Phnom Penh

Would appreciate some advise here. Will be rewarding myself with a BKK and PP trip over Chinese new year.

Have 4 days in PP. I'm a normal guy who likes massage, trying to pick up girls riverside, etcetc. Done lots of reading here and have my "lists"

Choice of places to stay would be Cambodiana, The Quay Boutique, Imperial Villa or Lux Riverside. Theres no money issues whichever is selected.

Any thoughts or recommendation from mongers using those or expats familiar with all would be welcomed. Thanks

Lux Riverside would be my choice due to its location and the rooms are really apartments. No problems with bring girls back. Very expensive though. Cambodiana is way way out of the way and is showing its age a little nice pool and facilities bringing girls back could be a problem here.

[QUOTE=Shadow6491;1362353]Lux Riverside would be my choice due to its location and the rooms are really apartments. No problems with bring girls back. Very expensive though. Cambodiana is way way out of the way and is showing its age a little nice pool and facilities bringing girls back could be a problem here.[/QUOTE]Hi thanks for your advise.

What would you select as a Plan Bee alternative.

Lux Riverside isn't on any of the normal booking engines ie agoda / expedia / rooms. Com. And the online form I submitted kind of vanished.

I arrived from Singapore by air late yesterday afternoon. Visa and Customs were okay for me but the couple next to me were ripped off with US$5 each fee for no passport sized photos for their visas. There was no receipt, no photos taken and the staff / boss's slush fund was US$10 better off. They were also savaged on the exchange rate by the official but were not in a position to argue as getting the visas was the needed outcome.

Outside of the airport heading towards the main road I took a tuktuk at US$7 which is the regulated price for a trip to city centre. Good driver and chaotic traffic.

I am staying at the Manor House which is a lovely homely 12 room private hotel in a quiet area near the Independence Monument (#21, St 262). Manager Dave (from Adelaide originally) and his team run a good, clean, effective operation and I recommend it to you. It is gay / straight friendly and no problem in the girl friendly department.

Went to Phnom Penh after a break of a few years and what a difference a few years has made to the city. All the roads are paved, many more bars, girls and hotels. But this may have come at a cost.

First, the girls are very clever now, especially in the bars where they are attached to the bar. They don't do long time as it gets in the way of doing business. Even if a bar girl does not get another client when she returns to her bar, she can always get another few lady drinks. You can find yourself buying a lady one or more drinks only to find out that she does not go with guys to the room.

For instance, hit Airforce One one night. Big crowd in. One girl came over. She appeared nice and so I got her a lady drink. But no she was not available for some fun later and so I stopped another. Ladydrink and so on and sorry she was not available either. Getting a bit tired of this I asked for someone who would go to my hotel later. One was produced. Not as good looking but still pretty. But only ST available. Got to the room. Got down to business during which I find out that she was on her period. Blood everywhere. She denied it, saying that her period ended a few days before and maybe it is because she had not been with a guy for a while. Yeah sure. I gave her $10 and pushed her out the door.

Bar girls have worked out that getting lady drinks can be just as lucrative as providing sex. And they use younger better looking girls as teasers who are just there for the lady drinks only. And don't be fooled that taking a girl from a bar is insurance against being ripped off. Some bars actually rip you off even before you exit the bar. And if your mobile phone goes missing from your room, don't expect the Mamasan to do anything about it later. This happened to a guy while I was there.

Two other alternatives are onsite places and FLs. I took 2 FLs from Walkabout. Both were adequate but one did not do oral. But the choice is not great at Walkabout with many washed out hag like ladies around. The music in Heart was just too loud and was hurting my ears and I had to leave before I could check out the ladies there. Checked around a few of the bars nearby but nothing took my eye. Tried the riverside around 9pm one night but none doable. And some ladyboys there too. Did not have time to check Sharkeys or Martinis. Again, my impression was that the FLs want short time only. The days of the LT GFE possibly extending for a few days with a hot Khmer gal looking after your every need are really over in Phnom Penh.

On-site places. Unfortunately many of these places are closed, including all the Viet massage / brothel places that were dodgy anyway. I did not want to try the few fishbowl massage places. One place that has not changed much is Cirque. Picked a Khmer one night and it was a very nice experience even if you have to cross the road to get to the room.

After some of my disappointments with the bars near the riverside area, I went to a place in the same area I knew used to allow on-site activity. I was delighted to find out that they still do but I am guessing that they do not want it publicized. Correct me if I am wrong, but allowing on site sex usually gets a bar shut down pretty fast. If anyone wants to know where it is, they can PM me.

