Basics - The Rough Guide to Cambodia - page 45

BEER GIRLS AND TAXI GIRLS
Cambodia's beer girls , mostly working in local restaurants and bars, will approach you almost
before you've sat down. Each representing a brand of beer, they rely on commissions based
on the amount they manage to sell, and will keep opening bottles or cans and topping up
your glass, hoping to get you to drink more. You don't pay them for the beer, as the cost is
calculated at the end by counting up the empties. Although it is not part of the deal, some
beer girls may drink and chat with men to up their consumption, but that's as far as it goes. In
some Western establishments, beer girls may also help serve food.
Although things are more relaxed than they used to be, “decent” Cambodian women tend
neither go to bars nor drink alcohol, so, while beer girls are somewhat looked down upon, the
taxi girls who frequent the karaoke parlours and nightclubs are beyond the pale. Usually from
very poor families, they have a role akin to that of hostess, dance partner and sometimes call
girl rolled into one. If you invite them to join you at your table or dance with you, the charge
will be added to your bill at the end of the evening, as will the cost of their drinks.
The abuse that taxi girls receive is a serious issue, and a number of NGOs in Cambodia
- W daughtersofcambodia.org, for example - have been set up to offer women alternative
incomes in the form of spa and beautician training, handicrafts and the like.

UK & Ireland W cambodianembassy.org.uk.
US W embassyofcambodia.org.
Vietnam 71A Tran Hung Dao St, Hanoi ( T 04 942 4788,
E [e-mail]); 41 Phung Khac Khoan, Ho Chi Minh
City ( T 08 829 2751, E [e-mail]).

where organizations post their projects and ask
for volunteers. The services of teachers, doctors
and vets will be much appreciated even if it's only
for a day or so.

Women travellers

Volunteering
There are plenty of opportunities to do voluntary
work in Cambodia - although in many cases you
will actually have to pay to do it. The UK charity
Voluntary Service Overseas ( W vso.org.uk) and
Australian Volunteers International ( W australian
volunteers.com) both recruit volunteers to work
on projects in Cambodia, paid at local rates.
Frontier ( W frontier.ac.uk) has projects teaching
English or helping with wildlife conservation,
while Coral Cay Conservation ( W coralcay.org) has
an ongoing project on Koh Rong (cheaper if you
have diving experience). When you're in
Cambodia keep your eye out in cafés and bars

Travelling around Cambodia shouldn't pose any
problems for foreign women. All the same, it's as
well to dress modestly and to avoid overfamiliarity,
which can be misconstrued, particularly after men
have had a few beers. If someone does overstep the
mark, a firm “no” will normally su ce to ward them
off. A good ruse used by Khmer women is to subtly
put yourself in a position of superiority, by referring
to yourself as the older sister ( bpong serey ) or aunt
( ming ) or by addressing the man as nephew ( kmaoy
bprohs ). If this doesn't work, then kick up a huge
fuss so that everyone in the vicinity knows that
you're being harassed, which should shame the
man into backing off.