Guest Posted April 6, 2003 Report Share Posted April 6, 2003 I'm in Cambodia now, second time in two months. In these two trips, I've been to check out most of the better known spots: Phnom Penh: Martini, Sharky, KM-11, 63rd Street, Manhattan, Casa Disco, Le Cyrcee. Sihanoukville: Biba, Chicken farm, side street off the market area (not sure of name), VN place just outside town from market (not sure of name). Koh Kong: Chicken farm. Siem Reap: various MP's around town, Martini, the other big disco. PHNOM PENH Martini's at the moment at least has taken a serious nosedive in quality. It seems as if it's the same crowd every night, none standing out as what I'd call attractive -- and this includes Friday and Saturday nights. I've ended up leaving every time I've been there. I was there over a month ago and did spot just a very few cuties (like one or 2 per night). But I think we're hitting low season now and so the turnout isn't what it was then. It's pretty bad. The girls look rough, and the clutching and grabbing (and "accidentally" bumping into you) by some of the more dragon-like ones as you walk by gets to be highly irritating. I have left around midnight to 1230 when I've been there, but I didn't expect that there was going to be a lot of new girls showing up after that. Could be wrong. Went to Casa Disco the last two nights, and that place is pretty much a disco-brothel now. Girls dancing on the dancefloor have number tags. The mama is dead strict that they go for $50US, and she won't budge a single riel from that price. Even at closing time. Twas weird. The club closed and everybody went home, and she would just not bargain even a little, but prefered to have everybody change and go home instead. The girls were mostly very cute, Vietnamese I think, and planets ahead of Martini's girls in the looks department ... but that's just too steep for Cambodia. Manhattan Disco is packed until about 4am, lots of cute girls. Got an offer for $30 from one, who was very cute... but it was just too late at the time and I was too tired so I passed. Went back again the next night and made some eyes around the room, didn't get any response, which makes me think that only a few of the girls there will go with non-Asians. Again, the quality of the girls there was very good, far better than Martini. I'd bet the asking price is fairly high there though. Sharky's I've only been in and out of quickly, same for Le Cyrcee. Both seem a bit better than Martini, not near the level of the discos. 63rd Street is open, but I'm told these spots may pull scams from time to time. Girls in there looked ok, nothing great. KM-11: a month ago my moto driver insisted on taking me out there, insisting it was back to the same it always was ... I was a bit nervous having heard otherwise and that the heat was on. We went there, and while he'd been very cool and reassuring about it before we got there, once there his eyes were darting all over the place and he was not wanting me to go up to the end of the street but rather stay right in front of the one shopfront he took me to. He was obviously very wary. Checked inside this one place and the girls were not great at all. Guy from the shopfront next door wanted me to come in and check out his "small girls" and of course this was my signal to get the hell out of there. I told my driver beforehand that I definitely wasn't into that kind of thing, so he shooed the guy away. Then he took me to a few more shopfronts a little way up the main road -- these had some girls who were borderline cute and very eager. I passed though, thinking I wanted to check out some more places back in town first. The overall impression at this time was that KM-11 had been for the most part shut down, a shell of its former self. Not really worth the trip. News of late is that they finished the job in the last week or so, and I certainly would NOT head out there now. So now I'm wondering what I'm missing here. Like, is it possible I'm leaving Martini too early? And are there other spots worth checking out? I've been told about the call girl angle here in PP. Problem here is that I'm the type who really likes to pick and choose, and I have doubts that just three girls showing up based on a description given in English and then passed on in Khmer is going to work to get me what I like. I have no idea what the overall quality is either. I know my moto driver took me to one mainly-Khmer MP place where he said the girls were 'beautiful' and when I got there and paid my entry fee, well, they were not. SIHANOUKVILLE Chicken farm is mostly rough. Cute girls very hard to spot there, especially since the lighting is so bad. Biba I find to have really poor service-- one time I paid up front, standard there, and then got the girl home to watch her try to go to sleep right away. The street off the market seemed pretty good -- a few cuties in there. One MP shopfront on a corner downtown -- very cheap but borderline quality in looks dept -- and girls seemed unenthusiastic. The VN spot was decent, so many girls out there -- but again, nothing amazing. It makes me wonder where all the VERY cute girls are in Cambodia. Where are they hiding? I did wander into a big karaoke place just west of the downtown -- and quickly found myself bargaining for a fairly cute girl there ($25 overnight). But even she would've seemed borderline to me if I was back in BKK. Not sure if there are any other spots in S'ville that I'm