Phnom Penh - Cambodia

[Guest Simon208]

Hi

 

I am on a short tour of south east Asia in the next few weeks.

 

After a trip to Yangon...Chaing Mai ..I also plan a 3 night visit to Phnom Penh. I have already visit Siem Reap last year but have never been to the capital.

 

I would be grateful if any people whom have visited the city could give me a few ideas

 

1. What area of the city is best to book a hotel

2. Ideas of what to see and do during the day around the city

3. Night time massage, gay bars, cruising areas

4. I have seen some reports to say it is not same at night

5. Do the local people have ID cards as in Thailand and if so do the years work in the same way. If not what areas are best avoided if they are frequented by underage boys

 

Thanks in advance

 

Simon

[fedssocr]

As I noted in the Sihanoukville thread:

 

As for gay scene, there isn't much of one. There are a couple of gay or gay friendly bars in Phnom Penh. I visited Salt Lounge while I was there. It's very friendly. I happened to be there for their 3rd anniversary party which was quite an event. I know I have written about it elsewhere if not here before. They set up a stage out front with a tent over it that took up about half of the street. They had some (bad) drag, candle and fire dancers, and a few other things. For the Cambodians who had never been outside of their country before it was something the likes of which they had never seen. If you are used to shows in BKK and elsewhere I think it was a bit quaint. But I felt kind of honored to be there to share the experience with them. They have a website: http://www.thesaltlounge.com/ The Sticky Rice guide to gay Asia has links for gay places in Cambodia.

 

Where to stay depends on your budget. I stayed at the Intercontinental last year. It was very nice in a chain hotel sort of way. The breakfast was good but the dining room was a bit overwhelmed with tour groups. This year I will be spending a night at the Amanjaya. It is much better located right near the river, palace, and Silver Pagoda. The Intercontinental is not very close to most of things a tourist would want to see. The Raffles Le Royale is supposed to be the best hotel in town, and I would guess it has prices to match. You could do PP in 2 days.

 

There are no go-go bars or anything like that. If there is a commercial sex scene it must be pretty underground there. At least I didn't see it. There is certainly a great deal of poverty for sure. There's no "massage" scene either like there is in Thailand. I did have a massage but it was a legit massage with both of us fully clothed. They gave me a tshirt and loose pants to put on. The masseur was similarly attired. That was for a basic Thai-style massage. I supposed if I had opted for an oil massage instead I would have been naked but my guess is that the masseur would have still been fully clothed. He put me in a number of interesting positions.

 

As for what to do in the city, there really aren't all that many tourist attractions. There is the wat on top of Phnom Penh (which means Penh's Hill). The grand palace is very nice, but not as nice as the Grand Palace in BKK. The one in PP is only about 100 years old. The Silver Pagoda is on the same grounds as the palace. I think it's a pretty well-confirmed rumor that the current king is gay. There is the genocide museum. Other than that there's the casino and the riverfront park. The national museum is OK, mainly just a collection of statuary without much identification. And there are a bunch of women inside who will try to get you to buy flowers for all of the Buddha statues. There are a couple of old markets that are crowded and hot.

 

I arranged my visit using Purple Dragon tours (www.purpledrag.com). My guide, Nol, is a fascinating and passionate guy. He was a monk from age 8 until he graduated from school. He took me to visit his old monastery which is near the palace which was a special treat. He has very strong opinions about all sorts of things. His accent took a little getting used to. But I had a really great time just spending time with him and our driver and eating our meals together. I will be returning to see him later this year. Having a guide and driver was a big time saver and very informative.

[Maple]

In Phnom Phen, there is a Gay bar called Blue Chilli Pub. The website is http://www.bluechillipub.net/

 

One of their staff is Oak; he is Thai and used to work in Pattaya. He speaks very good English, so look him up! See their ad in the current issue of "Spice!" magazine.

