Phnom Penh nightlife

[wonderlust]

Another thread on Phnom Penh suffered a serious case a thread drift so I hope we can just stick to the subject of Phnom Penh nightlife in this one.

 

I was in PP back in July and my general view was that it is nowhere near as good as Thailand in terms of quality of the girls or quality of the nightlife venues. PP isn't really worth visiting just for the nightlife, though some people with wanderlust will no doubt visit just like I did so here is an overview of the places I visited:

 

Martinis - a decent venue with a nice outside bar/restaurant area and a small disco inside. Girls float freely around all areas. I've heard talk of this place being full of the best looking girls in Asia. Bullshit. There are some nice looking girls and there are some dogs but the quality just doesn't compare to a Pattaya gogo. Most girls in the 18-30 age range. I didn't see any who I could definitely say were underage. The atmosphere was slightly ruined by the presence of a Chinese mafia prick and his entourage swaggering around like they owned the place and also by some arrogant little Vietnamese bitches and their mamasan.

 

Sharkys - good for pool but the girls weren't particularly attractive - one or two exceptions.

 

Walkabout - open 24 hours - really ugly girls with one or two exceptions.

 

Make sure you agree how long the girl is staying and how much you're paying in these freelancer venues because the girls WILL try to scam you out of as much money as possible if you don't. Most girls accept $20 for long time but some want that for short time.

 

Heart of Darkness - too loud and crowded but it's where a lot of girls who work in barang places (Martini, Mikado etc) end up after midnight. Really bad security situation and the place was closed down because someone got shot. Don't know if it's open yet but definitely one to cross off your list.

 

Manhattan - first shock is the $7 beer - girls didn't look much (another freelancer place) and I didn't feel like sticking around until after midnight to see the supposed classy girls arrive.

 

The biggest disappointment was the hostess bars. These are advertised in the Phnom Penh Visitors Guide and similar publications. They include Shanghai Bar, My Lien, Rose Bar, Fleur d'Asie, DV8 to name a few. They are all much of a muchness - full of average looking girls pretending to be 'classy' and expats who seem to like that. Not at all clear if girls can be taken out so basically a complete waste of time.

 

There are some bar-brothels just for the barangs. Le Cyrcee was full of really ugly and smelly girls and I think I got ripped off. Mikado on the other hand had a couple of reasonable girls who I took to one of the short time rooms for $10 each.

 

I didn't go into any of the Cambodian brothels or massage parlours because they are mafia-controlled so probably contain girls who have been sold, beaten, raped, imprisoned and forced to work there. I saw some street girls herded up like animals with dead eyes and a horrible looking pimp trying to sell them. Made me feel back for them.

 

All in all an interesting visit but I definitely wouldn't recommend the place for nightlife or genuinely consensual P4P.

[Guest]

Thanks for info. Seems things haven't changed that much from what I remember.

 

Would be nice if the P4P business could progress to a more "developed" business model along the lines of Angeles or maybe Pattaya, but they have some hurdles to overcome.

 

For one thing, most customers at the low end are locals and with the barest of budgets, so that short-time model is likely to persist. The country is catching heat about conditions from NGOs and the like, but that just seems to drive activity more underground. Seems the worst problem is Vietnamese girls who aren't officially there and would get treated as criminals by authorities (a perfect situation for exploitation). If only the NGO pressure could get the government to address that in a more constructive way).

 

At the tourist end, there may be room for better ventures in PP or Siem Reap now, but it's missing some needed structure like they have in Thailand or the Philippines.

[SoiCowboyTony]

Thanks for the review. I was planning a two-night side trip from BKK just to get a look see but I have reservations now. ::

 

I really wanted a t-shirt from Sharky's! ::

[kamui]

I've been in PP two times and the nightlife is really not that bad as wonderlust wrote. You should definitely go there, since PP has completely different feel than BKK. Actually for a week a or so I prefer PP over BKK. I partied all nights, found very nice girls, stayed in a very nice an guest friendly hotel...

Only the Khmer food doesn't come any close to Thai food.

Usually I started my nights at Sharky's playing pool with girls having some decent Mexican food and beer.

 

PP probably has the feel of smaller Thai cities 20 years ago?

[SoiCowboyTony]

Thanks for the input, Kamui. Although the rooms look a bit spartan at Flamingo's, I thought I would give it a try as well.

 

I'm sure there would be enough to keep me busy for two nights. ::

 

What currency is used in PP?

[Coss]

US$, small ones, with small change (>$1) given in Riel @ 4,ooo to the Dollar

 

Cheers

 

Coss

[wonderlust]

I didn't say it was that bad, just not nearly as good as Thailand in terms of quality of girls and venues. Certainly you can have some fun if picking up your dream girl is not the be and end all of your stay. I thought Khmer food was nice, particularly the meat in oyster sauce and whole pepper corns and also the baguette sellers on every street corner.

[kamui]

SoiCowboyTony said:

Thanks for the input, Kamui. Although the rooms look a bit spartan at Flamingo's, I thought I would give it a try as well.

I think LaoHuLi is connected to the Flamingo hotel (manager?). Maybe you should send him a PM.

 

I'm sure there would be enough to keep me busy for two nights. ::

 

Actually last time I went there I planned to split my days and nights between party and culture, but I ended up partying way too much and slept until noon every day.

::

[SoiCowboyTony]

kamui said:

Actually last time I went there I planned to split my days and nights between party and culture, but I ended up partying way too much and slept until noon every day.

 

Would 2 days be too short a stay? I'm planning a 16-night adventure and want to split it between, Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phnom Pehn. ::

 

I figure on flying into BKK, staying 6 nights, fly to PP for 2, back to BKK and take a cab to Pattaya for the rest of the trip.

 

Anybody wanna come along?

[rookie]

SoiCowboyTony said:

...<snipped>..I figure on flying into BKK, staying 6 nights, fly to PP for 2, back to BKK and take a cab to Pattaya for the rest of the trip.

 

I think you'd best drop PPenh from your itinerary and spend more time in Thailand and less time flying around. A mere 2-days in PPenh is insufficient...you'll barely have time to learn how to get around. PPenh, as well as much of Cambo, can be wonderful...contrary to Wanderlust's post. There are many places other than the oft visited tourist places mentioned by Wanderlust, but you'd best gleen such info from locals who may be reluctant to clue in a traveler. They (nor I) do not want such places to be posted on the Net.

 

Kamui posted..'I think LaoHuLi is connected to the Flamingo hotel (manager?). Maybe you should send him a PM.'

I saw him about 10-days ago...to confirm the talk that he'd been fired, as Flamingos manager, by the Khmer owners. Yep it was true, but he was still there and they have evidently settled their differences.