When the boat docked, touts offering us rides and hotels immediately swarmed us. Although I’d never been to Sihanoukville before, I knew the drill. We headed away from the crowds to the road where we negotiated an inexpensive ride into the town. Getting a hotel was the next difficulty. Most of the places we looked at were too expensive for what you get.
We stopped at a corner pub for a bit of relaxation and met up with an ex-pat who told us about a place that hadn’t yet opened. We then made our way to the Spitfire guesthouse. They gave us a good clean room at a reasonable price, as the owner is an American ex-pat married to a local. I determined right up front that the place was guest-friendly. In fact, the owner directed me to the various brothel areas!
If you should stay at the Spitfire (I assume it's open now), exercise a bit of discretion. The owner is a great guy, but he’s also an ex cop. Don’t do anything that might get him in trouble and you’ll do all right … if you catch my drift.
While my new pal napped, I scouted out the area up the hill. First thing I saw was the Sihanoukville La Cyrcee Club (yup, the same as the one in the capital). It was closed, however. I wandered up where the brothels should be, but didn’t see anything obvious. There were plenty of massage places though. The next order of business was to rent a bike and explore the city.
When evening fell, I took my pal for a tour of the hill. We checked out La Cyrcee Club first. There were only three girls working but were assured more would arrive soon. The girls did their best to encourage us to stay, but I was keen to see what lay further up the hill. Anyway, the place didn’t look half as classy as the Phenom Penh club (and that’s not saying much).
The brothels were now in full gear. The bigger ones were the most interesting. A dozen or more girls sat on chairs in front of large concrete homes. They’d wave and call out as we went by. I’d stop to check out the talent and keep going. My pal was not quite so keen on the scene as he did not find anything to his liking. He agreed to meet me at the pub later.
I decided to give a try to a short and busty young lady. She was very enthusiastic about me selecting her, but this soon cooled as we got to her room. She was half undressed and I was untying my boots when it occurred to me I’d better test the waters before committing myself. I gave her a hug. She didn’t respond at all. I picked up my bag and walked out. Mammasan was somewhat distressed by this and offered me other girls. None were of interest to me so I left.
At another place, a young lady with streaky blonde hair and a smart and sexy outfit caught my eye. She was obviously pro, but was still young enough to be enthusiastic. I decided to give her a go. Wa was a slim Vietnamese who, although not good looking, was nonetheless quite attractive. It wasn’t until later that I realized her teeth were in pretty bad shape, but by that time I was committed.
Her room was reasonably large, decorated with posters of movie stars and singers. We undressed and made our way to the showers. Back in the room I flopped down on her nice big bed only to discover it had no mattress. Ouch! It was thin strips of wood covered with about as much cushioning as a towel. Well, at least there was room to play – and I sure wouldn’t be sleeping there that night.
Before things got going, her roommate barged in looking for something. Wa took care of her and joined me on the bed. The sex that followed was mechanical and boring. She refused to do a bit of work. As she wasn’t friendly or good looking, I decided to cut my losses, end the session short and call it quits. After a shower, I dressed, handed her a fiver, waved goodbye to the girls and left.
I stopped by La Cyrcee again, but the talent hadn’t improved much. At the pub, buddy was engrossed in a British football match. I left him there and got on the bike. I’d explored the port area earlier so I found my way with little trouble.
The road to Biba discothèque is about a kilometer long, lined with little brothels on both sides. As I slowly drove along, girls would run out of their house and stand in front of the bike to get me to stop. Unfortunately, for most of them, that would be the only way they could stop a guy.
Biba was easy to spot. It glows like a Christmas tree and people are wandering in and around it. There are plenty of food stalls around it if you get hungry.
This place has a guest house? I didn’t notice this when I was there. It certainly warrants further investigation!
Biba was much less than I expected. There was a band, of sorts, playing on a low stage and a group of locals dancing before it. It was too damn noisy to think, so after a few minutes looking the place over, I headed back down the road.
I paused before a quiet brothel where an attractive young lady shyly smiled at me through high gloss red lipstick. With very little English, our conversation was short. The girl was pleasant so I decided that I wanted some company for the night. I negotiated papasan down to $15 and Sre Mao got on the bike behind me. During the ride back to the guesthouse, she gave me plenty of reassuring hugs.
After we undressed, she went into the shower while I put away my clothes. She soon started making disconcerting noises. When I investigated moments later, I learned that she had never seen a shower in her life and had no idea how to operate one! I showed her how it worked and we have each other a good scrubbing. Unfortunately, the hot water was not yet working; otherwise I’d have given her a real treat.
