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(Phnom Penh Intro) / (Hotels and GuestHouses) / (Restaurants) (Emergency) / (Women Where and How) / (Svay Pak (K-11)) (Sharky's) / (Martini's) / (Others) / (Our Recommendations)
Things
you should always Remember while here
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Ok, here is the official tour guide book take on Phnom Penh "Cambodia's modern capital is a vibrant bustling city nestling majestically on the banks of the confluence of the two mighty rivers of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap. These rivers then split again as the Mekong and the Tonle Bassac at a place known to the Khmers as Chaktomuk, meaning four faces. Phnompenh is a veritable oasis compared to the modernity of other Asian capitals. With wide tree-lined boulevards and low-rise buildings Phnompenh still harks back to the colonial days of this former French playground and the many older French colonial buildings, much in evidence, add to the ambiance." Ok, here is our general take on Phnom Penh Everything that was said above is basically true, our thought on Cambodia in general is you better get here quick before every one finds out how nice it is! The main reason I believe is due to their lack of contact with western tourist to date. The people in Cambodia seem much more genuine then in Thailand and not so driven to separate you from your money. One of the nicest things that I enjoyed about Cambodia, and this might seem simple, was the overall service that I received where ever I went. Here in Thailand and especially in areas that have a lot of western tourist like Pattaya or Phuket, the service sucks, they could give a shit if you wanted your steak well done or rare, they seem only to be there for their paycheck and will do the minimum to collect it, and god forbid if you complain! But in Cambodia I was always treated with outstanding service and this little thing was so refreshing after living here in Thailand for so long. The upside of coming to Cambodia Cheap, relatively safe, slow pace and relaxing, a true sense of being on a traveling adventure it is so unlike what most of us are use to. The people of Cambodia are wonderful! every time I have gone I have never felt intimidated, taken advantage of or felt like I was in a awkward situation at all when ever dealing with a Cambodian national, we are not talking about bar girls that will come later, but dealings with the everyday person on the street. The women.... thousands of women and very few westerners, very few hassles about the price, the price seems much more fixed then in Thailand these days, the women seem much friendlier, less likely to rip you off (it does happen so you still need to be careful), a casino, k-11... 5 bucks for a short time what more do I need to say. The downside of coming to Cambodia If your a 5 Star daddy wore bucks type of traveler I would say that Cambodia is not the place for you. Cambodia and Phnompenh are rebuilding right now so there is a level of grim and filth which would be unacceptable by most western standards. The infrastructure is still being worked on, the roads are in very poor shape, the electricity is on again off again, and like we said before there are no ATM's in Cambodia that should tell you the level of infrastructure. The whole place in general is much dirtier then even Thailand, but they are working on it and it does get better each time I go and after what these people have been through they have come a long way.
The women, now people might disagree and this is subjective but I feel that the women in Thailand are much better looking. I don't think that this is due to psychical traits at all but I feel that the Thai ladies have the money to take better care of themselves then the Cambodian bar girls. Crime at night, I myself have never experienced any form of hassle in Cambodia but with all the stories and 1st hand accounts I have heard, you just can't ignore it. Most of these happen at night and while on the back of a motorbike taxi, here is clue number one, get a car and driver!! Its only 20$ for the entire day, he will be at your beckon call 24 hours a day, its cheap, its safe and its smart. If you want a recommendation for a car and driver drop us an email and we will send you the phone numbers of three or four guys that we have used in the past and were happy with. Bottom Line It takes
some getting used to, and it's not a good idea to make this your first trip
to Southeast Asia. But for value for the money, it can't be beat, so if you can
put up with a little dirt and a little more then the usual amount of third
