Prostitution in Siem Reap – An overview

Siem Reap is the second largest city in Cambodia. It is most known for being home to the Angkor Wat complex which millions visit every year. In spite of all the visitors there is not a lot of visible prostitution in the city center. Or maybe it is because there are so many foreign visitors that things appear that way.

In reality there is quite a lot of sex work going on Siem Reap. Much of it is oriented towards locals. But that is true across the country. The casual observer may not notice but there are sex workers to be found all across Cambodia. There are even brothels in and around small villages. Siem Reap is no different in that regard.

Hostess bars in Siem Reap

Hostess bars are probably the most well known adult entertainment venues in Cambodia among foreigners. Phnom Penh now has dozens of them stretching along several streets. They aren’t as common in other Cambodia cities however. The one attempt at a hostess bar in Kampot seems to have failed. And many hostess bars in Sihanoukville closed after the influx of Chinese visitors started there a few years ago.

There are actually several hostess bars in Siem Reap. Some of the big ones have closed. But others have already come along to take their places. An example of a large bar that disappeared is Don’t Tell Mama Bar on Sok San Road. Six or seven ladies could be found there nightly. The open air bar had a pool table and plenty of seating. Of course there were also $3 lady drinks and $10 barfines there too. But that place suddenly shuttered.

A popular hostess bar still open in Siem Reap is Cozy Bar on 2 Thnou Street just up from the Old Market. Cozy Bar is open twenty four hours. During the day the staff is as sparse as one might expect. But surprisingly it can get going around noon on certain days. When the clock strikes 8:00 PM though as many as twelve women come to work. And that brings in more customers. Drinks are very reasonably priced. The barfine is the usual ten dollars.

Another hostess bar in Siem Reap was called The Hat Bar. It was located on Sok San Road not far from the aforementioned Don’t Tell Mama. As the name suggests the small interior of The Hat Bar was lined with various hats. The few women who staffed the bar often sat on the patio outside. Drink prices were very reasonable. The main thing that sets the place apart is probably the blonde Russian woman who works behind the bar. That place closed recently. A sign went up that read “Bois” but no new bar ever opened.

There are also a couple of somewhat odd bars in the city. I guess they would be called hostess bars. But they have a sort of ad hoc mixture that sets them apart. A good example would be Beauty Massage and Bar. As my review of the place points out the shop is actually not much of a massage parlor at all. Nor is it much of a hostess bar.

The most popular and arguably the best hostess bar in Siem Reap is called Charms Bar. This bar is located away from all the others. It’s also the only bar that is totally indoors. It is like a hostess bar in Phnom Penh. The place is spacious with a pool table and pretty women. So it’s easy to see why it draws in so many customers.

Karaoke clubs and restaurants

The majority of sex work in Siem Reap runs through the adult oriented karaoke clubs and restaurants that are oriented predominantly to local guys. These KTVs and beer gardens can be found around the edges of town. But the biggest concentration is undoubtedly along what is called “Khmer Pub Street” on some English maps.

Not to be confused with the Pub Street popular with tourists this strip is filled with bars and KTVs with that employ lots of local ladies. The places aren’t difficult to find at all. Especially since the women sit at the entrances of the establishments waiting for guys to walk in. On any given night there might be a few hundred women to be found in the area.

Some surrounding streets also have KTV clubs and beer gardens of various sizes. They range from the small and intimate to large and elaborate places like Platinum KTV that are so big that entire streets are named after them.

Most local guys and Asian customers sit and drink with ladies of their choosing. Then they may offer to take them outside to a local short time hotel for anywhere between fifty and a hundred US dollars. Some places realize that other foreigners aren’t as familiar with the way things are normally done. So they offer immediate lineups of ladies who will go out with guys for between seventy and a hundred dollars with the end result being more or less the same.

Massage parlors and brothels

Siem Reap has its fair share of massage parlors. Most of them are legit places that offer things like body scrubs and rubs. The high end spas are very obviously centered around non-sexual services. The regular massage parlors are too with notable exceptions.

There are often enterprising ladies working in mainstream massage parlors who offer handjobs to customers in order to make more money. There are also owners who have a similar idea and run their shops accordingly. They are both scattered around with no clear sign to indicate special services in most cases. Customers mostly find them by chance. It’s not uncommon for guys to get a happy ending or even full service in massage parlors in the main tourist areas while unsuspecting middle aged women get their feet rubbed with oil one room over.

Some of the lower end cheap massage parlors mostly oriented towards local guys are more likely than others to offer sexual services as a general rule. They can be found around Siem Reap and indeed the country as a whole. But they aren’t commonly found in the real tourist haunts. There are many local style massage parlors scattered along the street that intersects with BBU Road at the Svay Dangkum Police Station. The street is called Angkor Pets Road on some maps. But locals don’t seem to recognize the name.

Some brothels can also be found on the outskirts of the city. In those shacks and the local massage parlors that double as knocking shops the combined fee local guys pay is usually under ten dollars. Foreigners probably end up paying more in most cases if only due to a lack of pricing and the idea of dual pricing prevalent in the city as whole.

I’ve reviewed several Siem Reap massage parlors in an attempt to paint an overall picture of the scene. I’ve covered Nature Massage, Ka ka Massage and Asian Massage. All are different in their own ways.

Freelance prostitutes in Siem Reap

Finally there are a handful of freelance prostitutes in Siem Reap. Among them are a group of real pros and the part time semi pros that come and go on a whim. Freelancers can occasionally be found mixing it up amongst the tourist crowds. But it is much more common to find the gals at bars like Mickey’s.

These days plenty of women also use the internet to find customers. Siem Reap prostitutes can be found on dating apps like Tinder. Some also use the nearby people options on chat apps like Line and WeChat to find customers. Agents and pimps sometimes hide behind fake profiles to promote their ladies. But that is not exclusive to this town.

By definition freelancers set their own rates. But there is usually a sort of market price that gets established anywhere. The ladies in Siem Reap ask for anywhere between twenty and two hundred dollars per session. Normally they settle for something close to forty or fifty US dollars.

As is common in Cambodian cities there are usually freelancers in the nightclubs that draw foreigners too. In Siem Reap this is most commonly seen at X-Bar. The number of freelancers there any given night can rise or fall. But at certain times the rate of freelancers to customers can get high enough to prompt complaints from people who apparently don’t want to be within arms reach of sex workers. And that sort of thing can help explain why so much adult entertainment in the city is out of view of the average tourist.