Well, looks like the town is finally starting to sober up after a very busy and hectic New Years Eve. The plans I had fell apart very quickly however. We’d planned a real ‘cheap charlie’ night out with the following agenda ….
- Meet at Utopia at 7:00pm for the $3 ‘all you can’ Pizza and Pasta party.
- 7:45pm get to the Freedom Bar to partake of their Free Beer offer between 7:00pm and 10:00pm
- Back to Utopia for the $1 Vodka & Redbull offer between 10:00pm and 11:00pm
- Down to Nep House (Eden) on Serendipity Beach for there ‘Beer and a shot’ offer priced at only 1000 riel!
Anyway, at 12:00am I got a call from a few friends that were heading for town from Thailand, they’d be arriving around 2:30pm but were having trouble finding three rooms ……… three rooms?! on New Years Eve in Snooky, no chance!!
I started making a few calls to friends and friendly hotels, nothing. I was still trying when the guys arrived at the Freedom Bar at 2:30pm. The Freedom Bar had only one room, but it was a $5 room and the expression on the girls face implied that I shouldn’t probably take it.
Ok, I set off on the bike to go face to face with as many hotels / guesthouses as I could. My Swedish friends opted to stay in the Freedom and drink, lucky them!
I headed down to Ochheuteal, figuring that maybe some of the higher end hotels may have rooms. The usual backpacker haunts like Utopia, Monkey Republic, Cool Banana and even Mick & Craigs were simply out of the question. I visited Golden Sands, the Crystal Hotel and every other hotel on the strip …… nothing, but at least they were very polite.
Back along Ekareach Street stopping at the places I knew along there, nothing. Up to Victory Hill where I tried the Independence Hotel, Golden Rooster, Snake House and many of the other places such as Blue Frog, Mealy Chander, ché Marrian etc …….. nothing.
I returned to the Freedom Bar empty handed, though I did have one last ‘ray of hope’. I’d been trying to call my good friend Gerry at the Pocoloco but couldn’t get in touch. The bar didn’t open until 7:00pm, but since it was 5:45pm now we thought we’d stay at the Freedom Bar for more beer till then.
We also asked a friendly Moto if he knew of anywhere and surprisingly after 30 minutes he returned saying he’d found somewhere, it was however, up on Blue Mountain next door to one of the ’brothels’, they also only had two rooms. Never the less, the guys decided to book them as a ‘reserve’. It cost $25 per room per night …… a much inflated price i’m sure!
At 7:30pm we headed down to Pocoloco, met Gerry and amazingly / luckily, he did have three rooms! Sorted.
A lesson has been learned though ……….. please do not arrive in Snooky on any of the ‘new years’ (Western, Chinese or Khmer / Thai) expecting a room ……. the town simply does not have the capacity. To any of my friends who ignore this lesson, next time ……. you’re on your own!
Rooms sorted, a very quick introduction to the bars around the Ochheuteal area, and there are many of them ……. the rest of the evening is a total blur, though I do vaguely remember being at Jack’s Shack for the fireworks at Midnight.
A great night in Snooky, as always.
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2 Comments
Yeah…you were at Jacks alright , cos you kept putting your arms around me wishing me a Happy New Year and trying to kiss me……
What can I say ……. you’re a sexy man …….. especially after more than a few beers!