clinton, getting occasional help from his old dad, Don), and that was no bad thing: they do the dive bar well, the Aussies. But when Clinton moved on to richer pastures overseas (and Don also vanished back to Oz for quite a while) at the start of this year, the mysterious Elly - for whom the place had been named all along - stepped forward to take over (Don's Mrs, apparently: a feisty Filipina). The bar food menu (already good under Clinton, who had experience as a chef) underwent a dramatic makeover, going fully Filipino (there are a few other places in PP where you can sample this cuisine; but I doubt if they're anywhere near as good as this!): the occasional all-you-can-eat Pinoy Sunday brunches are particularly good (I'd often find myself the only white guy in the room, as the place had soon become a hub for the city's entire Filipino community during the daytime on the weekends - that's how good the food is!). There are, as ever, quite a few negative points: some of the 'regulars' are a bit obnoxious, all of them smoke an obscene amount, the music they play in there can be sometimes great but rather more often absolutely bloody terrible (I was unlucky enough to catch them on a Cambodian holiday the last time I visited: the usual 6pm crowd had been in all afternoon, chain-smoking, and getting especially obnoxious; they launched into a phase of cueing up electronic dance music on Youtube ['young' people - dontcha hate 'em??!!], which drove me from the bar in despair within minutes), and so on. Ah yes, and the place is romantically disastered for me: I had a brief but ultimately very unhappy affair with a gorgeous American woman I met in there just before Christmas last year. Yet still, despite all that, I am sure to go back there whenever I visit Phnom Penh....
And in the top spot this time, my new 'second home'.....
1) Ganesha (Battambang)
This charming little family-run guesthouse operates out of a couple of colonial-era shophouses in the heart of the old quarter of central Battambang. The German owner is a bombastic but mostly lovable old eccentric (German food features heavily on the menu; and the potato dishes - wedges, potato cakes, mash - are the best you'll find anywhere in the country), and his lovely Cambodian wife is my favourite person in the city, one of the nicest people I've met anywhere. The staff are great, too. The booze prices are very keen, and there's a better range of beers available than anywhere else in town: drinkable Cambodia on draft, Klang in cans (tastes about as nondescript as any other Asian lager, but it's a satisfying 1% stronger - hence, my tipple of choice!), and also the handle-with-care Barrley Black (a new super-strong 'stout' from the Cambodia beer people: there's nothing at all nice about it, and it induces hangovers-from-hell, but... it's 8.5% alcohol for only a dollar a can!!). They have a pretty good pool table too (and the owner and his two teenage kids are formidable players), which is, of course, a further insidious attraction for me. They've recently instituted a pool competition on Monday nights, which could become a fixture in my week (except that my mojo has gone walkabout this month; I'm now losing confidence that I'll even be able to give anyone a half-decent game, let alone win the damn tournament outright, before I head off on the road again in a few weeks). Nothing is perfect in this world: the bar is tiny (and often overrun with backpackers staying in the dorms upstairs), the only three stools available are uncomfortably tall,.... and they can't hook up the TV sound to play the commentary during big football games (aaarrgghh!). But despite these considerable demerits, Ganesha has wormed its way deep into my heart. If I'm going out drinking in Battambang (although I have given up for several extended periods since I moved here....), it's highly likely that this will be my main stop.... quite probably my only one.
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My long-time commenter and occasional partner-in-drink, Little Anthony, who hung out with me in Siem Reap and Battambang recently, points out that this is a rather incomplete snapshot of my current drinking haunts.
He has a particular fondness for Mad Murphy's, a cosy little Irish bar in Siem Reap. I have mixed feelings about that one. The staff are lovely, some of the food is very good, there's a varied and attractively priced selection of whiskeys; and it's one of the only places in town where you can watch a game of football. However, they do tend to overdo the Oirishry a bit: you may find old Dubliners concerts - or bloody Riverdance! - showing on continuous loop for hours sometimes. And the decor's a bit too light and airy: just doesn't feel like a proper boozer, somehow. Worst of all, they show a lot of rugby in there - a game that I can't stand, and which tends to attract a type of expat that I can't stand. If you can catch it on a quiet evening, and steer them away from rugby and Riverdance, it is a very fine place. There are two particular reasons why I felt unable to give it a more prominent shout-out in this post - and on this I must remain silent.
