Three Markets in Phnom Penh

A few weeks back I ended up once again in Phnom Penh, the busy and vibrant capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

I was there for another visa run, the perennial scourge of all expats.

I was to stay a week in the city while awaiting my new visa, and I checked in to my second-favorite guesthouse in the city at $14 per night.

I visited Central Market a few years back. This time, I decided to explore some of the city's other famous markets.

Phnom Penh Night Market

The Phnom Penh Night Market is located in a great location near the riverfront neighborhood. 

While the majority of the market is filled with stalls selling watches, sunglasses, shoes, clothes, trinkets, jewelry, etc., there is also an entire food area set up near the back.

The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: The Royal Thai Embassy and the Phnom Penh Night Market

The Night Market is perhaps the most friendly and welcoming of markets in the city, and the least overwhelming (i.e., it's the most touristy, but it's a great place to start when visiting Phnom Penh).

It is a great place for a nice dinner in a fun local atmosphere.

I had dinner at the Night Market a few years back, and I wrote up a post all about it: The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: The Royal Thai Embassy and the Phnom Penh Night Market

The Russian Market (Tuol Tompoung)

One morning during my recent visit, I took a rickshaw out to the Russian Market. 

The Russian Market is one of the largest markets in Phnom Penh. It became popular in the 1980s when most of Cambodia's foreign tourists were visitors from the Soviet states who frequented this market because of its cheap knockoffs and high-quality fake products. 

To this day you can still find cheap "Rolex", "Omega", "Ray Bans", and other luxury brands for suspicious prices.

It's also a great place to find wooden handicrafts, antiquities, miniature Buddhas, fruits and veggies, jewelry, and more.

I took a rickshaw out to the Russian Market early one morning with the express purpose of buying a cup of coffee. I had heard that this market was the home of one of Cambodia's best coffee shops, and I was on a mission to seek it out.

The Russian Market is a cacophony of sound, smell, and sight. It's a chaotic, overwhelming place in the very heart of Phnom Penh.

In the midst of all of this, I found a small coffee shop. 

The staff could speak great English, and they offered me a bilingual menu. I ordered an iced mocha, my coffee of choice.

Cambodian coffee is really good! 

What sets Khmer coffee apart is its distinctive combination of locally grown, high-quality coffee beans and a meticulous brewing process. The beans, sourced from the lush coffee plantations of Cambodia's Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri provinces, are known for their rich, earthy undertones and fruity notes.

Khmer coffee is typically prepared using a traditional drip method, where hot water is slowly poured over a metal or cloth filter containing a condensed milk and coffee blend, allowing for a slow and thorough extraction of flavors. This method results in a bold, aromatic brew.

The Olympic Market

 

It was a nice morning, so I decided to take a walk (admittedly, quite a long walk) to the Olympic Market.

The Olympic Market is so named because it is located adjacent to Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium.

Built in 1962, the Olympic Market is a bustling wholesale market that can be very overwhelming to foreigners and nearly impenetrable to tourists. It's a great place to buy materials in bulk, especially fabrics. 

The Olympic Market is a three-story market filled with cheap clothes, scarves, textiles, and more. It feels way more like a local market than the others, and most of the signs are written in Khmer. 

I imagine that it's probably the better option for locals looking for a good price than the other famous markets.