In bed, Sre Mao was the girlfriend experience I was looking for. She was sweet and accommodating if not particularly talented. She took it upon herself to initiate many positions and quite enjoyed the experience. When we woke the next morning, naturally I requested a second helping and was rewarded with just a pleasant experience as the night before. Later, I took her back to the port with a few extra dollars stuffed in her little pocketbook.
Photos: Sre Mao 23 25
The next day, my Scotish friend didn’t regain conciousness until well into the afternoon. After the match on TV, he wound up at a bar (with some sort of “Fishermen” theme) overlooking the city. He got wasted and stoned and had no idea what happened to him, as he was bruised and sore. He believed he may have had a bike accident or gotten into a fight. Sheesh, what is it with these UK guys?
I spent the day wandering around the city and hanging out at the beach. There’s really not much to do in Sihanoukville. As I motored away from the beach, I spotted an attractive young lady making her way back up the road. As I was heading that way, I thought it quite noble to offer her a ride. She gestured and pointed but got on behind me anyway. As it turned out, she was only going about a hundred meters or so. Not much of a ride, but she invited me into her “village.”
Where she lived was one of numerous, rather new looking, solidly built wooden shacks not far from the beach. The insides were decorated with little more than a bed and maybe a small table. No, these were not brothels.
As I sat, a few children gathered around to see the Barang. I sang a song and demanded the same from them. They just looked at each other and looked at me. I gave them each a piece of candy and there were smiles all around. In fact, the adults came out for a piece of candy too.
Using hand gestures, my new friend told me she needed to get a shower. With that said, she walked over to a huge water jar and, while still in her t-shirt and denim shorts, she began ladling water over her head and over her clothes. I did my best to not look astonished. Moments later a couple of other women and a young man were pulling water from the same cistern, washing in a similar fashion.
During all this, I managed to get a few words across to a few people who know some English. I discover that my friend, whom I was sure was at least twenty, was barely seventeen. Well, I didn’t exactly have my hopes up about her availability, and this whole village experience was a bit something. I decided to ere on the side of caution and take my leave.
This came as a surprise to her because she was under the assumption she would be going with me. I need to explain that almost nothing was said between us from when I offered her a ride, up until this moment. I didn’t know if she thought I was giving her a ride somewhere or if I was taking her home to give her a good seeing to. I made my excuses and departed.
In the early evening, I took buddy to the port so he could see for himself what he’s missed the night before. A couple of girls spied him as we rode by, stopped him in the street and ganged up on the poor blighter. There were all but physically dragging him into their brothel.
He did manage to extradite himself and we continued our tour. That night I went back to the port, but he declined the visit. The girls who had mobbed him recognized me and demanded to know where he was. I gave them some lame excuse and moved on.
Sre Mao was not outside her place of employ, but one of the girls spotted me as I rode past and ran inside. On the return leg, Sre Mao was waving to me. I talked to her a bit and she did her best to encourage me to take her for the night. As much as I enjoyed her company the night before, I was determined to obtain a bit more variety.
Further down the street, I found something to my liking. This young lady was laughing and having a great time, quite a contrast to the rather serene Sre Mao. I talked with Rita for a bit and decided to give her a go short time. I was curious to see how the brothels here were set up.
We got undressed in her typical little room. With towels wrapped around us, we headed for the toilet. Unfortunately, someone was inside so we had to wait. Meanwhile, in the large open room next to us, a group of men were drinking and playing cards. They paid no attention to us as we stood there mostly naked. After several minutes wait, Rita finally figured out that the toilet was empty.
The first thing I noticed about the little room was a hole chopped into the concrete floor. I had the impression that raw sewage flowed just beneath the floor. It didn’t help maters when Rita showed me the brand new soap she had that had been nibbled on by rats. She told me they came up through that hole. Yikes! We got clean and headed for her room.
Rita did a good job, but didn’t work as hard as Sre Mao. I thought about going back up the road and taking her out, but I was tired and knew I would be leaving the next morning.
I did stop at a newly opened club that evening. It was called something like “Spy Bar” but I can’t quite remember. Anyway, it is in a large, imposing old building. The club itself was obviously thrown together from whatever furniture and fixtures the locals could put together. Aside from being unattractive, it was noisy and dark. With only a dozen people milling around, I decided to call it quits.
in the story!) 