My only other regular drinking resort in SR these days is Finn McCool's (not so heavy on the Oirishry - apart from the name), an unassuming little bar towards the western end of Sok San Road. Alan is an affable landlord, and he has a very capable Khmer lady helping him out behind the bar. Decent bar food, and the best pool table in town are further draws. My reservation here is that it attracts an expat retiree crowd (the sleazy old men who are mostly here for the easy sex), rather than tourists or folks who work here.
Actually, my No 1 hangout in SR isn't really a bar at all: it's a little hole-in-the-wall diner called Meng Cafe - down by Wat Damnak, right behind the new 'Arts Centre' Night Market. They do some great food there, especially the Khmer dishes, which are the best I've had anywhere in the country (and most items only $2.50 or $3). And a can of Cambodia beer in a frosty mug is only 75c, the best price in town. I quite often while away an entire afternoon there, reading a book.
Down in Kampong Cham, I also have a fondness for the Moon River guesthouse, which, like its near neighbour the Mekong Crossing (celebrated in the post above) has a nice sidewalk seating area facing the riverfront, and dangerously cheap drinks. I prefer the Mekong Crossing just for drinking, but Moon River has much better food.
While in the capital.... well, before I quit in February, I'd been becoming quite a regular down at Garage - now the only joint between St 104 and St 136 in the central Riverside area that isn't a hostess bar. Also one of the only places in town to serve the slightly-stronger-than-average Klang beer. However, I worry that this place may have folded, since the Brit owner Simon had been struggling to make ends meet.... and seems to have given up on the regular Facebook updates he used to use to try to promote the place. (Ah, recently under new management, I gather; will have to check it out when I had down to PP again in a couple of weeks. I do hope it hasn't converted into a bloody girlie bar.)
I also have a great fondness for an unobtrusive little French bar on St 19 - which may once have gone under the ridiculous name 'Fun Palace', but is now determinedly anonymous. It has the right level of lighting (dark!), a superb long bar with a stone counter (with a ship's anchor chain as a footrail), and a splendidly lugubrious barman in Michel. It never has many customers, and those it has are nearly all French; but it has such a fabulous dive bar ambience, I feel motivated to try to chisel the rust off my high school French. When I finally left PP, I stopped in here to down a few swift whiskies to help me sleep on the night bus to Siem Reap.
My other great favourite in the capital is the moderately famous Zeppelin bar. I don't love its new, much larger first-floor location in the BKK district as much as its original incarnation in a tiny shophouse in the main bar zone of Pasteur Street; it lacks the original's claustrophobic cosiness, and is rather overlit. However, it retains all the other key elements of its distinctive appeal: an excellent heavy metal/classic rock/punk playlist curated by its Taiwanese owner, a diehard headbanger; a great range of bar snacks, including some very good Chinese dumplings; and the lowest drinks prices in the country. I love you, Zeppelin!
My original 'local', The Alley Cat, just off St 178, still holds a place in my heart: it still has the great Tex-Mex bar food, the huge mural of famous cartoon cats, Klang at only $1, amiable grouch Dallas holding court as ever - and the entertaining 'Sundowner Sessions', a regular jam party for expat musos early evening on Sundays. I do not at all like the silly renaming it has undergone in the past year - Tacos Kokopelli???!!! - and I think most of its regulars continue to call it The Alley Cat.
I was saddened to learn on my last visit to PP that The Empire (a characterful little indie cinema in the Riverside district, and - back in the day - a surprisingly good dive bar as well; I visited it almost every night during my first few months in Cambodia, and very nearly bought the place...) has been rebranded as Splash!, one of the dreaded 'hostess bars'. The new owner claims that he is refurbishing the upstairs cinema room, and plans to relaunch it soon, but... well, that hasn't come to fruition in three or four months since he took over (and renovations don't take long in this country!). And I dread to think what kind of a cinema he could run inside a girlie bar!!
Anyhow, The Empire, as I knew and loved it, is DEAD. Very sad.
At least I feel vindicated in my decision not to take it on myself. The guy who did buy it put a lot of effort into improving the programming and the advertising - but still couldn't turn a decent profit from it.
