Dating in Phnom Penh
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Your thoughts on Saorla's article are welcome here.
The desperate and dateless situation for the females in Phnom Penh really hit hard on Valentine's day this year. This single gal assessed her options... I could have gone speed dating at the FCC but the idea of giving a kiss, hug or cross to a man I already know, work with, is married, or will invariably run into at 'The Shop' on Saturday morning didn't really appeal.
I could have put in a bid at the Bachelor Auction but decided that things really were getting desperate if I had to pay for a date...
So, unfortunately did a Bridget Jones and went along to the FCC as a non-participant, drank copious amounts of red wine, danced with the girls, ate some chocolates given to me by a girlfriend (my only Valentine) and by 11pm was singing Johnny Paul Young's 'Love is in the Air' VERY loudly... Oh well, just another Wednesday (Or was that Friday?) night in Phnom Penh...eek! - Cassie
A few thoughts pertaining to the ‘Dating in Phnom Penh’ article: as a confirmed workaholic, I’m off the 'elegibility list'. But from the safety of the sidelines, I’ll add my two cents:
1. Why rule out Khmer guys?
2. Try widening your range beyond ‘The Shop’, 'FCC', 'Elsewhere' and ‘Heart of Darkness’.
3. ‘Bridget Jones’ is an amusing trifle, not a life manual.
4. The ‘revolving door’ factor: Maybe you’re about to leave, or he is.
5. Try the gym, not clubs or pubs. Stable guys look after themselves.
- J
>> 1. Why rule out Khmer guys?
No reason, so long as you don't mind sharing them with their other girlfriends and/or wife.
Who most likely won't be disclosed to you.
"The rumours are that the straight girls have started dating gay girls because the boys are just not present."
Have any of the girls had this conversation with any of the boys?
Well for the most part Khmer guys rule us out. More importantly many have sexist attitudes and I know more than one girl who has been dumped because the guy in question turned out to be engaged or married but kept very quiet about it.
The search isn't limited to those places, we go everywhere and that's the thing, you see, there aren't that many single guys out there. Complementary to the FCC auction, there was a list of the single guys. At most there was 15 guys. The list was auctioned on eBay. Most everyone I know participated in the search for single men to put on the list. There just aren't that many. Or else someone prove me wrong - somewhere should hold a singles night and then we can all check out the ratio. The only problem with that is that at speed dating, boys in couples and gay boys participated and you wonder why it is so hard to meet a single guy.
Bridget Jones is definitely not a life manual but from a single girl's perspective, there is a lot of truth - that's the reason it's so popular.
I actually broke my friend's heart last night telling her that the guy she'd spotted at the Cambodiana gym had a girlfriend. We go to the gyms, coffee shops, the pav, memphis, lakeside, riverside, art exhibitions....
Revolving door is a factor - nothing we can do about that 
Saorla didn't say anything that the rest of us aren't thinking and yes we talk at length about this with the boys but it really doesn't change anything. I know one girl who's leaving the country for two weeks to hook up. And for the record I personally know three single guys.
Thought this picture might be apropos to some of the above discussion...
found at http://tinyurl.com/3y4x4u 
1. Khmer men normally married - tried 3 lost 3. If any girls can do it all power to ya.
2. No matter the range of places there are almost no decent men that you can talk to, aren't allergic to soap, aren't on yabba, stoners, or boozed all the time and can string a coherent sentence together that doesn't contain the phrase 'so she didn't even charge me in the morning' or 'I feel so in touch with the Khmer people and we have such a spiritual connection even though we don't share a language'... sick bag please!
3. If it's just sex - go backpacker and for the price of a few beers you can get them into a shower and then bed - but remember the condoms for gods sake and the ear plugs due to the self-realisation/drug fuelled drivel most of them talk.
4. Take a holiday in an Australian mining settlement and have the pleasure of the reverse situation.
It's the same for both sexes here for fucks sake.
I know a ton of single western women, all pretty fair looking creatures. I have not and will not get into a bed/relationship with any of them because you can't shag one female friend without losing the rest, or at best becoming their topic of gossip/bitching whenever they feel the need to bitch about something but nothing in particular.
XWP: I have a pretty terrible knowledge of Khmer, and my girlfriend a similar command of english. We are learning from each other rapidly. I didn't meet her in a bar, she works for an "honest" living & does not spend my money or ask for it.
Also, it's quite difficult to tell a backpacker from a resident and therefore most folk can't be bothered getting tangled up with somebody who might hop the night bus to Saigon.
You are know there are some single western business men here in Phnom Penh, who would love to meet a western women. We are not all fat, sex tourist. But at the same time we are all not young hard body Brad Pitt types. I would like to meet an attractive western english speaking woman. There are definitely some more serioues stereotyping going on here than in our own home countries, on both side of the sexes. :
"I feel so in touch with the Khmer people and we have such a spiritual connection even though we don't share a language"
a lot of those guys are at the gym
let me tell you girls - it is not much easier being a guy here in Phnom Penh either -and that is for gay or straight. Easy to meet people, get sex if you want, etc, but to find someone that can even carry on a conversation, forget about a relationship, is very difficult. Life is so temporary here and the social life exists mostly by going out instead of having people over and getting to know them (usually lucky to remember their name in the morning). Got to look more at how and where we are meeting or trying to meet people, and maybe change from there. If not, get a dog - lots of love, love to cuddle, and typically better conversation than most locals or expats I have met in bars or discos!
an old one but a good one resurrected.
All this talking and no solution? I think we've found another potential Bar Idea. Make the right rules to the bar Ex. Singles only and no pros, it may work. I'm single, got a job and not a old geezer. Would like to have the opportunity to go into such environment.
Its a terrible idea for a bar to limit your customers to just single people only and as one off nights its all a bit too much like a desperate & dateless ball.
agree with wah wah. not much of a bus plan for a bar, limiting the bar to singles only. the are many bars in phnom penh that don't allow slappers in.
so if my friend is single and invites me (a married person) to a bar for a drink, does that mean i cannot go due to my marital status?
wake up behavepaul. utopia is a bar in sihanoukville, and not a prime example of utopia
A great article. But I wasn't aware there were so many single women around??? I've just moved to Siem Reap and there seems to be a surplus of blokes. The article is 3 years old though, have all these girls moved along? Hahaha
Behavepaul
Please define the reference you made to " Old Gezzer's"
You sound like a bit of a tosser making statements like that.
Or are simply one of those rejected by others ???
Please respond !
Finally a solution for all the single people
(do not allow your children to go on this site...)
If western girls were just more easy going and less in your face than the sweet natured khmer girls than they might stand some chance of getting the attention of western guys or cambodian for that matter!!move country,i know the africans love western girls!!!
ireland 007 your a twat
As long as the girls aren't fat, all is okay.
Western, Asian, whatever, but when it comes to FA (Fat Ass), it's no man's land.
Foobar.
In reply to Foobar, I'd like to quote on of the greatest lyricists of our time,
Some brothers wanna play that hard role
And tell you that the butt ain't gold
So they toss it and leave it
And I pull up quick to retrieve it
So cosmo says you're fat
Well I ain't down with that
Cuz your waste is small and your curves are kickin
And I'm thinkin bout stickin
thought i'd throw an oddball in here for you guys ...
princess dating service ... my wife and i set that up a coupla years back ... only signing up ladies, the guys sign up through our partner company ... but having said that, the ladies sign up for free, so nothing lost if you don't find your match ... :XD
Azuriel , I am interested in that send me contact of the service.
million dollar question: WHERE ARE THE SINGLE GIRLS ?