Emperor is a nightclub and KTV located in downtown Yangon, walking distance from the Sule Shangri-La Hotel. It is considered one of the most upper-class prostitution venues in the capital and it caters mostly to Asian guests (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Burmese).
For reasons I cannot comprehend, it is also popular with normal tourists, including Western women. It must be featured in the Lonely Planet or some other travel guidebooks.
I visited on a Saturday night at 11PM, just before the closing time of 12PM. A guy, friendly but hungry for tips, escorted me from the street to the club on the 5th floor of an old building. I quickly got a clue what to expect as 2 girls in the elevator started to chat with me. They were friendly and spoke a rather good English but once I said I was not looking for company, they lost interest.
The entrance fee for the main lounge of Emperor KTV is 5,000MMK, with a free beer included (extra beers cost 3,5000MMK each). Basically, it is a large, low-ceiling room with sofas and tables from which people are watching a fashion show of Burmese girls. Some were quite pretty I must say, with Chinese traits and young faces. They don't do any sexy dancing, it is more cute to watch than anything else. During breaks, you have loud electronic music and the club gets darker.
The girls are available for karaoke if that's your thing. There also seems to be some freelance prostitutes who roam around looking for customers. I saw a few Western guys leaving with a girl they had just met there.
Overall: Emperor is not really a fun place to party but you could visit it out of curiosity (or if you are interested in picking up prostitutes). A bit old-fashioned.
Emperor Disco and KTV
Shwedagon Pagoda Rd, Yangon
Phone number: 01 240 600
Opening Hours:
Every day from 7pm to midnight.