Movie Night in Sihanoukville
Back in London, three of my best friends host Monday Night Movie Night. As the name suggests, this involves watching a film (or as one of them would say a ‘filum’) on Monday night. Sometimes, we watch our way through a TV series instead. But Monday Night TV Series Night isn’t quite as catchy. My friends have got a projector, a large white wall and a comfy sofa. Everyone brings along far too much nibbly food and plenty of drink. We settle in, eat, drink, gossip and watch a film.
Since I’ve been travelling, I’ve seen a fair few places running their own versions of movie night. These are generally bars or cafes with a large TV screen and comfortable seating on the floor. They tend to show illegally copied DVDs or downloaded movies. They’re generally pretty good quality but often display dire warnings that ‘this screener has been watermarked and illegal copies will be traced to their source’. At L’Etranger in Luang Prabang, we had the comedy experience of watching the film Taken but with the (English) subtitles to Star Wars Episode 1. Whilst some of these places charge entry, most seem to make their profits from sales of drink and food.
Sihanoukville takes this to a whole new level. Within a two minute walk of Serendipity Beach, there are two ‘cinemas’ showing recent releases and ‘classics’ (tonight’s offerings include The Social Network, Buried, Wayne’s World, Inception, Same Same But Different and Eat Pray Love). They both have screens the size of a small UK cinema and comfy armchair seating with coffee tables. Entry is cheap ($2) as are the drinks and snacks ($1 for a beer, a bar of chocolate or a pack of crisps). You help yourself from the fridges and pay on the way out on an honesty bar basis. The Topcat Cinema will even arrange pizza delivery (with the optional “happy” additives favoured by many backpackers). You can also take in your own food and drink. No-one seems to mind. Both ‘cinemas’ allow customers to smoke (anything). No-one seems to mind.
In Sihanoukville it’s movie night every night and with little else to do around here (apart from drinking or getting an early night), I’ve been along to see a few films: The Social Network, Wall Street, Eat Pray Love, R.E.D. … The thing is, no matter how closely these places try to imitate Monday Night Movie Night, something is missing: my friends. I’m looking forward to seeing you all next time I make it.
I’ve been in Sihanoukville for 5 days now. I went diving on my first day, spent a day sunbathing by the pool, and two more days diving. My plan was to spend today on the beach before catching a night bus to Battambang. Sadly there is no night bus (so I’m getting a 7.30am bus tomorrow) and the weather was too overcast for the beach to seem appealing. It’s even been raining this evening. Then again, I shouldn’t complain about the weather. Despite the lack of sun, it was in the low thirties all day, and even now at 10pm in the rain, it is very warm out…
