Phnom Penh: The Curse of Lakeside #10

Living on a tight budget requires a fair bit of compromise on the traveler's part, especially when it comes to accommodation. So when we arrived in front of Phnom Penh's train station the other day, we beelined it straight to Lakeside #10, one of the cheapest spots in the city center. For $2USD a night, Andrew and I scored a top floor room (hardly a penthouse) for a few days. Problem is, for that price you can't really expect much by way of quality.

The guesthouse is broken up into three distinct areas. The first is the super cheap partition built entirely of wood with filthy shared bathrooms at the end of the hall. I stayed in this portion of the guesthouse the first time I was in Phnom Penh. So poorly constructed is this wing, it shakes at the slightest movement. While I stayed here, the whole place swayed to the rhythm of a young couple's late night indiscretions a few doors down.

The more upscale wing is further down the hallway in a concrete building. Rooms here are maintained quite well in comparison to the rest of the guesthouse and remain relatively cool during the sweltering daytime heat. This is where the Swiss girls stayed.

Section three is a metal girdered monstrosity constructed haphazardly atop the concrete building. Most people don't stay here because it's inconveniently located and the tin roof makes the rooms unbearably hot during the daytime. This is where Andrew and I stayed.

Though clean, little care is taken on the maintenance of the building. As such we were left to deal with series of catastrophes, increasing in severity with each occurrence. I've documented them here:

June 17th - Room 402 - A heavy rain had rolled in as we sat down for dinner a few blocks from Lakeside 10. When it subsided, we returned to the guesthouse and found our room completely flooded - our bags were soaked through. The seals in the windows, it turns out, were inadequately weatherproofed. After a bit of complaining, we switched over to room number 403.

June 18th - Room 403 - The afternoon storm that kept us from going to Choeung Ek had leaked through the ceiling onto my bed, soaking my bag (again). We complained and were switched over to Room 404.

June 21st - Room 404 - It was around 1 AM, Andrew had left for Vietnam, Hobbes and I were fast asleep, when part of the ceiling collapsed and landed on the bed. Thankfully, neither of us were hurt in the incident. By this point we were out of rooms to switch over so we just had to deal with it.

The hole above the bed:

June 23rd - Room 404 - As the sun set, a plague of insects of Biblical proportions (beetles, grasshoppers, mosquitoes and moths mostly) descended on the room through the newly created opening in the ceiling. I stress, insect repellent is a must in Southeast Asia.

June 24th - Room 404 - For whatever reason, last night's swarm of insects had migrated to greener pastures, allowing me the freedom to work on the blog (play freecell) in the comfort of my own bed. After about half an hour, I was blinded by searing pain. A tiny beetle the size of a sesame seed found its way up my shorts and took a bite out of my... ah... sack lunch.

June 25th - Room 404 - I woke up bright and early to prepare for a long bus ride to Saigon. Unfortunately, the water had been shut off so I spent an extra twenty minutes in bed and stank up the bus with my improper hygiene.