You can be forgiven for thinking that Siem Reap already has a surfeit of markets, although you might be hard pushed to distinguish one from the other after the first couple. However the latest addition to that ever-growing list — the Made in Cambodia street market — is not just another market, and if you … read the full post

There is nothing like a visit to thriving city centre market to make you feel really connected with the local culture. While Bangkok has Chatuchak, Saigon has Ben Thanh, and Phnom Penh has the art deco Psar Thmei, what does Siem Reap have to compete with these mercantile icons? The answer is Psar Leu, a … read the full post

Visitors to Siem Reap are often disappointed when they get home to discover that many of the Cambodian souvenirs they bargained so hard for in the heat and the crowds of the Old Market are actually made in China. Thanks to the Angkor Handicraft Association’s new gold seal of authenticity, and its recently opened ‘made-in-Siem … read the full post

It is such an iconic and ubiquitous symbol of Cambodia that naturally I don’t have a single photo of a person wearing one (unless you count a picture of my husband who sports it as a sort of dangerously abbreviated loin cloth, but I can’t put that up because children or the sensitive might be … read the full post

There appear to be people in Siem Reap who are seriously worried that the world might one day run out of markets. It’s the only rational justification I can think of for the gay abandon with which these temples of trade are being chucked up in every spare square metre of space that can be … read the full post

On first impressions, Siem Reap might not seem like a shoppers’ haven, but there are options here and, believe me, it’s better than a few years ago when female expats had to be physically restrained from mugging arriving planes of visitors in the hope of getting their hands on trousers they could pull up past … read the full post

As you walk the streets, or drink and dine in Siem Reap you will at some stage undoubtedly be petitioned by children and adult male landmine victims to buy books or, in the case of the kids, postcards, jewellery or flowers. This post is not just a request to not buy anything from the children, … read the full post

The word ‘souvenir’ is derived from the French for to remember, and far more than their beauty or intrinsic value that of course is the ultimate purpose of those odd trinkets we buy when we travel. We’re not really buying a thing so much as a memory trigger: for that moment on a rubbish day … read the full post

A couple of years ago the once dark and dingy Lane in Siem Reap looked like not much more than a decent prospect for a drugs score. Today it’s developing into a trendy little enclave, home to many an expat’s favourite hangout, with an atmosphere a world apart from tawdry Pub Street only a few … read the full post

I’m one of those people who claims to be non-techie and unswayed by market caprice, but somehow always contrives to have something that’s nearly up-to-date, but insufficiently à la mode that I can lay claim to an air of above-it-all superiority. I think the technical term for it is hypocrite. I don’t have a Mac, … read the full post