world charm go for it! Every time we go we have a blast! The hotels in Phnom Penh range from backpacker hovels to some very nice up scale Hotels. We have made a list of Hotels that are friendly to men bringing or ordering in Local ladies. At the hotels listed below there is no real, as we like to call it, "walk of shame", walking through the lobby to get to your room with a lovely little thing on your arm. The hotels listed below are clean, reasonably priced, friendly and easy going about you binging in the ladies. There is a Glut of UN type workers in Phnom Penh with all the Aid programs, and they have a very high opinion of themselves. Luckily they only stay at one or two of the hotels in town and they are not listed below. By the way there is no "Joiner Fee" that we know of at any Hotel but this might change. The term "Joiner Fee" is a term used in Thailand, this is when a Hotel will hit you up for extra money when ever they catch you brining in a lady of the night. Mid-range hotels in Phnom Penh run
$15 - $35 with a few in the $50 - $75 range. The average mid-range room
includes air-conditioning, cable TV, hot water, fridge and other
amenities. Some of the more popular mid-ranges places include Golden
Gate, Hawaii and Scandic,
Bayon and Walkabout
among others. Below is a list of addresses and contact numbers. Hawaii Hotel L’Oasis And for you Upscale guys we would recommend this place, very nice but so is the price as you can see. Sunway Hotel
You will be very surprised at the number and variety of very nice restaurants in Phnom penh. You will find at the high end some very elegant restaurants at the higher end hotels, but you can also find down to earth and clean eateries that are great for stuffing yourself at a reasonable price. The variety is what was surprising to me, for example I never though I would find a decent Mexican/American restaurant in the middle of Phnom penh Cambodia, but they have one, its called the Mex and the address is listed below. You can find almost any kind of food here and the local Khmer food is very good as well, I think of it as Chinese with a little bit of Thai thrown in but very nice and very cheap. Surprisingly, pizza parlors are plentiful. Pizza delivery to your hotel room is but a phone call away. The riverfront is a good area to explore for restaurants. Start at the famous FCCC near the Palace, walk the riverfront park and choose from dozens of eateries and bars. Au
Pied de Cochon Want it Delivered to your Hotel here ya go.
Emergency Contacts and Numbers Some good numbers to have, if you are looking for a Hospital go to our Cambodian section for a complete listing. Police
Hotline: Ok so here is the reason we are all here! In this section we will cover what I call the big three, K-11, Martini's and Sharky's. There are other places as well and these will be covered in the other section. But things have a tendency to change very quickly here, for example a few months ago (this was written on 4/02) there was an attempted crackdown on prostitution by the Government and they shut everyone down. For the most part things are back to normal now but area's like 63rd street and all the Karaoke clubs are still shut down. This has happened a few times over the years but it seems that the current big three always manage to come back or stay open so we will focus on them. Lets start with the basic prices for the area
The Women The one thing that you notice right away is the amount to Vietnamese women here and at K-11 they are almost all Vietnamese. The Vietnamese women have a more classic Asian look to them with a lighter complexion, where as the local Khmer women have a darker almost Indian/Malay look to them. The Khmer women are much more reserved and will almost seem standoffish at times, don't let this put you off, if you approach them they will be very friendly and always will return a smile. The Vietnamese ladies will be very good at selling themselves and will be the ones that are right in your face, some of these ladies are very nice but they are all business. I like to use the Vietnamese women for the short times and the Khmer for the overnighters. With the Khmer women you seem to get more of the girlfriend feeling then the "suckie fuckie five buckie" feeling with the Vietnamese. And the GF thing is what makes the SE Asian experience so much different and better then what you can get back home.
The Infamous K-11
K-11 is closed for the most part and it appears it will stay that way for awhile, will give an update if any new info comes our way.
Bar and Restaurant with freelancers.