I went with 3 girls there on different nights. First was more than adequate, skinny girl who gave a great BJ. The second was a girl with the largest tits I have ever seen on an Asian girl. She was great fun and was horny. She is quite dark and it was like doing an african chick. The third I took back to my hotel and she was a happy hooker. The onsite room is a bit rough. She was horny and probably would have liked session 2 if only I was up to it. To all I gave $20 plus some tip money. You had to buy a girl a drink in the bar first. House rules. And pay a bar fine ($5 I think). There was a charge for the room too, if memory serves me right but it is $5 I think. There was only one girl who did not go with guys but the other girls told me that she was only there to have lady drinks. At least they were upfront about it.

What I liked about the place was that the girls are honest hookers and not playing games. They are real sluts, if you like that sort of thing. They are a bit short of customers and I was very welcome there. None of the girls were pissed off if I went with someone else the next night. It would be great for anyone who likes ST onsite. They claim they are open 24 hours but I am guessing that if you went there early morning you just might find a bunch of half asleep girls. But it might be a good place to check out for daytime action.

Changing the subject slightly, years ago I used to frequent Howie's bar. It was a drinkers bar near Heart but with no girls (although I pulled a girl from there who was a FL friend of one of the then barmaids about 5 years ago) but the bar staff back then were really nice and the customers were a little more interesting than elsewhere. This time I was surprised to see that it had mostly young customers who seemed to be backpackers, including some half-dressed Western girls. A barmaid with a winning smile engaged me in conversation, got me my favorite drink and asked me if I wanted to play a game. After a couple of rounds of Connect 4, she suggested a bet of a drink. I sniffed a scam but went along with it just to see what happened next. Big surprise when I won the first game, not so big surprise that she won the second game (immediately after my won drink was served). We drew a game and she won the next two games. I am not bad at Connect 4 having polished my skills in Thailand some years back but she was a real pro. I was pushed to play more but declined. She pushed a bit more and I said no again. Immediately all contact with bar staff stopped. I might as well have become invisible. The bill was $13. I only had 2 beers. Her drinks were $3 each.

In a way, this is how many of the tourist bars have changed. The strategy is to take your money now and forget about building up brand loyalty for the future.

I don't know if you are still around but if so grab some earplugs and go back to HOD. To me that disco had the best selection at rock bottom prices. The most I gave there was $28 LT. Martini's was right too but the girls there wanted $40 LT. All those other places suck. Playing lady drink games and shit. I wish I would buy a broad a drink and she won't leave with me. Well I don't buy lady drinks anyway so I guess I will never have to worry about that one.

What do you expect when any information on getting a VOA says passport photos are required. Only the stupid travel without a few photosfor just such an occasion. Count themselves lucky that their stupidity only cost them $10.

There is an official charge for them to scan the photo in your passport if you don't bring your own photos. But the charge is $2, not $5. Either bring $2 with you or just show a few 50's and say that's all you have and they'll scan it for free.

[quote]Outside of the airport heading towards the main road I took a tuktuk at US$7 which is the regulated price for a trip to city centre. Good driver and chaotic traffic.[/quote]Could've taken a cab with air conditioning for $3 more. Better get used to spending more now that you're in PP. No saving unless you want to shop at Walkabout!

[QUOTE=Rick Rock; 1363761]There is an official charge for them to scan the photo in your passport if you don't bring your own photos. But the charge is $2, not $5. Either bring $2 with you or just show a few 50's and say that's all you have and they'll scan it for free.

Could've taken a cab with air conditioning for $3 more. Better get used to spending more now that you're in PP. No saving unless you want to shop at Walkabout![/QUOTE]Or walk over the parking lot to the exit and get your tuk tuk for 4 dollars. And more savings plus a more guarantee a girl stay overnight when she promised LT? Promise her to go for shopping the other day and buy her a nice shirt or dress. That will not break the bank for less than 10 dollars at the market. And when she choose a too expensive dress, just say you don't like and walk on to the next shop.

So the guy says the guy next to him paid $10. 00 for the 2 people. [I] Don't know where he came from but here where I am it is $15. 00 for 2 passport photos to be taken. So if 2 people it would be $30. 00 here. Ten (10) is not bad but I understand you can get a picture for 1. 00 if you don't have them. A buddy who is in and out of Cambodia all the time tells me this is what it costs. I will find out soon but I do believe he is correct. I am in the USA

[QUOTE=Mackin;1364166]So the guy says the guy next to him paid $10. 00 for the 2 people. [I] Don't know where he came from but here where I am it is $15. 00 for 2 passport photos to be taken. So if 2 people it would be $30. 00 here. Ten (10) is not bad but I understand you can get a picture for 1. 00 if you don't have them. A buddy who is in and out of Cambodia all the time tells me this is what it costs. I will find out soon but I do believe he is correct. I am in the USA[/QUOTE]Are you talking about $15 at the post office in the USA? If I remember it is $10 or $15 for 2. What a rip off. They make them at drug store photo labs a bit cheaper. It is also pretty easy to make them on the computer yourself. I usually get mine made at a photo shop in Pattaya for the cheap. I don't just get what I need but a bunch of extras and keep them in the same pouch with my passport so I will have them when needed.

