Hey Bong....

I vowed to avoid the Water Festival crowds this year, so I didn't leave my place until 11:30pm. The streets were busy, but manageable. Special thanks to that group of 10-12 garment workers for not accepting my invitation to go out and get bombed. It would have killed my budget.

Sharky Bar: 11:45pm-2am
Pretty quiet. Where is everyone? No matter. Good crowd of locals and some quiet conversation. What I remember:

• The California 2-sponsored Water Fest racing boat won twice yesterday. On to the next round.
  
• The Player-hater I blasted in yesterday's post is, in fact, a killer lay. My opinion of her has changed 180 degrees.
  
• The land I didn't buy in Stung Meanchey a couple years ago has more than doubled in price.
  
• Good (bad) brawl in front of the Royal Palace gave the folks stuck in traffic something to enjoy. 6 angry Khmers going at it with fists, elbows, flying kicks, and 2x4s. One dude was down for a while, and he may not be getting up again - ever. Best part - the cops breaking it up with all the necessary force we've come to expect. The 2 unlucky enough to be caught got tossed a serious beating. Rodney fuckin' King-style. Note: The bad guys over here are well and truly bad and I don't have an ounce of sympathy for either of them.
  

By 2am I was kind of loaded and in no mood to head up to Martinis. We decided to hit Street 104.

Pickled Parrot: (2am-3am)
Bastard Motodop pulled an, I don't have change for your dollar-trick. Fuck that. It's 2am and he's been working all night; he has change. He just wants you to forfeit the whole dollar. Tell them you'll pay them tomrrow and see how quicky they produce your change. Fuckers. Bar 104 was closing down, so I was relegated to the Land of $2.50 vodkas.....At least it's smoke friendly, and they have good music - and if you really get bored, they have a nice aquarium to look at. It was the only thing open. Many thanks to Boozil for his funny dancing and drink spills. It was great fun - much better than the aquarium. 2 drinks and out.

Howie's Bar: (3am-5am)
Howie was in an angry mood. My guess is he tallied the cost of last night's magnanimous open-bar gesture and....he's not happy. But I was just fine. Good time watching an angry waitress swing a cleaver at The Fat Lensman. Even though I vowed never to buy another lady drink at Howie's, I felt the need to reward (and nurture) her anger with a shot of tequila. It was money well spent. ($2.50) The fist waving, cleaver swinging, and well placed curses were good entertainment. As was Howie and the Lensman's attempt to work out a new rule for the pool table. (Something about NO SNOOKERING.) By 4:30 I was ready to go home when DiverUK and DiverOZ (drunk, E'd-up, and surly) came in flanked by 2 bodyguards; they started buying rounds. They'd just raised a ruckus at the Heart (nice) and were looking for more shit to get into. To the Walkabout.

Walkabout:
Security didn't look happy to see us. Another drink and then someone began handing out tablets. I declined. The divers started in on a couple patrons when my favorite nasty VN sauntered over and said those magic words, "Hey Bong, I suck your cock?" Yes. I was about to make the date when I heard the divers talking about The Naga. They wanted me to come along. The Naga Casino at 6am with 2 fired-up soccer hooligans....How could I say no? Besides, it's like a train wreck. You can't stop it - you can only sit back and watch it happen. Off we went.

Naga Casino:
They only had beer - no spirits. Fuck the Naga. It was mostly empty and quiet, but it wasn't quiet for long. DiverOz had worked in a casino and knew how to play, how to count cards, all the tricks...He was ready to win. It didn't take long for them to get intensely into the game. I'm not sure if it was the shouting, the banging on the table, or the leaning over the table to get in the dealer's face that attracted about 8 security guards/cops to our table. I do know that trying to tip one with a vial of powder is a bad idea and so is causing a commotion at the Naga. I didn't think that we were that bad, but by Naga standards...The Management wasn't diggin' it. By 7:30 I was ready to go. I tried to get them out but they got the bug and maybe they were winning. These are cool dudes and I'm hoping they made it out in one piece and with enough money to get back to their hotel.

I got home, did a bong hit, and soccer kicked a cockroach out my front door. A happy ending.