Oktoberfrat

Last weekend I went to an Oktoberfest celebration at the Cambodiana, one of the more luxurious riverfront hotels here. It sounded like fun, a departure from the normal nightlife scene and an opportunity to consume some animal parts. As much as I love the food here I do miss sinking my teeth into a big ol' hunk of cow or pig. I knew there would be German sausages aplenty.

I think every German and Austrian expat was there, as well as most of the older foreign crowd. Translation: Lots of sloppy, old men with bewildered looking young Khmer girls in tow. There are plenty of expat bars here, but you're always aware that you're in a foreign country and different rules apply. I think because there was such a large group of foreigners together in a European-themed setting it meant whatever inhibitions people might normally have were left at the door. It was like 25-year reunion frat party.

The buffet spread was indeed impressive. I figured I would go for a while, mingle, drink my two free beers, eat until I exploded and escape before people started dancing on the tables. No such luck. People were dancing on the tables at 8:30!



I apologize for the poor photo quality. I didn't think to take my camera so I had to use my phone.

One thing I do miss from home is a choice when it comes to beer. There's plenty of beer here but it's mostly standard pale lagers, comparable to Budweiser or Miller Lite. I couldn't bear to watch all the fat, drunken foreigners stumbling into each other, or listen to the ear-splitting music, but at least I could enjoy some good German beer, right?

Here is the beer list, in its entirety:

1) Tiger

Tiger was one of the sponsors. The $18 ticket entitled me to two free drafts. I drink Tiger all the time. It's a perfectly decent beer. Shouldn't there be some real beer at a German Oktoberfest party, though? No hefeweizen, no pils, no doppelbock... sigh.

There was a (cough) German band. Luckily they had a captive audience hellbent on getting trashed and making fools of themselves. The band was bad in a way I've never seen a band be bad before. I think there were a few German songs in there, but it was mostly the same crappy songs you'd hear at a wedding, but set to a "German beat". For those of you with a musical background, this means every song was played to thumping quarter notes on the bass drum. It was historically awful. I knew it was time to go when they broke out the Chicken Dance at 8 pm.