Phnom Penh

[Tcvve]

Hi guys,

As promised an update on PP:

GSM: Indeed completely torn down. Reconstruction is ongoing and from the pictures on the fence it looks like it will be nice. When? Nobody knows. Streets around are sleezy though, with a lot of drug hookers and ladyboys.

Hi DoowahDiddy.

Is the replacement going to be a new Bar complex?

Do you have a link to the "fence" site having pictures of the current GSM area?

Thanks.

[Sam Sanuk]

PP is very limited so a 3 or 4 night stay is all you really need. Good food in PP around the RLD is also a struggle but a cheap tuk tuk ride to Street 302 or Street 360 can solve that.

What Banana Boi says is true. As BB noted, PP's RLD iis a fairly small area. The area can be navigated on foot almost anywhere in about 20 minutes (ok, 30-40 minutes by me). Or, a tuk tuk will take you anywhere in this area for $1. I would define the boundaries of this RLD as Sisowath Quay (riverside) on the north, Street 104 on the west, Street 136 on the east and Street 51 (Pasteur) on the south. Most of the pussy palaces are on Streets 104,110, 130,136, and 5. I have only eaten at three places within this area: "Ohlala" on the corner of Street 136 and Sisowath Quay and "Ostro" a block away on the corner of 135 and 5. Ostro is open 24 hours. Both serve good western food and offer entertaining people watching. Both have a wide selection of grub available at reasonable prices. On the corner of Street 110 and Street 5 I would recommend "Larry's 110". There is a big sign outside with a "110" on it. (clever, eh?) Nice pub-type atmosphere and lots of choices of food at moderate prices. At all three places noted above, there are a lot of westerners and a few locals; Larry's has a large expat clientele. If you are "adventurous", maybe you'd like to sample Srey Mom or Srey Thida. LOL.

If you crave some good Mexican grub, I can recommend a couple of places outside of the RLD. Only about a $2 to $2.50 tuk tuk ride away. I really, really like Mexican food. The first is "Mexicano". Warning: I found the servings to be generous. I'd advise ordering a main item and waiting to see if you really want or need more. Mexicano is on Street 288 between Streets 57 and 63. The other is called Tacqueria Corona on the corner of Streets 51 and 254. It is owned by an American expat and managed by his Khmer wife. Both places are popular with expats, tourists and local Khmer.

All places noted above are moderately priced. I've added some links referencing the above for a quick look. Chow down!

Ohlala: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...hnom_Penh.html.

Ostro: http://ostro.asia/.

Larry's: https://www.facebook.com/110-Street-...edium=referral.

Mexicano: https://www.facebook.com/MexicanoCambodia/.

Tacqueria Corona: http://taqueriacoronaphnompenh.com/menu.html.

[Aussie Fella]

I agree with Uncle V about being clingy. There are girls who I haven't even seen for 2 years who are still messaging me and sending me photos. I'm assuming I overpaid them.

I've also found the clingy thing. In my mind, if I have sex I've paid for, it should be clear that it was just a transaction for a service and not an indication of ongoing love. Still, I have the same issue of girls I've paid to sleep with constantly messaging me and hurt if I don't want to make the arrangement something more permanent. Needless to say, I made the mistake of sleeping with a couple of girls for free in my early days and that was a disaster.

[GreenBud]

Been to Cambodia about 3 times and yet could not find one girl or place where they give solely blowjobs. Does Cambodian girls not like giving out blowjobs? Does anyone know a spot by any chance?

Easy answer. Le Cyrcee. A lot of info on this bar in this forum. All girls will do BBBJs. Not all will do CIM. Surprised you couldn't find 1 girl to do BJs on your previous trips. Are you shy? At the other bars, you have to keep on asking. You have to ask all the necessary questions. BJ for 1 hour? CIM? Etc.

- I enjoy talking about the old days. IMO, the last year a foreigner could have gotten a cutie for $3 was around 2004. But you had to negotiate and get the local price. At that time, the price was $5 for a foreigner at K-11. The local price was 10,000 riel or $3. This was the time when the brothels on the main street had its door closed due to NGO / government pressures. You had to knock and they would let you in.

- I prefer Thailand's go-go bars, but Cambodia's hostess bars are a great change of pace. Cambodia is a little cheaper. Thailand is so much more raunchy. You have naked girls you can fondle. In Cambodia, the "worst" you have are girls in shorts that will dance on top of the bar.

- Talking abut the old days, remember when short time was 2 or 3 hours. In Thailand during the 90's and Cambodia in early part of this century, short time wasn't short. That was the draw of Thailand. Now it's an hour. Last year, I couldn't get a girl from Nana to accept 1.5 hours. She wanted extra. But not really complaining. It is still so much better than the US.

