The Tent

My first job since arriving in Southeast Asia came in the form of barman at the Tent Bar in Sihanoukville. It is exactly as it sounds - a large marquee erected around a small wooden bar, jutting out onto the beach. The regular barman fell ill just before the Khmer New Year weekend, one of the biggest party weekends of the year, and the owner urgently needed a stand-in and asked me if I could do the honours. The celebrations coincided with the Australian navy docking in the port, so the town was overrun with drunken sailors all weekend and the bar didn't close 'til well after sunrise each morning.

I didn't get paid for working behind the bar, but was allowed to drink as much alcohol as I wanted. If I wanted to dance on the bar or disappear to swim in the sea and marvel at the phosphorescent algae, that was fine too. My lifetime dream of being a barman was realised in spectacular style!