When you were sitting on one of the verandahs looking out onto the lake, with the best sunsets in the city, you forgot all the sleazy dealers outside, and it was one of the most relaxing and quiet places to be in this busy town. You couldn’t hear the traffic way up on Monivong, and it was like you were in the provinces. There were fishermen and pig-weed collectors out in boats, a pagoda was just visible far across the lake to the west, the same pagoda Prime Minister HE stayed in as a student.
Back in the 1960s there was a park here, and also a restaurant on the island in the middle. The restaurant was connected by a bridge to the land to the south. I’m not exactly sure how this was accessed as it would seem to lead to a railway yard. The park, to the north, was still a popular spot in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was located behind the French Embassy compound, and had a small funfair with a hand driven Ferris wheel. Like many parts of the city, which had during the People’s Republic of Kampuchea period been able to exert a certain amount of control on settlements, the whole area became a shanty town during the next decade. The lake was no longer such a pleasant place to visit, and the water itself became foul and polluted, especially close to shore.