[QUOTE=Mr Enternational;1363728]I don't know if you are still around but if so grab some earplugs and go back to HOD. To me that disco had the best selection at rock bottom prices. The most I gave there was $28 LT. Martini's was right too but the girls there wanted $40 LT. All those other places suck. Playing lady drink games and shit. I wish I would buy a broad a drink and she won't leave with me. Well I don't buy lady drinks anyway so I guess I will never have to worry about that one.[/QUOTE]Well it has been awhile since I have been to Cambodia, if they have moved to this "lady drink" phase, I won't be back. Last time there 2009, I did not see this lady drink thing going on at all. This "lady drink crap" is what ruined Korea. I was there in the 70s. 80s. 90s and watched the change. Don't play the game. This is the bars & girls getting greedy and not providing a service. It is just a rip off. Of course there will be plenty of dummies playing this game. There should be some freelancers around, if a girl in a bar asks you for a lady drink, leave. If most of the bars are doing this it will not be long until competition is gone and prices are set the same in all bars. This is not letting the market and competition set prices, but a bar owner conspiracy to rip you off. I seen it before and know where it came from, it does not get better. I do not see this in Thailand, Phillipines, Myanmar, Indonesia because there is competition between the bars. Just curious where and when did this start? Any Korean bar owners start up there recently? For those of you that like this game head to Korea, but take plenty of cash.

[QUOTE=Dragon1423;1364223]Well it has been awhile since I have been to Cambodia, if they have moved to this "lady drink" phase, I won't be back. Last time there 2009, I did not see this lady drink thing going on at all. This "lady drink crap" is what ruined Korea. I was there in the 70s. 80s. 90s and watched the change. Don't play the game. This is the bars & girls getting greedy and not providing a service. It is just a rip off.[/QUOTE]Damn right. I went into a few bars looking for girls to take out. I didn't want any shit so I cut to the chase. But all they were talking about was drinking. I said shit I can drink in the hotel room. I came looking for a woman to take back with me. Most of them were not up for going, they just wanted you to sit there and pay for drinks for yourself and for them. Like you said, you will look quite the fool buying drinks for all these women and later finding out they will not go with you. That is why my forte is freelance and if I am ever back in PP then Martini and Heart of Darkness are the only spots I will need to hunt.

[QUOTE=Dragon1423;1364223]I do not see this in Thailand, Phillipines, Myanmar, Indonesia because there is competition between the bars.[/QUOTE]The Lady Drink business is well and truly established here, a bit late for your advice! Girls will leave you alone if you don't buy any, but then that is not much fun seating on your own drinking and watching all the hot girls. The trick is to get it out of the girl if she barfines or not before buying the lady drink. Best is to ask another older girl, that usually works for me. I usually latch on to the oldest ugliest girl in the bar who (usually) speaks English, then get all the low down on all the girls and prices and so on and and then tell her which one to call over for me?

BTW, how is it that you have not seen this in Thailand? Girls in the bar there have asked for lady drinks as many years that I have travelled to LOS and remember going to the bars there.

[QUOTE=Mr Enternational;1364273]Damn right. I went into a few bars looking for girls to take out. I didn't want any shit so I cut to the chase. But all they were talking about was drinking. I said shit I can drink in the hotel room. I came looking for a woman to take back with me. Most of them were not up for going, they just wanted you to sit there and pay for drinks for yourself and for them. Like you said, you will look quite the fool buying drinks for all these women and later finding out they will not go with you. That is why my forte is freelance and if I am ever back in PP then Martini and Heart of Darkness are the only spots I will need to hunt.[/QUOTE]Exactly!

Fuck the riverside bars with their overpriced drinks and crappy music.

I too stick to the freelancer places when I'm in town. I quite like HOD too but am less fond of Martinis, it's ok every once in a while.

I'd probably add Pontoon to that list and regardless of what some people here say Walkabout in the afternoon can be worth a visit as there are still diamonds to be found there. Patience is the key though.

Another venue worth checking out if you're into freelancers is Golden Sorya Mall at night. Kick back with a $2 jug of Anchor and watch the madness.