Well it’s not what you think from the title, all though I am sure that you can find bongs in the Lake Boung area of Phnom Penh, it really is more of a lifestyle, as you live the life of a bohemian, in one of the better established backpacker areas in South East Asia. If it sounds like something you might enjoy, you better hurry as the great suck is coming, and the lake if, you would call this swollen puddle a lake, will mostly disappear, not because of global warming, but the lake is slated to become a Cambodian version of the future, with all the stuff you love to hate in the west, like malls and those annoying restaurants where they sing special birthday songs to embarrasses you, on a day that is suppose to be enjoyable!

The best thing about bonging in Phnom Penh is that it is cheap, almost India cheap. You can eat there for under a buck, and it even tastes good. For cheap lodging it can’t be beat, except maybe the free lodging at Utopia in Sihanoukville, but that story still needs to be written, soon I promise you.

Bonging also means music, as they play everything there that you can imagine. The Boom Boom Room, not to be confused with the massage parlors in the center of Phnom Penh, has every type of music that you could ever want to load onto your Ipod, and all of the restaurants and hotels have great “tuneage” going full blast all day and all the night.

Into fashion, well you probably aren’t going to see any specials from Fashion TV being shot here, but there are a lot of great clothes to be had, with Zoko clothing leading the assault, with taste bargain stuff flying off the racks.

Now the last thing that you would expect would be a literary center here, but at last count there were over 3 used book stores, not counting all the free books at the guesthouses, with everything from Lonely Planets to Mao’s autobiography and everything in between.

All you need to go Bonging is a sense of adventure, and a willingness not to conform. Did I mention that the place is surrounded by vegetation and has a fragrant smell!

Fred Tittle has lived and worked in holiday vacation resorts his entire life, from Lake Geneva’s Playboy Club, as a rock jock for KSPN FM in Aspen Colorado, he became a PADI Pro Scuba Diver in Hawaii, diving on Maui, Kauai, Kona on the big island, and Waikiki on Oahu. He now owns EcoSea Dive in Sihanoukville Cambodia where he teaches SSI and PADI scuba diving courses and runs liveaboards in the gulf of Thailand and Asia adventure tours, http://www.ecosea.com

Fred’s new project http://www.CheapCharliesHotels.com where he reviews cheap hotels , budget guesthouses, discount accommodations and cheap international flights, but is really an excuse to go scuba diving on vacation more, Fred nest stop takes him to Malaysia for some scuba diving.