JABAR EKSPRES –Adventuring in a foreign country certainly doesn’t feel complete if you don’t look for souvenirs or unique and interesting trinkets from the country.
If you are visiting Cambodia, the Central Market located in the center of the capital city of Phnom Penh is the right choice, as it is arguably a “paradise” for domestic and international travelers.
Central Market or commonly known by locals as Phsar Thum Thmei, as the name suggests, is the central market and icon in Phnom Penh.
The market has an open-air design but there is also a building inside that has a touch of the French colonial era.
Entering the market, visitors are immediately greeted with a series of small shops selling a variety of goods to buy and give to loved ones back home. There are t-shirts, displays, decorative bowls, plates, postcards, krama, or traditional Cambodian cloth that can be used for various daily needs of the local community.
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Meanwhile, inside the Central Market building are dazzling displays of gems and gold. Electronics, stationery, second-hand clothes, and flowers are also sold here.
There is no need to feel alone if you visit the Central Market, as the vendors are very friendly in greeting and selling their wares in fluent English and even Bahasa Indonesia.
Most sellers touch the attention of travelers by asking where they are from, then after knowing the answer, the seller skillfully changes the “setting” of their language skills to the native language of the tourists who stop by their shop.
Khmer goods are offered at reasonable prices. However, if tourists want to try bargaining, the sellers are happy to negotiate with a smile that can’t be separated from their faces.
The prices quoted by traders from the front to the back of the market tend to be the same. Unlike some traditional souvenir shopping centers in Indonesia, the prices vary from shop to shop.