Sharky's is a Bar and grill just like you would have in your home town that is popular with all the collage kids. The difference is that its in Phnompenh with many many freelancers at your beckon call. The food is good, the price for drinks fair, they have a pool table, play old classic rock, but the best part about sharky's is that is just a nice laid back place to hangout and down a few. I have found the women here to be older then anywhere else, and the most.. lets just say used. I think of it as the last stop for some of them before going out to pasture. There still are many fine looking ladies but you do have a better chance of getting an "oh my god" when you wake up and see them without makeup, more so here then any where else. I don't want to sound too harsh about the women here because I have found many nice ladies at Sharky's, and the up side is that most of these ladies are looking for western boyfriends so they can get out of the biz gracefully. So if they like you they really treat you right and you will get that GF thing more with these ladies, if that's what your looking for. You know the Boom Boom, next, Boom Boom, next, thing gets old pretty fast and for a change it is nice to just hang out with one of the ladies. This is where the ladies at Sharky's really shine, they are older so you won't feel like a fucking pedo walking around town with them, most do speak some English and some speak English very well, and all are more then willing to show you the sites around town. Sharky's is the only bar that I know of that has a website here is the link. Any driver will know where Sharky's is and please remember do not take Mototaxi's at night.
Freelancer Heaven! Martini's is really like two bars in one, they have an outdoor section with a bar and a lot of tables, here they play movies on a large outdoor screen and on Fridays and Saturdays they have a live band. The other part is more or less a Disco playing mostly Asian Techno Rap. Martini's is the place where you will find the most Khmer freelancers, though they do have their share of Viet, the Viet here are much more subdued as it is very obvious that Khmer ladies run the show here. Its best to go to Martini's after 10pm as most ladies wont come to work till then. After 10 this place can really get packed, and not with men, I have seen a ratio of 30 or 40 girls to one western man before, and it can get nuts. The thing to do is find a table sit down and just watch the show, the ladies will quickly start walking past your table one by one giving a quick glance and smile your way to see if your interested. If you are motion for them to come over, if you like it up close ask them to sit and talk a bit. Most of the Vietnamese ladies will start asking for drinks or food right away, entirely up to you there drinks are the same price as yours there are no special lady drink prices, so if you like them buy em a drink, most will drink soda but some do drink beer. If they start getting pushy or you just don't want them around tell them to leave, don't be soft or kind it will get you no where, nicely but firmly just tell them to leave. If they still wont leave just ask a new girl to sit with you and ignore the first girl, she will eventually get it and leave. If your with a Viet girl ask a lady who looks Khmer to sit down and watch the Viet leave as quick as possible, they really don't care for each other. Once you have selected a lady make sure and you agree on a price before you leave. Go by the basic price guide and do not over pay, a dollar here or a dollar there is no big deal but any more just forget it and find a new lady. The one thing I don't like about this place is that if you look like a newbie and they have never seen you before they will try and jack the price up but just stick to your guns and your price. Also if it looks like you have too much money they will hit you hard for more, I always dress down hanging out in Phnompenh, I don't look like a backpacker but I don't dress like I'm going to a privet club in Bangkok. Shut down for now.
When we went last year we found many other spots for finding the old in and out, but with this last crack down a lot of these places have been closed. For example 63 street, used to be full of Karaoke/Massage Parlors, but for now they all appear to be closed, even the famed Lay Lay Karaoke is closed. But as we said above, things have a way of changing quickly here in Phnompenh, so the best thing to do is ask your driver or the bell hop at your hotel about this. The other trick is to look for buildings that have a pink neon light in front, it is more then likely a brothel.
Tried and True Hotel Food The Mex, for lunch, good (ok.. for all you Mexican food experts out there this is well below average but this is the nearest I've been to it for years and it tasted like caviar to me) Mexican food in SE Asia, gotta love it! and where else can you get Dos Equis in Asia. Being a southern Cali boy living way to long in this part of the world this was a dream come true. Over the friendship bridge, for dinner, ask your driver to take you over the friendship bridge and you will find restaurant after restaurant of Khmer food, all are good pick one and feed. I find Khmer food to be a little less spicy then Thai with a lot more Chinese influence, try the frog legs and fresh water snails, they're great, no joke. The Women Sharky's, For more of that GF thing that you get back in Thailand this would be the place. Martini's, For the best selection of women, if anywhere this is where the pros are so do be careful.
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