a friend and i spent 5 nights in phnom penh, late august 2008. i went in with low expectations on the quality of the food and the cleanliness of the city. had high expectations on the various lady bars. turns out the food was pretty good and there were several areas of the city that easily passed the cleanliness test. the ladies were a bit of a disappointment, i didn't see any real beauties (say an 8 or above). i did see some lookers working at paradise casino and huxley's so they are there, just not in the bars i went to. there were some 7's in the bars that i would take home but i passed on them. i'd just spent a month in vietnam and am now set in bangkok for a month. what i had in vietnam beat what i saw in PP and obviously bangkok holds better talent. so i saved my money and energy (although the money "saved" probably amounts to a couple of 600thb bar fines !!!). my buddy took two gals, one from golden vine (a viet gal) and one from raksmey (cambo gal). he was headed back to the US so he had motivation.

GETTING THERE:
i flew vietnam airlines from sgn for $175 o/w. my buddy took the bus from sgn, i think it was $5 or $10. had a hotel car pick me up from the airport, $10 for that. my buddy enjoyed his bus ride. no problems. took 6 hrs but had toilet and movies on board.

HOTEL:
stayed at the hotel cara, corner of 47 (france) and 84. paid $35/nt for deluxe room with double bed and balcony. the hotel was nice. very new and had some style. breakfast was a bit weak. internet was spotty but you could usually get a good connection a couple times a day. good selection of tv channels. one drawback was location, was a bit far from the action, say along the river btwn 104 and 136. kind of a long walk from 84 down to 104. needed transport to get there although i did walk it twice. lady friendly hotel of course.

FOOD: i was really surprised with the quality of the food. thanks in large part to recommendations via club hombre. pickled parrot (st 104) and huxley's (st 136) were excellent. also had dinner at blue cat (st 110). couple of decent pizza places also. did not try the happy pizza although i had plenty of happy during the visit.

THE CITY: since i'd been to AC, i'd already identified the "shit hole" of the world as far as exterior conditions in a mongering area. i had also spent time in vietnam just prior to the visit to PP. vietnam was much cleaner but similar looking structures. to me, there was some squalor about town in PP but i was generally pleased with the "conditions". some bldgs had some character and the area btwn 104 and 136 along the river was pretty nice. the tuk tuk things were far better than the trikes of AC and the traffic flow seemed okay with the combo of cars, tuk tuks, and motos.

TOURIST STUFF:
i hit the genocide museum, a couple casinos, and my buddy and i hired a private boat to cruise the mekong (fully stocked with beers and happy stuff ). my buddy hit a few open air markets but i passed on those events. fitness/pool area access at the phhom penh hotel was $12 per visit (not per day). raffles hotel had same price but fitness area was poor. PP hotel is the better bet for that. one day my buddy just walked into the PP hotel fitness place and didn't pay anything. you could try that.

LADIES:
the talent pool fell far short of my expectations and i had trouble recovering from that initial shock. i was too worn out to go out the first night (had a couple good nights in saigon before arrival in PP). did recon on the second night, rose bar and zanzibar on 104. golden vine on 108. later on a place called raksmey across from my hotel. i wasn't impressed with the talent at rose, zanzibar or golden vine. so i decided to make raksmey my target for night 3.

on night 3, we killed time at a casino and checked out sharkeys (nice for a beer but the women were horrid) then rolled to raksmey at about 11pm. no bar fine payable after 12am. so that gave us some time to check the ladies. turned out that most of the attractive ladies my friend and i saw the night before were now not on the "go out" menu. my buddy took one gal but i passed on the selections offered to me. raksmey was kind of a combo dinner/live music place, all locals from what i could tell. but there were 20 or 30 ladies seated in front as you walk in. you can select from the "stable" and have them join you at the table. but no english so you need some help. there were some lookers but alas they were "no go out" (at least for us western folk).

so here i am on day 4 and i've had the null set. too tired on night one. recon on night two. bad decision on night 3 (went all in on raksmey and lost). rather than gear up to make the next two days successful, i just threw in the towel on the lady front. i know it is pathetic, as i was often reminded by my buddy. he took night 4 off but took a gal from golden vine on night 5. i believe he paid $10 take out fee plus $50 s/t at raksmey, i thought cambo was cheap ? at golden vine, i believe there was a $10 bar fine ($5 after midnight) and the girl was $20 s/t. the raksmey girl had a smelly pussy so that was not good. the viet from golden vine got high marks.


CONCLUSION:
i suspect those that spend several weeks in PP, or those that make several visits within a one year period, can get set up pretty good in the city. i'm sure there are some beauties in the area as i saw some real good looking locals working at paradise casino and at huxley's. i definitely saw some areas that were clean enough to live for a bit and there is some variety in terms of food/drink spots. once you are in town a bit, i imagine you would be able to connect up with some attractive freelancers. however, if you are just blowing through town for a couple days, i wouldn't expect to meet many ladies above maybe a 6+.

this was my first visit to PP. according to a recent report on the board, there are far fewer viets working in PP now. don't know why but maybe that has something to do with the lack of talent. perhaps an analogy to a baseball team in a rebuilding mode, PP lady bars may be in a rebuilding effort of sorts. need to replace some of the lost talent. so maybe things will be better in the lady category in the future. as full disclosure, i've been with some 6+ ladies in my mongering career and would have made a pull if i wasn't heading to bangkok post PP. but i could wait a couple days to upgrade quality at a price.

There are attractive woman to be had, i try and catch them doing the rounds when they visit sharkys martinis and walkabouts.also there is an annoying viet at Martinis who, if you turn her down, will then ask you and will find you a younger woman for $10.

This is a delayed reply, but if you care to return, you may want to try Heart of Darkness for freelancers or Walkabout from 1 AM on. After the other hostess bars close, may of the women will make it over to one of these two places. $20 LT is all you need to give them. No barfine as it is FL.

Going out in PP can feel like a waste of time especially if you're used to Thailand or AC. Really, mongering shouldn't be the top reason to go there. You should be seeing Siem Reap or another place in Cambo with some PP and nightlife on the side. What you did actually makes more sense. Appreciate how easy going and laid back the Khmers are compared to their Thai counterparts and chill.

thanks BP. i'm sure i will return to PP in the next two years or so. appreciate the tips. i want to get to the beach areas at a minimum. for me, pre-trip expectations play a big part in my ultimate "findings". PP was well above my expectations on the quality of the life in the city but was far below what i expected on the lady front. lodging was great.

i remember your handle from some patong beach reports. hope you are doing well and getting ready for another phuket run. i really like that place. in the low season, say may-july, the hotel prices are so low it feels like i stay for free.