25

She was The Wonder and married a Troll --- The Stranger who solved the mystery of 1899 where a Man of Action straightened God's Crooked Lines with a borrowed Shooter from The Hateful Eight whose Incantation kept The Big Mistake at bay.

And on the 25th year of their being mostly happily married, the barkeep of Mabuhay Lounge sneaked reheated burgers into PR 501 as the Covid skies welcomed the Phantom Biker from 5 days spent in the bike trails, the remaining whiffs of Escobar light brandy, deep fried biya, Red Horse extra strong beer and leftover corned beef fading as the gates of the Lion City opened...  

WEEKEND IN PHNOM PENH

After unpacking at Room 709 of the Frangipani Royal Palace Hotel, I meandered through the numbered streets of Phnom Penh into the riverside path along Tonle Sap where a welcome commitee of bikes lined up to remind me of what I'm and will be missing for 9 days.

Still no update on Oskar's Dahon bike purchase so I walked away, unsure of how to kill the rest of a Saturday afternoon and what to eat at the Phnom Penh Night Market where I searched for bai sach chrouk in the plastic coated menus before settling for fried seafood noodles that should have been called fried shrimp noodles, and finding my place to squat at the plastic mats of what can be the food court.

 

There was another dinner to top that but fast forward to Sunday where despite doing some work have a whole afternoon to spend, part of it with another long afternoon walk to a lunch of 126 Restaurant's house noodles, offal and pork mainly, before renewing my acquaintance with the artifacts on display at the National Museum of Cambodia, Buddhist mainly, for a fee of $10. 

There, I shelled $3.50 for a bottle of Heineken while spying on two monks sipping their water. 

But that was not enough to invite the night so for $5 more and a free canned beer, I boarded a river cruise that was so uneventful I resorted to watching a group of young people munch on green mangoes, someone's petite young wife doing multiple selfie poses, a bored grandfather hoping for the cruise to be done, and the silhouette of people watching us from both sides of the river. 

Then another long walk in search of Ta Phai Barbecue T3 that I found in a narrow alley filled with happy locals.      

In Phnom Penh, beer is the liquid rice accompaniment for my weekend specials of grilled beef --- Angkor, Cambodia, Anchor and three Kruds over two dinners in that order.

A jug of Cambodian draft bottle and a bottle of Arte in Bottiglia also went well with Monday's Italian pizza while Tuesday was my introduction to Dragon Premium Dark Beer and Vattanac Premium Pilsner from a 7-11 store, night caps for two drafts at the Skybar and accompaniments for a dinner of bacon-wrapped pork sausage and ice cream, also from 7-11, before enduring a red eye flight to Manila. 

THE LEGEND OF PATPONG

Patpong is a Cinderella story: in 1893, Tun Poon arrived in Bangkok as a poor Chinese immigrant, was taken in by a relative who taught him the business of rice trading, rose through the ranks to become the manager, expanded into sawmills and ice plants, became wealthy and philanthropic, was conferred by King Rama VII the title of Luang and the name Patpongpanich in 1927 in recognition of his charity work, became wealthier from selling calcium carbonate to the Siam Cement Group, and in 1946 purchased a banana plantation at an auction of confiscated land from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank.    

Part 2 of the story is about one of his sons, Udom Patpongpanich who was educated in the UK and the US, trained by Jim Thompson to resist the Japanese invasion during World War II, transformed the former banana plantation into commercial area, and because of his OSS connection had American corporations and CIA cover companies in Thailand as tenants.

In 1969, a retired US Air Force personnel opened the Grand Prix Bar that was the beginning of Patpong's transition into the red light which is the third part of the story.  

I had a dinner of Crying Tiger steak in Patpong which is 650 meters away from Nai Meng along Silom Road where I had a bowl of its famous noodles with shrimp wonton, crispy pork belly, sweet pork barbecue and shitake mushroom in another dinner, 500 meters from Convent Road where I had two other dinners of an also famous chicken rice and not so famous fried chicken and rice, which is 850 meters to The Commons and its expensive craft beer menu.  

Shady characters are frequent visitors to Patpong with Tony Poe where the character of Colonel Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now" was based, and Charles Sobhraj, a serial killer in the 1970s nicknamed as The Serpent, as the most notorious.

And there is Asshole, also known as The Big Mistake who could easily qualify in their company with his cunning masking his incompetence and thriving in a culture of tolerance despite being hugely disliked probably because he is white and European.

He could have been thrown off the Royal Princess and no one will miss him had he joined the Chao Phraya river cruise where those on the top deck rioted at the buffet table...