DV8 Guesthouse - Phnom Penh Nightlife
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Early - Mid - Late
Sex in the City
Phnom Penh's Nightlife is spread across the city, there are many small hole in the wall bars and a few bigger bars. The nightlife is split into Asian and Western bars and dance clubs. The western bars and clubs fit into the middle of the market. Some of the bigger Asian bars and clubs are 4 to 5 times bigger than the biggest Western bars and clubs.
There are many small bars aimed at the western market (over 100 at this time and more opening everyday), many people come to Phnom Penh and buy bars, unfortunately most do little with them. They are usually devoid of customers most of the time but with rents being so cheap it's not much more expensive than having an apartment here.
If you are looking for the nightlife in Phnom Penh you can pickup a copy of the Pocket Guide or the Bayon Pearnik. Alternatively you can just go to the bars I do. Firstly Phnom Penh's nightlife doesn't really start until about 10:30 pm. Prior to that it's just drinking in some of the smaller bars.
So here's my guide to the nightlife in Phnom Penh, now I should mention I like looking at beautiful women so I tend to visit that style of bar.
Early evening 6pm to 9pm visit DV8, OneZeroFour, Green Vespa or Shanghai. Now some of you might ask why I don't go to Sharkies, basically it's a money thing, all the bars I go to early in the evening have $1 beers. The late night bars like Martinis and Heart of Darkness have $1.50 beers. However Sharkies does have a lot of freelance girls in the bar and has very good food and they do have drink specials on different days and the owners/managers are great guys.
DV8 is usually busy from 8pm though to 2am but if you are looking for more bars to visit you can try my favourites. Around 10:30pm, if I'm not ensconced in Shanghai then it's off to Martini, Martinis has a dance floor with seating around the dance floor. The dance floor is also air conditioned which makes it quiet pleasant. The dance floor in this, the third, incarnation is about half the size of the first Martini dance floor. Outside it has a raised section with two pool tables and a bar. There is also a food area that has cheap and edible food. It hasn't made me sick yet so I do recommend it if you're hungry. The girls at Martinis leave at about 1:30 pm. The bar stays open to 3 am. With the girls thinning out I leave at about 1:30 pm and head off home, previously I would have gone to the Heart of Darkness but since one of their security guards beat my wife up and a local was shot to death, I've avoided the place.If I don't head home it's usually a trip to the Walkabout Hotel, a 24 hr bar/hotel with cheap drinks. The Chilli and Rice or Mash is good to eat but the burgers are not something I eat anymore. The Heart of Darkness has reopened and things have gone back to being the same. Sadly the place is now just very much a tourist bar and still atrracts a bunch of dangerous locals.
There are a number of smaller bars I visit and are worth mentioning. Rubies Wine Bar is a nice bar with good atmosphere, Australian owned and run. The Phonm Penh Peace Pub (formerly the Peace Cafe), run by Dave, makes a change. He show's some art house films and some main stream films of a big screen.
Other bars worth mentioning are the Riverhouse Lounge, Pontoon and L' Asiate (good if you speak french). These bars have a great ambiance and well worth the visit.
Well anyway if you do visit any of these bars and talk to the manager or owner please mention that you read about them on my website. Thanks - Barry
Sex in the City
You got down here quick enough. With all the publicity about sexual exploitation in Cambodia you could imagine it's full of prostitutes running around the streets half naked and to listen to some of the sexpats that were here more than 5 years ago that may have been true. Things have changed though and although still present it is very low keyed. There are some good articles on Khmer440 about the different levels of prostitution.
Phnom Penh has a small sex industry that caters towards Westerners and a much larger one that caters to Asians. The most well known sex bars in Phnom Penh are Sophies (a blow job bar - STD's are transferred in a blow job) and Cyrcee club. In other countries these would mascerade as massage palours.
Most other bars have waitresses, hostesses and free lance girls working in them. Some of these girls may entertain you outside of working hours but it's not like buying a beer and just because you have the cash doesn't mean you're going to get the....
Phnom Penh's nightlife my be small but it is fun.
If you want to share your expriences about Phnom Penh's nightlife please join our forum.
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