It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

It was a dark and stormy night……

Wait a minute … it was not…. (but I always wanted to write that)

It was dark and humid night though, and I was going into town at 2100hrs (that’s Mickey’s big hand on the 12 and his little hand on the 9 – at night …. Remember…it was dark outside).

Now guys like me don’t normally go into town that late at night. I’m the kinda guy who gets called “Papa” from the vendors and the locals. Even though I may be old enough to be their fathers, and often their grandfathers, I still don’t like it. It’s been suggested that may be the reason I’m over here in Cambodia trying to help my friend clear landmines.

Whatever.

I was headed into downtown Siem Reap at 2100hrs on a Thursday night to play trivia. There’s a local pub called the Funky Monkey, run by an ex-pat Brit couple. Rumor has it he worked on the docks in London and she was stunt-woman in the movies. They have a mutt named Floyd (think Pink Floyd) who is walked around Siem Reap on a leash by any of his many ‘attendants’. Floyd lacks for little and is the king of the roost at the Monkey.

The trivia contest usually starts around 9pm and lasts about 2 hours. Questions range from history and geography, to sports and the arts, with usually a lot of weird stuff thrown in for good measure.

Trivia Night is big ex-pat event. It costs $US1 to play and they usually take up a collection during the night. Proceeds go to local NGOs (non-governmental orgs). Last week we raised $240 for a medical NGO.

To give you an idea what the questions can be like: last weeks questions all came from the movies. Everything…geography, sports, history, etc. Then there were also famous movie lines.

The one I liked best was from True Grit: “That’s bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.” I often hear an off-take on that from my wife when I come up with some stupid trip like climbing Kilimanjaro or hiking to Mt. Everest.

I left when the grading started. It was after midnight and way past my bedtime.

I found out today we won.

Back again next Thursday if I’m in town.

Babu