It seems LakeSide is on the up and up. I love LakeSide, and went back there at the end of July just to say hello to all the random Cambodians I met when I first came here.

A lot of familiar faces still. Many families never took the b.s. settlement from the development firm that tried to force them all out, and they remain.

The phone card lady is still there. Has an extra kid or 2.

The coffee lady on the street is still there. Same customers.

I even saw a familiar druggie hanging out there still. He might not have moved at all in the past 6 years. Still has the burn marks from fiddling with lighters or whatever.

I hope it makes it! Like the place or not, everyone should hope it makes a comeback. It put a lot of the backpacker and druggie types in one little corner of the city. Win-win?









Sweat glistening on her face, Marj Arnaud carried an armful of water-damaged particleboard and dumped it on the growing rubbish pile against a graffitied wall. A rainstorm during the week had left Boeung Kak’s Street 93 a mess, and for about four hours the 25-year-old Frenchwoman, along with about 30 of her Cambodian neighbours and foreigner friends, had been busy picking up litter, sweeping rubble off the street, and piling bags of household refuse ready for collection.

Every Saturday morning for the past month, a growing number of residents of the street, once a thriving backpacker district on the edge of a lake but now little more than a ghetto bordering a desert wasteland, have participated in group clean-ups as part of a concerted effort to rejuvenate the area.

Initiated by Arnaud and her business partner, Ludi Labille, 36, who are opening a new street art-themed French bistro this week, the clean-ups are the first stage of a plan to lure visitors back to the street – despite the regular flooding – by turning it into a graffiti-filled “art village”.

Arnaud said the area was already improving following the construction of a wall around the lake, with some businesses coming back: the Blue House guesthouse reopened about three months ago, and the Sisters II guesthouse about seven months before that.

Meanwhile, the Cambodian owners of the famous Magic Sponge guesthouse are renovating the building to reopen later in the year; another French national is about to open a clothing and cap shop later in the month; and Arnaud has at least two more friends wanting to open shops. She is also looking for someone to open a tattoo parlour.

“We really just want to turn it into a cool street, like a creative district,” she said.

Back in the mid-2000s, Boeung Kak was an internationally famous tourist destination, the first port of call for backpackers arriving in Phnom Penh, attracted by the scenic views over the lake and chilled-out vibe.

While the scene had its seedy side – cannabis was freely available and smoked openly – the tourists created jobs for hundreds working in about 30 guesthouses and assorted restaurants, bars, travel agents, laundries, shops and other business.

That all changed when the 90-hectare lake was filled in with sand in 2010 following a deal between the government and property developer Shukaku, owned by the wife of Cambodian People’s Party senator Lao Meng Khin.

Thousands were evicted from their homes, and with the main drawcard gone, the tourists stopped coming.

Most businesses shut up shop or moved away. Only two guesthouses, the Lost and Found bar and a couple of others remained open.

The conflict between angry residents and the government has continued ever since, with a protest movement of mainly women staging regular demonstrations.

Filling in the lake has also severely exacerbated flash floods caused by even short periods of heavy rainfall, which have become a major inconvenience and a health hazard, residents say.

Arnaud never got to see the lake but, after ending up at Boeung Kak purely by chance during a visit to Phnom Penh nearly two years ago, the 25-year-old French fell in love with the neighbourhood and decided to stay.

“This area really is like a village within the city, with the original wooden buildings and community spirit,” she said, adding that rents were also cheap.

After leaving her job as a nurse at the Naga Clinic earlier this year, Arnaud decided to start up a business in Street 93 with her friend Labille. The bistro and art centre, called Simone Bistrot and Art, is set to open this coming Wednesday.

“The area was still very dirty though, so we thought, what would be the best way we can help the community?”

The village leadership were keen on the idea of the clean-up days, and over successive weeks, more and more Cambodians have been getting involved – especially the women, who Labille said were more receptive to the idea.

“The men who did join in at the start only stayed for 10 minutes or so,” said Labille. “I think they were concerned about being seen cleaning up with foreigners. I don’t know.”

Touch Narom, the owner of the Number 10 Guesthouse which remained open after the lake was filled in, said that Arnaud was not the first to try to clean the street, but she inspired others to get involved.

“They tried so hard to help us,” Narom said. “Even though we belong to this country, we haven’t done enough – we just think only about the individual, which is not right.

Seeing their participation to clean makes us happy and so we join with them.”

Arnaud said the next step was to set up an association for street art to paint houses in the neighbourhood and the wall that surrounds the former lake.

The first painting session will be on October 26, with about 10 Cambodian and foreign street artists including Greg Mo, from France; Peap Tarr, from New Zealand; and Lisa Mam, from Cambodia. The sessions will take place once every couple of months after that.

“What we’re hoping is that we will have at the end a colourful art village that people will want to come and visit,” Arnaud said.

Tarr said he was enthusiastic about the “cool project”, which could also bring needed attention to the poverty in the area.

“Plus, no doubt it helps liven up the place and gives a creative spirit to the community, which may one day inspire the youth to pursue a career in art or something creative.”

While continuing to protest for secure land titles and compensation for affected Boeung Kak residents, activist Yorm Bopha, 34, who lives nearby, said she supported any efforts to improve the area.

“When I heard about these women opening a restaurant, I felt it can show visitors to feel the life of living in Boeung Kak, and it is a good idea to push other villagers to get jobs, and it encourages people to have hopes,” she said.

However, not everyone has confidence that tourists will ever return in numbers to Boeung Kak.

Thann Tong Freng, who owned the Oh My Buddha! restaurant in Street 93 for more than six years before relocating to Street 172 in 2010, said.....

...click link to continue reading article and for more pictures...

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weeke ... kak-street

taabarang wrote:I really can't imagine that it will. The huge catbox of a lake is no substitute for fetid water under the toilets of the lakeside guesthouses. Furthermore, popular tourist areas are cheap and closer to main attractions. It's days are finished; a great place for displaced atelier French artistes!

I think it might become a popular druggie haven again. Much chiller to smoke a joint there than on street 172. But agreed, without the lake it can only go so far again.

taabarang wrote:Wow one response made the post go to the top? The general must have connections.

Ha! Where did you expect it to go?