[BlazeJohnny03]

Hey,

Been to Cambodia about 3 times and yet could not find one girl or place where they give solely blowjobs. Does Cambodian girls not like giving out blowjobs? Does anyone know a spot by any chance?

[BaddHabbit]

Really? Wow good 4 you. If 150 $ ST for a stunner is great 4 you I wonder what a bad place is. 1000 $?

There was a time a few years ago where you could get a stunner for 3 $ so PP is long gone as a mongering place.

You seem to be missing the fact that he said prices are 'sky-high' - in other words, expensive. In other words he was NOT saying that is good!

[Banana Boi]

Great first post, Sam. Please don't be shy in reviewing your adventures in PP and Thailand. We need straight shooters like yourself here.

I agree with Uncle V about being clingy. There are girls who I haven't even seen for 2 years who are still messaging me and sending me photos. I'm assuming I overpaid them.

It's tough to compare PP to gogo bar areas in Bangkok or Pattaya. If I were to compare PP bars to anything it would be to Soi 6 in Pattaya. The difference is the Soi 6 bars are conveniently situated on one single street and PP is spread out, albeit not over a large area. There are probably around the same number of bars on Soi 6 compared to the entire main PP RLD. BBFS is commonplace in PP but it also is on Soi 6 especially if you see the same girl more than say 2-3 times. PP is much more laid back. PP is very limited so a 3 or 4 night stay is all you really need. Good food in PP around the RLD is also a struggle but a cheap tuk tuk ride to Street 302 or Street 360 can solve that.

[SouthEaster]

Have to say SS's post is the nearest thing to reality on the ground these days. Well done. A couple of things.

I have seen and heard on this board and other places that many girls in PP girlie bars will stitch you up with getting LD's out of you and then claim they don't go. Depending on your budget and attitude (BS meter) you may want to stop at one and pop the question before getting soaked for several and ending up disappointed. I rarely go to these places so YMMV.

In my experience (going back to 1996) one could get ST in a couple of well know locations though if you didn't care to bargain it was 5 bucks straight up. Tip was dependent on service (which was better than what you normally get now! $2 for a beer and a fuck? No. Even most Khmer guys were paying 8-10,000 back then. And for the record I was still getting LT from Martini in 2010 for 25 bucks. Happy hunting guys.

SE.

[Uncle Volodya]

5. The girls. I'm tough but I like to think I'm consistent and fair when rating gals. Average to me is a 5 on a 0-10 scale. I find the great majority of girls in the small bars in BKK and PP to be 5's. In the better BKK go-go joints, I see a lot of 6's and 7's; a very, very few 8's; can't recall a 9 or 10 LOL. In PP, my highest rated was a 7.5 In PP, many of the girls are "farm fresh"; have very little ability to speak English (compared to their sisters in BKK). Some of the girls are almost shy; In PP, they are generally less pushy than in BKK bars nor are they as "thirsty". I find the Khmer girls more "sweet". Calling some of them "girl next door" types might be a stretch, but maybe you get the idea. There are certainly sharks in all waters who know the "tricks" of the trade.

6. I can't comment on the discos and clubs, as they aren't my preferred destinations. (No country for old men and all that. LOL).

Nice post! Very informative. Good stuff for newbies. And a very good comparison.

For 5. I'd also add that girls tend to be a bit more conservative and many won't do BJs. BBFS however is much more common. Though I really try not to fall into that temptation. Khmer girls are also less hardened and more clingy.

All in all I think I prefer Thailand, But PP is a nice change of pace for a few days

[DingoD]

After a couple of years of lurking here, this is my inaugural post on ISG. But I feel competent to address your inquiry. I'll try to be as direct as possible.

As background, I'm 75 years old and first became enchanted with the offerings of BKK over 40 years ago. For four decades, I have made the Nana Hotel in BKK my base station. I have witnessed the changes in the mongering / Sanuk scene in all of its evolution and have historically preferred Soi Cowboy over Nana Plaza. I first visited PP in early 2000. In PP, I now stay on Street 136 at the Lux Riverside.

Differences between the bars in BKK and PP can be broken down in several ways.

1. Ambience of the total venues. Cowboy and the Plaza are more brightly lit and vibrant, with girls in skimpy outfits doing the touting. Street 136 is quieter and not nearly the "neon" factor that can be overwhelming on Cowboy. Still, a lot of street activity.

2. The bars on 136 are almost sisters to small Cowboy bars like Toy Bar, Fanny Bar, Jungle Jim's. But without the overt diddling; also, without so-called "go go" dancers found on Cowboy or in the Plaza. Dancing is done when a solo girl or group of girls decide they want to dance (impromptu) . There are no rotating line ups; their attire will usually be their street clothes. This might be, at its most daring, short shorts and a cropped top. There are 2 bars on 136 that are heavy with lady boys, some of which are as initially deceiving as some can be in BKK. Those two bars are the Butterfly bars across the street from each other. I haven't noticed any lady boys in the other hostess bars. But I haven't been in all of the bars. There are a couple of bars open 24 hours and feature different shifts of girls. Candy Bar is one of them. You can check out YouTube videos for Candy Bar and Corner Bar. Corner Bar, by the way, was featuring maybe the most "risque" dancing featured as a "show".

