It’s just a matter of time. Maybe on your second night, first night or even first afternoon while walking around Phnom Penh, Siem Reap or whatever place you are visiting first: You will see a bar with young and attractive Cambodian girls sitting outside, smiling at you as if they have been anticipating your arrival for the whole day and saying: “Hello handsome man, have a drink!”

If this is your first experience of passing a typical girly bar then maybe you are too shy to try it out, simply because you don’t know what is really going on in these places. So in this article I will not only explain to you what you can expect by visiting a girly bar but also what it is like to have sex with Cambodian bar girls, what to look out for, how to make the most of your money and basically how you have the best possible time without burning your fingers.

First of all it’s important to know that there are two types of girly bars in Cambodia: The hostess bars (picture) which are oriented to western foreigners (also called Barangs) and the karaoke bars or bigger KTVs that are mainly oriented to local Khmer guys and Asian tourists.

I would advise to stay away from the second type of bar on your first trip since they tend to overcharge “newbies” for drinks, room rental and girls fees and it’s not even guaranteed that you can take out a girl for short time later on if you like her. And unless you aren’t much into karaoke it’s not that much fun anyway compared to the foreigner-oriented bars. And here is why.

A typical Visit to a Girly Bar

So let’s say you just walk into a bar to see what it is like. The bar girls who have eagerly been trying to invite you inside just seconds before will giggle even more in excitement and immediately try to get your attention. So what happens is that while you look around to take a seat either at the bar or on one of the comfortable looking couches, you find that one or two girls are closely around you trying to ask you where you would like to sit and then what you would like to drink and hope that you want to hang out with them.

Other girls who aren’t that present may just sit on different places of the bar and shyly smile at you and hope that this way you will make them “choose”. And others might completely (pretend) to ignore you while some of them still hope that you start approaching them yourself. Or they will wait until you looked at them five times before they look back and expect you to invite them to sit with you right away. These are usually the most attractive ones who think they don’t need to make much effort. Which is often true.

But stay calm, no need to rush. You can just take a seat anywhere you like and watch the scene and ladies first. Because once you have chosen a girl it’s usually not a good idea to change later in the same bar if you found a hotter one. It’s certainly possible, but it’s not really good for the vibes.

The drink prices in the bars are usually relatively cheap, at least for your own drinks. They almost always have some sort of draft beer, either Angkor or Cambodian and in some rare cases Anchor (I don’t like that one). It’s just 1 or 1.50 USD for a mug of draft beer. Spirits are a bit pricier but not really expensive at around 3-3.50 USD. Like a red label with soda. Or Jack Daniels with coke.

The hostess bars usually have TVs with live sports and that makes them not only great to have a good time with the bargirls but also to meet other foreigners by simply talking about the football match that is currently on. But even better meeting opportunities are the pool tables. Unlike in Thailand where they like to charge 20 Baht per game they are usually free over here. But then they are often quite old.

Anyway what you could do is after you had a look at the selection of bar girls you can smile (back) to one you like and have her sit with you. She will then start with the typical introduction questions like “Hi, what is your name? Where do you come from? You look so young, how old are you? You come holiday in Cambodia? First time? Where you stay?” And so on.

While you are talking to her you may quickly notice that she doesn’t really appear like the prototype of the prostitute you may know from the western world. Well, except when you look at how damn sexy she looks in her tight and short cutout dress and high heels. But really: She seems just like a normal girl, talking about life like any other person, making you compliments by how handsome you are and so on. Sure, there are other Khmer bar girls too that are a lot more to the point and even pushing, but most of them really give the shy and innocent kind of girl that makes you want to “protect” them. Yes that’s right, because they seem so cute and innocent they may give you the feeling that they really like you (well, that’s often the case).

If you get on well with her you can buy her a lady drink. That usually costs around 4 USD for either a tequila shot or a spirit with mixer (like Bacardi and coke). You will quickly notice how business oriented the girl is by how fast she drinks it. Does she really like you and give her best to make you have a good time? Then she should also be polite and take at least 20-30 minutes to finish her drink and before she asks for another one (if she is really polite she would wait until you invite her for another one).

So you hang out together and have a good time. The going rule is that as soon as you bought her a drink you may also touch her. Just try and see how she reacts, if she is very young and shy then better wait to touch her boobs and butt later. Just go with her legs, arms and back for now. Smooth and silk as their skin usually is, it would not be a big surprise if you get horny in no time and especially after a few drinks you might want to ask her if she wants to come with you to your hotel.

