Our LGBT guide to Phnom Penh: the best places to party, eat and sleep
As more venues catering to the LGBT community open their doors in the Cambodian capital, we present a selection of the best spots to check out during this year’s upcoming Pride celebrations
Bar owner Chuk Sopheap wanders from table to table, greeting his guests as if they were long-lost friends. “Everyone is welcome here, whether they are gay, straight, bisexual, Cambodian or foreign,” the 34-year-old says. “It doesn’t matter.”
Creating a place where everyone felt at home was the number one priority for Sopheap when he opened Space Hair Salon and Bar in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh four years ago.
Sopheap was born in a village on the outskirts of Battambang and, like many of the LGBT population living in the provinces, he was victimised for his sexuality. At 18, he left his hometown for the city of Siem Reap and then Phnom Penh, where he felt he was more accepted.
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“This gave me a lot of freedom,” he says. “It’s not easy to be gay in the provinces. It’s small and it’s my homeland. It’s not the city, where everyone can have fun and be themselves.”
After training as a hairdresser, he decided to add to the capital’s burgeoning gay scene by opening a place that was salon by day, gay bar by night.
Since then, the capital’s LGBT life has mushroomed, with many venues across the capital. From drag shows to the world’s only professional male Apsara dance troupe, Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA, Phnom Penh is alive with activities catering for the community.