3. Prices in the bars are substantially cheaper than in BKK bars. Barfines are generally 10 USD. I've heard that on weekends they maybe be 15 USD, but can't confirm that. Beer will range from $ .75 (75 cents) for an afternoon draught to 1.5-2 USD for a soft drink or a bottled beer in the evenings. "Lady drinks" 2. 5 USD I've never had a bar tab padded in PP. Maybe they notice that I check every piece of paper stuffed in the check bin when it is presented. LOL.

4. The prices for getting laid are substantially lower out of the bars in PP. $30 for ST; $50-70 LT. Like everywhere, you can negotiate. Until my most recent visit in August 2018, I never paid more than $60 LT. But there was one chick I wanted; She wanted $80 and I wanted to pay $60 We both compromised for $70 LT. In retrospect, I got a bargain at $70 on the basis of performance, attitude, and fun.

5. The girls. I'm tough but I like to think I'm consistent and fair when rating gals. Average to me is a 5 on a 0-10 scale. I find the great majority of girls in the small bars in BKK and PP to be 5's. In the better BKK go-go joints, I see a lot of 6's and 7's; a very, very few 8's; can't recall a 9 or 10 LOL. In PP, my highest rated was a 7.5 In PP, many of the girls are "farm fresh"; have very little ability to speak English (compared to their sisters in BKK). Some of the girls are almost shy; In PP, they are generally less pushy than in BKK bars nor are they as "thirsty". I find the Khmer girls more "sweet". Calling some of them "girl next door" types might be a stretch, but maybe you get the idea. There are certainly sharks in all waters who know the "tricks" of the trade.

6. I can't comment on the discos and clubs, as they aren't my preferred destinations. (No country for old men and all that. LOL).

Great, well written, duly considered balanced and logical post.

Sure to be a good 'on point' reference guide to any newbies to the delights of Phnom Penh.

Kudos to you Sir!!

[Sam Sanuk]

Reasoning that most Phnom Penh punters are familiar with Bangkok (as this writer is) I would be interested to hear some comments about how the bar scene in Phnom Penh differs from Bangkok?

The kind of comparison I am referring to is street 136 v Nana Plaza / Soi Cowboy or Pontoon v Insanity. I should add that I have been to Bangkok several times but have never set foot in Phnom Penh.

After a couple of years of lurking here, this is my inaugural post on ISG. But I feel competent to address your inquiry. I'll try to be as direct as possible.

As background, I'm 75 years old and first became enchanted with the offerings of BKK over 40 years ago. For four decades, I have made the Nana Hotel in BKK my base station. I have witnessed the changes in the mongering / Sanuk scene in all of its evolution and have historically preferred Soi Cowboy over Nana Plaza. I first visited PP in early 2000. In PP, I now stay on Street 136 at the Lux Riverside.

Differences between the bars in BKK and PP can be broken down in several ways.

1. Ambience of the total venues. Cowboy and the Plaza are more brightly lit and vibrant, with girls in skimpy outfits doing the touting. Street 136 is quieter and not nearly the "neon" factor that can be overwhelming on Cowboy. Still, a lot of street activity.

2. The bars on 136 are almost sisters to small Cowboy bars like Toy Bar, Fanny Bar, Jungle Jim's. But without the overt diddling; also, without so-called "go go" dancers found on Cowboy or in the Plaza. Dancing is done when a solo girl or group of girls decide they want to dance (impromptu) . There are no rotating line ups; their attire will usually be their street clothes. This might be, at its most daring, short shorts and a cropped top. There are 2 bars on 136 that are heavy with lady boys, some of which are as initially deceiving as some can be in BKK. Those two bars are the Butterfly bars across the street from each other. I haven't noticed any lady boys in the other hostess bars. But I haven't been in all of the bars. There are a couple of bars open 24 hours and feature different shifts of girls. Candy Bar is one of them. You can check out YouTube videos for Candy Bar and Corner Bar. Corner Bar, by the way, was featuring maybe the most "risque" dancing featured as a "show".

3. Prices in the bars are substantially cheaper than in BKK bars. Barfines are generally 10 USD. I've heard that on weekends they maybe be 15 USD, but can't confirm that. Beer will range from $ .75 (75 cents) for an afternoon draught to 1.5-2 USD for a soft drink or a bottled beer in the evenings. "Lady drinks" 2. 5 USD I've never had a bar tab padded in PP. Maybe they notice that I check every piece of paper stuffed in the check bin when it is presented. LOL.

