Beachlover
February 20th, 2012, 19:31
Found this article on another forum... Nice insight into gay life and the rapidly-growing gay tourist segment in Cambodia.
From what I observed when I was there, gay guys are more likely to be out in Thailand than they are in Cambodia.
I think it's a fantastic little destination for gays and ridiculously cheap too.
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http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news ... cient-city (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/culture-lifestyle/111214/gay-allure-cambodia-s-ancient-city)
Gay allure in CambodiaтАЩs ancient city
Tourism, Buddhist tolerance and family values in Siem Reap.
SIEM REAP, Cambodia тАФ It wasnтАЩt so long ago that gay life throughout Cambodia played out under a tree after nightfall. Or perhaps in the darkest corner of a public poolтАЩs changing room.
In much of the country, it still does. тАЬMaybe itтАЩs by the river, maybe itтАЩs in the park,тАЭ said Sopheara You, who is 38, Cambodian and openly gay. тАЬEveryone knows the secret places.тАЭ
But in Siem Reap, the fastest-growing city in this hardscrabble kingdom, the secret is out.
Once a dingy outpost, the town has built cachet as an emerging travel hot spot for gay men. And the influx of a Western-style gay scene, replete with cocktail bars and all-male bathhouses, is beginning to nudge the local gay scene out of the shadows of a society where Buddhist open-mindedness is tempered by societal concerns about marriage and reproduction.
Siem ReapтАЩs appeal to gays and straights alike is its proximity to Angkor Wat, a 12th-century temple complex and jewel of the once-mighty Khmer empire. Jungled over for centuries, and more recently unreachable thanks to the murderous Khmer Rogue regime, the temples finally regained their mass tourist appeal in the late 1990s.The first wave were backpackers with an appetite for rough travel. Then, with the waters tested, a more pedestrian breed of traveler descended on Cambodia.
In the early 2000s, a gay American hotelier named Martin Dishman did the math. тАЬI looked at the arrivals report,тАЭ he said. тАЬThere were 1.1 million visitors to Cambodia and no gay bars.тАЭ So in 2004, he opened the countryтАЩs first, Linga Bar, in Siem Reap.
Seven years later, with roughly 1 million annual tourists to Siem Reap alone, the 170,000-population city has given rise to roughly 20 gay-themed hotels, bars and saunas...
Read the rest: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news ... cient-city (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/culture-lifestyle/111214/gay-allure-cambodia-s-ancient-city)
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The end of the article discusses the sleazier side to gay life in Siem Reap and how it's unlikely to slide into what some areas of Thailand have descended into.
From what I observed when I was there, gay guys are more likely to be out in Thailand than they are in Cambodia.
I think it's a fantastic little destination for gays and ridiculously cheap too.
------------------------
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news ... cient-city (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/culture-lifestyle/111214/gay-allure-cambodia-s-ancient-city)
Gay allure in CambodiaтАЩs ancient city
Tourism, Buddhist tolerance and family values in Siem Reap.
SIEM REAP, Cambodia тАФ It wasnтАЩt so long ago that gay life throughout Cambodia played out under a tree after nightfall. Or perhaps in the darkest corner of a public poolтАЩs changing room.
In much of the country, it still does. тАЬMaybe itтАЩs by the river, maybe itтАЩs in the park,тАЭ said Sopheara You, who is 38, Cambodian and openly gay. тАЬEveryone knows the secret places.тАЭ
But in Siem Reap, the fastest-growing city in this hardscrabble kingdom, the secret is out.
Once a dingy outpost, the town has built cachet as an emerging travel hot spot for gay men. And the influx of a Western-style gay scene, replete with cocktail bars and all-male bathhouses, is beginning to nudge the local gay scene out of the shadows of a society where Buddhist open-mindedness is tempered by societal concerns about marriage and reproduction.
Siem ReapтАЩs appeal to gays and straights alike is its proximity to Angkor Wat, a 12th-century temple complex and jewel of the once-mighty Khmer empire. Jungled over for centuries, and more recently unreachable thanks to the murderous Khmer Rogue regime, the temples finally regained their mass tourist appeal in the late 1990s.The first wave were backpackers with an appetite for rough travel. Then, with the waters tested, a more pedestrian breed of traveler descended on Cambodia.
In the early 2000s, a gay American hotelier named Martin Dishman did the math. тАЬI looked at the arrivals report,тАЭ he said. тАЬThere were 1.1 million visitors to Cambodia and no gay bars.тАЭ So in 2004, he opened the countryтАЩs first, Linga Bar, in Siem Reap.
Seven years later, with roughly 1 million annual tourists to Siem Reap alone, the 170,000-population city has given rise to roughly 20 gay-themed hotels, bars and saunas...
Read the rest: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news ... cient-city (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/culture-lifestyle/111214/gay-allure-cambodia-s-ancient-city)
------------------------
The end of the article discusses the sleazier side to gay life in Siem Reap and how it's unlikely to slide into what some areas of Thailand have descended into.