Antiques and Flea Markets in Siem Reap & Angkor Wat
A visual guide from the Siem Reap and Angkor Wat travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
Walk the lanes behind Psar Chas, the Old Market, and you pass trays of tarnished silver betel boxes, French colonial soda siphons, 1960s riel banknotes and bronze figures that have been buried in wet earth to age them convincingly. Very little of it is what the label claims, and that is the first useful thing to know: Cambodia protects its Angkorian material tightly, and genuine temple carvings cannot legally be bought or taken home. What is real, and often more interesting, is the everyday stuff — enamelware, opium weights, woven fish traps, loom shuttles and hand-painted market signage.
Where to look
The densest cluster sits in and immediately around Psar Chas, on the streets between Pokambor Avenue and Pub Street, where a dozen small dealers stock silver, bronze, lacquer and old coins within a two-minute walk of each other. Psar Leu, the big local market out on National Road 6 east of the centre, is far less curated and much better for genuinely used household objects — enamel bowls, hand tools, brass scales. Kandal Village, the boutique strip on Hup Guan Street, works the design end: restored furniture, old textiles and vintage prints at fixed and considerably higher prices. The night markets lean toward new reproductions, though the better stalls carve well.
Buying without getting burned
Assume everything is a reproduction unless a dealer can show paperwork, and treat that as fine rather than disappointing — a well-made copy of a Bayon head is an honest souvenir. Exporting genuine antiquities requires a permit from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, and airport checks do happen, so ask reputable shops for a receipt describing the piece as a reproduction. Bargaining is expected in the markets and only mildly so in Kandal Village. Prices are quoted in US dollars with riel as small change. Check bronze for casting seams, silver for a soft dull sheen rather than mirror shine, and lacquer for even, unhurried layers.