The bar girls are available for take out. Of course she also needs to want it, too, but if you already bought her lady drinks and spent some good time together chances are that of course she would like to “go with you”. So the way it works is that you pay her bar fine of usually 10 USD. That’s the money you pay to the owner of the bar so you have the permission to take the girl out. You compensate him in a way for losing out on business because one of the girls is outside, making it a little harder to attract more customers.

The bar fine doesn’t include any of the price for sex – that one has to be negotiated with the girl separately. They usually ask for 50 USD for short time and 100 USD for long time, but that’s really only their first offer. Negotiate a little and you may bring down that price easily. There is really no fixed fee for sex with a Cambodian bar girl – you will need to figure it out for yourself every time again.

How Much Money Do Cambodian Bar Girls Make?

The base salary of the bar girls is between 200 and 300 USD. Usually 200 USD. That’s slightly less than a cashier at the supermarket makes. But that’s obviously only one of the many sources of income for the bar girl. Next she gets her share of every lady drink she sells – usually 1.50 USD. So if she gets on average 3 drinks every night that’s another 135 USD per month (yes that’s right, they rarely take days off).

Then she gets her share of the tip which is usually distributed equally among all girls at the end of the night. However, some customers hand the tip directly to the girl to make sure she can keep it. And finally, the most significant source of income for her is the price for sex. It’s not unusual that she gets paid 50 USD a night or even more if she agrees to spend the whole night with a customer. That’s for the very young and attractive girls though, the “older” ones (like above 25) have a much harder time getting that much, it’s usually rather 20-30 USD for them.

And then many Khmer bar ladies even have some “boyfriends” who are already back in their home countries but sending them money every month in order to support them and often for her to promise that she stops working, which is often not the case at all.

Add that all up and you get a monthly income for the bar girls anywhere from 500 to 3,000 USD, highly depending on how many customers they sleep with and if they have a regular income from men abroad. Yes, that’s quite a wide spectrum, but the more diligent ones are definitely some of the top earning Khmer hookers.

Where To Find Girly Bars in Cambodia?

The girly bar hotspots are usually within easy walking distance from your hotel in the tourist areas. It’s almost impossible to miss them on a 30 minute stroll around the quarter, but if you really want to make sure you don’t miss them then you find all the information & maps in my nightlife guides:

• Phnom Penh Nightlife & Girls Guide
• Siem Reap Nightlife & Girls Guide
• Sihanoukville Nightlife & Girls Guide
• Koh Rong Nightlife & Girls Guide

Are All Cambodian Bar Girls Bad Girls?

That’s probably one of the biggest and never ending discussions not just in Cambodia, but really all around Southeast Asia. Because the ladies take so good care of you, make you feel happy, like a real man and let you be the boss in the relationship and in turn expect you to support them financially that makes them bad girls? That’s complete nonsense.

If someone doesn’t like the idea of giving and taking then maybe he’s better off dating an American, British, German, French or Australian woman who works full time, brings in decent money but then expects you to do half of the household, half of the cooking, half of the dish washing, half of the children duties, half of everything. And doesn’t take care and show interest in you nearly as much as a Khmer or Thai girl would do it on a daily basis.

Sure, Cambodian bar girls have even higher financial difficulties than the normal women. So if you have a problem with that then just have fun, take their service once and don’t start a relationship with them. In that case you might be much better off finding a girl with an ordinary job on the popular dating sites.

Is Sex With Cambodian Bar Girls Safe?

It is almost 100% safe as long as you wear a condom every time you have sex with a bar lady. Cambodia does still have a problem with the HIV virus and that’s because many Khmers start having sex from a very young age like 13 or 14. And then not only are many uninformed about proper protection, but they simply barely can afford the condoms. I guess you can though, so make sure you invest the 2 or 3 USD in a package of condoms sold at pretty much every minimart in the country and you shouldn’t have any problems.

In terms of other STDs it should be fine too, even if you get a blow job (called “yam yam” in Khmer) it’s very unlikely that anything gets transmitted through oral sex. But again, I’m not your doctor here, just telling from my own and friends’ experiences. So whatever you do: Treat the girls with respect, wear a condom and have an awesome time in the wonderful world of girly bars in Cambodia.

Last Updated on August 22, 2024