The Magic Sponge Bar

Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Boeng Kak Lake Area,
26-02-2010.

The Magic Sponge bar is to be seriously considered when one wants to enjoy the more ancient way of life like smoking soft Cambodian grass which according to Andy the colorful bar man, goes back many hunderds of years in this Asian country with the locals not just smoking this dark green vegetable but also using it for cooking purposes...interesting way to get the whole family stoned out of their communal heads I suppose...

Half drunk and feeling pretty lightheaded I watch the show taking shape with young kids hung with plastic baskets full with copy printed Lonely Planet travel guides, read about how it is as a Farang inmate in Bangkwang or Yard Lao prison in Thailand, smoking poppies while searching for your daughter among the hilltribes of Northern Thailand, and of course a whole selection of books about the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge regime...Buy a book and support child labour or maybe the bootleg culture of Southeast Asia...

A few chicken wander in despite the late hour probably hoping for a few stray grains of white rice. nobody paying them much heed nor the fish heads in front of the entrance lying in their own sticky blood, most likely left behind by the fish vendor who passed by earlier with all of his mercandise loaded on an old crappy bicycle....

The same two local ladies entering as last night. I don't need to turn my head to recognise them, the cloud of heavy parfum going up my nostrils is enough to guess the identity of the owners. They are probably hunting for customers but have come to the wrong establishment...

According to Andy who can roll a joint in under two minutes, he has got to pay three different charges to the local constabulary to stay in business. Not that they make much of a secret about it arriving on motorbike taxi to demand their weekly payments/Baksheesh as the Indians call it - makes me wonder if all the these hustlers outside in the street pay baksheesh too, they are definitely just as open about their business not caring much about coppers walkking by while they try to sell me their underaged sisters or maybe just plain old cocaine, heroine or a little boy, their younger brothers?

Anyway, I got my Thai visa yesterday so I guess, my time in Phnom Penh is slowly coming to an end...