4. The prices for getting laid are substantially lower out of the bars in PP. $30 for ST; $50-70 LT. Like everywhere, you can negotiate. Until my most recent visit in August 2018, I never paid more than $60 LT. But there was one chick I wanted; She wanted $80 and I wanted to pay $60 We both compromised for $70 LT. In retrospect, I got a bargain at $70 on the basis of performance, attitude, and fun.

5. The girls. I'm tough but I like to think I'm consistent and fair when rating gals. Average to me is a 5 on a 0-10 scale. I find the great majority of girls in the small bars in BKK and PP to be 5's. In the better BKK go-go joints, I see a lot of 6's and 7's; a very, very few 8's; can't recall a 9 or 10 LOL. In PP, my highest rated was a 7.5 In PP, many of the girls are "farm fresh"; have very little ability to speak English (compared to their sisters in BKK). Some of the girls are almost shy; In PP, they are generally less pushy than in BKK bars nor are they as "thirsty". I find the Khmer girls more "sweet". Calling some of them "girl next door" types might be a stretch, but maybe you get the idea. There are certainly sharks in all waters who know the "tricks" of the trade.

6. I can't comment on the discos and clubs, as they aren't my preferred destinations. (No country for old men and all that. LOL).

[DingoD]

ST was 5 USD in the late 90's to early '00's. Gals from Sharkys and Martinis were 20 USD LT. You could head out to Toul Kork and go really low budget; get laid and have a beer for 2 USD then. Have not been to Cambo since '04.

Ok-so we have observers interjecting and calling pple out for overpaying and then quoting some mythical price of $3 from the best part of 20 years old? Somewhat puzzling and without doubt of no use to anyone at all.

20 years ago I could've purchased property in Melbourne AUS for 150 K which is now worth over a million dollars! Helpful huh?? If anyone wants to hear my stories of the cost of stuff from 20 years ago please PM me. LOL!

Anyways, back to PP in a month, looking forward to some fun times with reports to follow.

Cheers, DingoD.

[Member #4698]

ST was 5 USD in the late 90's to early '00's. Gals from Sharkys and Martinis were 20 USD LT. You could head out to Toul Kork and go really low budget; get laid and have a beer for 2 USD then. Have not been to Cambo since '04.

I remember the good old days in Phnom Penh. I first started going there in 2002 and I wish I had gone earlier. But it was the bar raids in the fall of 2009 that marked the final end of the golden era. In spring of '09 I was still doing really sexy / pretty hostess girls for "up to you" price with no time limit or max number of shots per session. That spring I used to give my favorite girl $20 per session plus a small tip and we would shag 3 times before I would say good night to her. The next spring, after the raids, everything had changed; it was now one shot per ST for around $30. A few years after that Darling Darling opened up in NagaWorld stocked with attractive and well coiffed FL's asking $100 for ST and Phnom Penh became like the rest of capital city SE Asia more or less.

Only a little different ie you can still have a really good time in Phnom Penh with a young pretty girl for a relatively low cost with just a little luck. Last year, for example, my #1 New Girl of 2017 was a lovely 18 year old hostess girl that I met in Rose Bar. I think I gave her $40 or $50 for ST plus a barfine of $10. Our ST was only 1 shot, but she was the best New Girl shag I had in 2017, I kid you not, the sex with her was outfuckingstanding and 2017 was a very good year for me with a bunch of high quality New Girls I met in Jakarta, MNL & yes, Patpong.

[Goatscrot]

Been coming to Cambodia for 11 years, approx 18 trips in that time and never has the prices I've been exposed to since 2007 even been within 75% of this $3 stunner rate??

Absolute garbage OR are we referring to late 80's / early 90's??

If so, what if any purpose does talking about prices 25+ years ago serve, assuming that they even once existed!

$3!! Hahahaha-you are a wonderful comedian!

ST was 5 USD in the late 90's to early '00's. Gals from Sharkys and Martinis were 20 USD LT. You could head out to Toul Kork and go really low budget; get laid and have a beer for 2 USD then. Have not been to Cambo since '04.

[Kazeu]

Night and day, I'm afraid. Night and day. Bangkok being much much better. Cambodian culture is much more conservative. None of the bars that you hear about in these forums have girls dancing on poles. They're not even scantily clad. They serve as hostesses that try to milk you for drinks. Soi Cowboy bars have topless and bottomless dancers in them. Nothing like that in Phnom Penh as far as I'm aware. Bangkok beats PP any day. Stay in Bangkok if you can.

Reasoning that most Phnom Penh punters are familiar with Bangkok (as this writer is) I would be interested to hear some comments about how the bar scene in Phnom Penh differs from Bangkok?

The kind of comparison I am referring to is street 136 v Nana Plaza / Soi Cowboy or Pontoon v Insanity. I should add that I have been to Bangkok several times but have never set foot in Phnom Penh.