[Gaybutton]

You might also want to check out Pattaya Male's post at:

 

http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum...ces-t14365.html

[Guest MonkeySee]

On my first visit to Phnom Penh, I found a guy along a street, close to the National Museum. At that time there were many English language schools along a street behind the museum. Guys were anxious to practice their English with foreigners. The young man I found was nice enough to show me around town and did not mind a little “roll in the hay.” My last trip I was sitting on the river wall, close to the Grand Palace, and had two different guys hit on me. My “new best friend,” who said he was a college student, skipped class for the next three days. He wanted to go to Sinoukville with me, but I thought I could find another “new best friend.” As it turned out, I should have had him escort me to the beach town, because I wasn’t able to find any gay scene there.

[Guest]

Has anyone been to Cambodia this year ?

[fedssocr]

I was just there.

 

Blue Chili is very nice. Friendly, cute staff. They apparently put on some sort of drag show on Fridays and Saturdays. Several handsome freelancers hanging out there too.

 

The Sticky Rice website has a good collection of info

http://www.stickyrice.ws/?view=directory&country=kh

 

Also check out this gay Cambodia blog for info

http://queercambodia.blogspot.com/

 

I stayed at the Quay Hotel which is a very high design concept hotel right on the riverfront. Rooms on the front of the building have balconies overlooking the river but they are very noisy in the AM. The horn honking starts early. I read that rooms at the rear of the building have no windows. That doesn't seem safe in the event of a fire and you would never get away with that in a western country. I enjoyed my one night stay there. It is run by the FCC (Foreign Correspondents' Club) which also has another hotel and restaurant.

[Gaybutton]

Blue Chili is very nice. Friendly, cute staff. They apparently put on some sort of drag show on Fridays and Saturdays. Several handsome freelancers hanging out there too.

 

Can you give us some insight as to how it all works? Can the staff be taken off? If yes, do you know the off fees and expected tip for the boy? What about the freelancers? How much do they expect to be tipped. Do you know the opening and closing times for the bar? Can you tell us about drink prices and if they're a little better at mixing cocktails than they are in Pattaya?

 

Whatever details you can provide would certainly be appreciated.

[fedssocr]

It's just a regular bar, not a gogo bar or host bar in the Thailand sense.

 

The staff I was referring to are the bartenders. They are all tiny, petite and a little bit girly but very friendly. They play a lot of diva music which the staff sing along to and dance while they are working. It sounds a little silly and it is but I was charmed. Lots of warm smiles and most of them speak English well enough. There is one guy who looked like me must be the manager or something who is stunningly handsome. He looks just like a Buddha statue.

 

As for the freelancers I am afraid I can't tell you much as I didn't take anyone home with me. One guy told me he was a masseur and basically offered to massage me but I didn't ask for details. He looked like he might have been part caucasian. A handsome guy, but the cigarette smoking is a total redlight for me and I wasn't in the mood anyway.

 

Drink prices seemed reasonable but I don't drink alcohol so I can't comment on those prices for mixed drinks. I just had a ginger ale which was something like $1 I suppose. Prices there are in US $.

 

Mainly I just found it to be a lively, relaxing place to hang out.

[Guest]

In the Linga bar in Seam Reap, there was a handful of guys assessing every male who entered the bar & if you reciprocate with a few friendly glances, they would introduce themselves & sit right next to you. Very nice.

I hope to find similar guys in other parts of Cambodia.

[Guest]

In Phnom Penh, both "The Blue Chilli" and "The Salt Lounge" have friendly Khmers who seem to want to meet foreigners for fun.

Some of them are quite forward- one youg guy had his hands all over me whilst sat outside The Salt Lounge.

 

The Manor House offers gay friendly accommodation with a pool.

 

[Guest]

Here's a blog which may be of interest to potential Cambodia visitors.

 

Cambodia Blog

[Gaybutton]

Here's a blog which may be of interest to potential Cambodia visitors.

That's an interesting blog. Thanks for posting it.

[Guest ryanasia]

As I stated in another thread Salt Lounge is closed. Just putting that out there so people don't go looking for it.