Christmas in Cambodia

This is the Christmas tree at Zeppelin, which we call the Rock Bar for reasons that become apparent when you step inside.

It's a sort of sea-foam colored assemblage of rock-and-roll junk and is usually full of off-work expats with a pronounced, shared, interest in alcohol. I like it here because I can sit down and read a book and be guaranteed that the background music will be T-Rex or Deep Purple or something aesthetically acceptable instead of the Khmer Top 40 or Europe's Latest Shitty Techno Beats. They also have fantastic pork and leek dumplings.

I remember after the Koh Pich disaster, I walked in here, ordered a double Jim Beam, sat down, and asked if the terrifying DJ would play The Doors "The End" for me exactly twice on repeat. He rolled his eyes at me - what is this shit, Apocalypse Now? - but he did it anyway. I felt sort of better. The terrifying DJ is actually a pretty nice guy if you can manage to get him talking. He lurks at the back of the bar in the middle of a massive collection of records, which are just for show, since he does everything on Itunes now (like everybody else). There was speculation that he didn't actually have legs at one point but I've seen him walk before. The myth is dead.