missing. KOH KONG The chicken farm was very very rough. Basically I don't think KK is worth a visit. Was taken to a VN place that was supposed to be cream of the crop. Asking 1500 baht LT, for very borderline girls. Pass. They were the best of the lot out there, but not tempting at all, esp at that price. SIEM REAP There's a MP place just off the road leading to the airport, which seems to be known in town as the 'high class' one. Young VN girls, mostly cute, but they were asking $30 ST (that's $15 boomboom + $15 yumyum) for a white guy like me. Went to the big karaoke/MP place just off the market, and that resulted in what was supposed to be a $5 ST suddenly becoming $25 (typical bait and switch scam) -- name is Soh Keng or something like this. I checked out a few other MP places around town and didn't see anything special. The two discos didn't seem to be very interesting at all -- seemed to be locals just out having fun. So that's the situation as I see it in Cambodia. If there's anything I'm missing here, or need to try (a change in tactics, another spot, etc etc) do let me know. I'd sum it up thus far as pretty frustrating. I seem to remember a much better selection of girls here on a visit almost two yrs ago. It doesn't help that the cute ones I have seen this time have been dangled in front of me with an asking price way out of line with this country's price range, or else want nothing to do with a farang. Help needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cop Posted April 6, 2003 Report Share Posted April 6, 2003 willpower, Excellent report, we need more people like you to give updates, I will be in PP around the 20th of May and hope I get another report like yours before I come, Have a great Time, Dr. C :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 6, 2003 Report Share Posted April 6, 2003 Yep, very good update. Thank you very much. Sorry to hear, that you had not such a good time. I was there over new year for three weeks and found anything great (km11 is not my cup of tea though). I also heard, st in snooky can be from USD 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
changnoi Posted April 7, 2003 Report Share Posted April 7, 2003 Good report. The place near the market in Snooky is "Blue Mountain", the VN place outside town is "Oh Bye" or the "Gingerbread House". Your experiences / conclusions sound broadly similar to mine. You're right to refuse some of the prices quoted e.g. KK LT is 500 B at most ! You could try the Shanghai bar in PP (near the Walkabout). From what I hear Cambodia sanuk is not what it was. And some (most ?) of the girls are unbelievably rough. I think that this time K11 is finally kaput (thanks to the power of the web) and a good thing too IMHO. It might just be that now the best plan is to find a GKG (Good Khmer Girl). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 7, 2003 Report Share Posted April 7, 2003 One could argue, however, that the best GKGs are Thai! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 7, 2003 Report Share Posted April 7, 2003 Says changnoi: From what I hear Cambodia sanuk is not what it was. And some (most ?) of the girls are unbelievably rough. As said before, I have been there many times and I still rate the sanuk possibilities and quality of girls over their Thai counterparts (apart from mentioning the prices, where in Thailand is a st USD 5/ USD 3). And what I have read on other boards, Martini is still going strong and very good. The non-sanuk-activities are more limited though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilli13 Posted April 7, 2003 Report Share Posted April 7, 2003 Great to get a cambo update even it wasn't a very positive one :: I think many incl. myself combine a cambo trip with a lowball trip meaning they'll measure everything against the quality/price in LOS & if value occasionally dips they'll turn desperate/negative on the whole scene As the cambo sanuk scene appears very undynamic & rather contracting than expanding it would be logical that a lack of new fresh quality talent exists & what remains now are the sad remains of yesteryear so to speak :: My own sanuk experiences in cambo is restricted to a some 5day visit a few years back, which however was a mindblowing experience outperforming virtually all the thai babes I've had so far in almost every way :hubba: LT prices though from martinis at $20 was then a tad more than I paid in LOS & in LOS the babes would often stay longer, so a slight dissapointment emerged, but overall a blast (km11/sharkey/63rd st/manhatten/martinis) & a equally liking was taken to the viet & cambo girls abilities... Now if I was to return say tomorrow I'm afraid I might be dissapointed too as firstly the newbie kick would be missing, the great memories/comparesons in LOS has grown almost exponentially(price has gone up too) & possibly the talent/variety in cambo could potentially be a bit in decline Still given the right opportunity or say stuff in LOS got worse & Indo we're a bit 'old' then sure I'd have to find out for myselves, so hopefully I'd be bringing the 'right' spirit & enough luck Peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 8, 2003 Report Share Posted April 8, 2003 Anyone can read what they want out there and come to their own conclusions. What I should say is that I've been in Phnom Penh almost a week now, coming straight from Bangkok (well stopping in Koh Kong and Sihanoukville one nite each). Went