Phnom Penh was ostensibly dry this weekend as a two-day alcohol prohibition came into effect for the national election, with hotels, bars and supermarkets ordered by Prime Minister Hun Sen to cease selling alcohol to prevent violence and traffic accidents over the election period.
But while many establishments simply closed their doors to abide by the decision, others found ways to circumvent the prohibition, while some bars openly ignored it.
Several restaurants and bars on the riverside served beer and cocktails to crowds of backpackers and tourists Sunday afternoon, oblivious to the police presence at the polling station close by on Street 130.
John and Justine Garfield, on holiday from Australia, said that they had heard about the ban, but as they sipped a glass of beer and a cocktail on the corner of Street 144, they said they had yet to be refused alcohol and didn’t believe the ban was being taken too seriously.
“A lot of places seem to be closed, but the ones that were open last night [on Street 172] served us no problem, though one bar would only sell alcohol that looked like soft drinks,” said Mr. Garfield, adding that they took a tuk-tuk to Street 51 after midnight and everything was shut apart from a couple of hostess bars.
At a restaurant on the corner of Street 282 in Boeng Keng Kang I commune Sunday, Sheila Easton, a 54-year-old nurse from Norwich in the U.K., who is traveling independently in Cambodia and Thailand, sipped her second frozen margarita of the afternoon.
“My hotel is enforcing the ban, but I can get a drink here no problem, which strikes me as a bit silly. What harm am I doing if I am having a drink by the pool in my hotel—am I disrupting the election?”
At the Raffles Royal Hotel in Wat Phnom commune, guests marked the ban Friday night with a “prohibition party.” But on Sunday, the normally bustling Elephant bar inside the hotel was quiet.
“Raffles follows government rules; we serve only tea, coffee and soft drinks and guests cannot be served alcoholic drinks in their rooms,” said Oum Pida, a bartender at Raffles whose finger was stained blue from voting earlier in the day.