Another unfortunate failing of Mad Murphy's, which I have visited again just recently, is the pricing.... especially of the food. I have a feeling the prices were perhaps always a little on the high side, but this seemed forgivable, as central Siem Reap is inevitably a bit inflated by the large numbers of tourists, and the quality of the dishes there was generally pretty good. However, they seem to have taken the occasion of recently republishing their menu in more substantial booklet form to hike all the prices up again (no other changes, I don't think; just the prices!): now even the snacky items are at least 50c more than you'd usually expept, most mains are a dollar or two over the going rate. And I just can't bring myself to order anything there any more. Neither can anyone else, on the evidence of my last few visits. (Well, the few who did were not impressed by what emerged from the kitchen, so maybe there's another problem. They used to boast of having a hotel-trained chef out the back, but I was always sceptical about that. If it was ever true, I'm pretty sure he must have moved on now.)
Drinks are more reasonable (for Siem Reap, anyway); but they seem to be running out of all their more unusual whiskeys. Little Anthony and I must take the blame for polishing off the very tasty and mysteriously cheap Kentucky bourbon (a bourbon actually called 'Kentucky': never heard of it before, but it was very nice) a couple of months back. Apparently they couldn't remember where they got it from, and are unable now to replace it. Boo.
Popped into Garage briefly on my most recent pass through PP, and find it largely unchanged under the new owner.... except that they've stopped stocking the (slightly more alcoholic) Klang beer, which was its only major draw for me. Oh dear. Well, at least it hasn't become a girlie bar (YET).
They seem to be making an effort to expand/improve the bar food offerings as well - which were pretty lacklustre before. That might get it back on the 'worth visiting' list - although I'm doubtful if it will happen without investing in a decent chef. Too many small places of this kind try to get by on simple, largely pre-prepared dishes that the bar staff can quickly fire up... and the results aren't very impressive.
Once in a blue moon, they'd host a live band there too. The space is scarcely big enough, but.... the two best nights I had in there (and pretty much my two best nights out in PP) were made by the music. I keep my fingers crossed it might develop as more regular gig venue.
My 'jinx' continues. I suppose it's just a product of the difficulty of running a business in such a competitive but very seasonal market as this we find here in Cambodia; there is a VERY high churn-rate of small bars & restaurants.
The owners of the Kampot Hilton could never find ways to make full use of the huge amount of space they were renting (a back-to-back double unit, with a connecting courtyard, and an upper floor - or two? - as well); their enthusiasm for the project waned after that vigorous first few months I was lucky to catch, and they quit after only 7 or 8 months They were talking vaguely of looking for a new opportunity, possibly in the craft brewing business - but I haven't heard from my contacts down there if anything's come of that. I'll really miss the superb bar food they used to do there.
The Roadhouse Saloon - 'Anna's Place' - in Battambang closed some time last summer as well. It had never quite managed to fulfill its 'promise' for me, but... that city is still strangely without a really good bar; and Anna's was the closest thing to it.
And as for Elly's in PP - well, I don't know what's going on with that. Elly herself has been reportedly 'on holiday' every time I've looked in over the past year or more... which means, I imagine, that she must have sundered her connection with the place. There's been no sign of Aussie husband Don either. There's a young barman who seems to have been trying to keep the place going on his own, but it's a bit more than he can handle. And though there is in theory still a food menu - including, I think, some of Elly's Pinoy dishes - I rarely see anyone order it any more. Not even sure if they have anyone working in the kitchen regularly now. I certainly wouldn't trust the food to be up to much if Elly's no longer overseeing things in person.
I haven't been back to Kampong Cham in several months, but I imagine the Mekong Crossing is tickling along much as ever. The main threat there, I fear, is a possible influx of Sihanoukville Diaspora - the more unlovely type of long-term Western expat, who had been mostly based in the country's big beach town... until the Chinese bought it all up to build casino hotels over the past two or three years. The blighting of this attractive stretch of coast was regrettable, but the consequent demographic upheaval - displacing its overseas residents to smaller cities around Cambodia - has been even more disturbing for me. These are people I would go a long way to avoid; but I didn't have to, when they all lived in Sihanhoukville. Now, they're turning up everywhere!!!
We even have a few of them in Battambang; but they haven't dragged the bar scene down with their boorishness yet. Ganesha continues my most regular 'local' in the country - although, even there, my frequency of visitation has been curtailed by the departure of my favourite barman.
Change - I do not like it!!
Battambang? What was I thinking in that last comment??
Anna's place, The Road House Saloon, was, of course, in Siem Reap, not Battambang. But I went away for a few months last summer, and came back to find it's not anywhere any more.
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