to Martini on Wednesday night, Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday night. It was most active on Friday and Saturday of course, and the quality of the girls was not close to what you would see in, say, Angels Disco in Bangkok. I just think I'm in a particularly good position now to rate and compare, and what I'm saying here would be hard to argue with for anyone who could see what I'm seeing, and also saw what I just saw in Bangkok. The guys posting on Cambodia boards may be spending so much time in Cambodia that they don't realize how much better it is elsewhere. In terms of ATTRACTIVENESS of the girls. I mean, you just go to the discos on the other side of town here and you see it. Way more expensive, but the difference is clear. It's not close. Anyone who disagreed with that would have to have rocks in his head. Then of course there's always the power of denial. All this talk about $3 ST -- one thing that has to be kept in mind about those places is that they're short time spots, which means that the girl is going with who knows how many guys per day there. I spotted a girl in Sihanoukville who looked "fresh" but I saw here at the same place about 2 years ago. You do the math. My motodriver took me to one PP Khmer-oriented place that was upstairs from a cafe/bar. Fishbowl setup. I wasn't seeing a girl I wanted to go with, so I just sat and waited to see who returned to the fishbowl. I waited, and waited. Eventually about 15 girls total cycled back through. What was disturbing was that some of them were in and out multiple times in an hour -- one girl was in and out 4 times. As soon as she got back to the bowl she got taken right back out again. I stayed about an hour and 15 minutes just to see how this worked. It really makes you think of it differently when you see how these places really work, with your own eyes. I mean that one girl probably did close to 20 guys that night. And conducting your business on those actual premises, which is what you have to do to lock in at the $3-5 rate -- well, it's not for the faint of heart. The environment is usually beyond seedy. Shack-like room with a bedcover that might get changed once a day, if that... the girl doing a very routine job in bed, which is of course what this is for her. So I guess the point (for me at least) is that the $5 is not really much of a bargain when you figure out what it is you're actually getting. Definitely it doesn't make sense to try to compare what you get for that $5 with what you'd get in Bangkok for more money. There is a huge difference in quality. There is high quality available here. It's just no cheaper than the same quality in Thailand. I guess for me that is the big difference in Cambodia -- that there is a big bottom rung that is much cheaper and lesser in quality than what we find in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 8, 2003 Report Share Posted April 8, 2003 since last time, in my desperation I went out to see in person some of the more dubious spots that I'd heard about. I went to Hun Sen Park around 10:30 at night, didn't see much of anything interesting there. It seemed like groups of young adults/teenagers (boys and girls together) hanging out more than anything. If there is anything available there, it's too difficult to figure it out, not worth the potential awkwardness. Maybe I went too early. I took a walk through the Tuol Kok area around 8pm. Now again the girls there looked mostly rough, about on par with what I'd seen in Martinis -- actually not even that good. There was one side street off the main road (it's obvious which one it is -- very easy to spot from main road) that had a few houses where there were about 8 or so girls in each, seemed Vietnamese, reminded me of the KM11 setup. Generally, out here the girls seemed less attractive than the ones at 63rd Street. It seemed easy enough to get things going, if you wanted to. And it didn't seem any more seedy and/or intimidating than KM11 or the short time places I mentioned before. One thing I should say, and this is good, is that what I'm seeing out there are women. It seems as if they've clamped down pretty effectively on the underage problem, and as I go around Cambodia I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm not seeing the kinds of things I did two years ago. It's possible it's out there and I'm just not seeing it, but if it is it's way less evident than in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 8, 2003 Report Share Posted April 8, 2003 what are those "other boards" ? any particularly good place to look for info on Cambodia? I haven't found anything very good out there. A big problem is that everyone just rehashes the same old spots, such as Martini, Sharky, KM11 -- when I think there are other places here that might be Asian and/or Khmer oriented where quality is higher, prices possibly higher... but nobody is talking about them. In English at least. If you think about it, there are well-off Cambodians here. Those guys are not going to be content with what I'm seeing out at these places. So where do they go? Funny, you talk to the motodrivers and they all want to take you to the very same famous farang spots too. They don't seem to konw where the better spots are either. At least there must be a higher class set of massage places than what I'm seeing now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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