Trip to the Russian Market

Welcome back, reader! Thank you for revisiting my blog! Thanks to everyone who helped think of names. I believe I have decided on "Under the Mango Tree". Thanks for the great suggestions though! :) Sorry to those of you living in Cambodia who are reading this, because today's post is about the Russian Market!! I thought this would be a fun post for those who have never been. :) 

Thursday afternoon my mom, sister, and I took a trip to the most well-known tourist market in Phnom Penh (the capital). It goes by two names. The locals call it Phsar Toul Tom Poung, while foreigners and tourists call it the Russian Market. Our family calls it Toul Tom Poung. :) For this blog post, however, I will refer to it as the Russian Market. 

If you're wondering why it was named after Russia instead of a neighbouring country, here is the reason. It was named the Russian Market because it was a popular market among the Russian expats during the 1980s when most of the western expats in Phnom Penh were Russian. Pretty simple. :)

We have always taken our guests from America there and they have loved it. After you've been there once you will become attached! Even though it's hot, stuffy, crowded, and smells kinda weird, it is a place of business and everyone knows that most girls love shopping. :) I would say that all our guests from America whether a man or woman have immensely enjoyed it though. 

The main purpose of this market is to get tourists in there buying souvenirs. They have all sorts of interesting trinkets and gizmos! Here are the few I think are especially unique and make good gifts. There are other cool things too, just not as unique as these in my opinion. :)

We call these coconut bowls. These things are so elegant and nab everyone's attention (particularly the women). Every time I pass by a stall selling these I immediately want to go through each stack, pick out the prettiest, purchase it, then take it home to set on a souvenir shelf.

The next items are obviously the result of resourcefulness. Made out of nothing but metal scraps, screws, nails, and nuts, these items are perhaps the most creative things I've ever seen! I saw tanks, helicopters, airplanes, motorcycles, tuk tuks, cyclos (both forms of transportation here which I will cover in another blog post), alligators, geckos, ants, and spiders.

These cool bottles filled with water, bugs, and/or snakes have got to be the coolest thing ever at the market! I personally hate bugs, fake or alive, but these are just too cool to resist. :) There are several different sizes of these bottles ranging from about 4 inches to 16 inches (just estimating). The smallest size has only a small scorpion. I gave them as gifts to two of my cousins and they loved them! The bugs increase in size as each bottle gets bigger. The two biggest sizes have a scorpion dangling from a cobra's mouth. Pretty neat stuff for most boys. :)

The next interesting items are these shadow boxes filled with a variety of species. One has a bat and lots of beetles(top left), the scorpion is pretty obvious, and the rest are either butterflies or bats. I have always wanted a butterfly one. I still don't have one, but maybe someday. :)

I had never seen this before today so I thought I'd share it with y'all. It's a very meticulously created metal peacock about 5 feet tall. It's pretty in it's own way, but I probably wouldn't want it in my house staring at me all day. Please, none of you relatives ask for this because I wouldn't know how to bring it back for you. :)

Now here are just a few random snap shots. We went there right after lunch so it was pretty quiet.  This shop quite obviously has a ton of jewelry!! One thing to note: in front of just about every shop are small ceiling fans. These are to keep the merchants themselves cool as well as the customers as they bargain and purchase. :) 

This shop deals primarily in t-shirts, scarves, and dresses.

Some of the aisles are wide, others very narrow, and others like this one aren't too crammed.

Besides the tourist section with souvenirs, there's also a whole section of the market for more basic needs. This would include clothes, shoes, food, etc.. The food section is definitely unforgettable. I convinced my mom to go into that section just for a few minutes so I could get some pictures for this blog post. I personally hate going in there because it smells so bad!! The grossest thing is probably the way the meat hangs. It comes in during the early morning hours for early shoppers, then whatever pieces have not been purchased hang there on unsanitary hooks for hours in the heat. Soon flies start swarming around it as the juice begins dripping onto whatever is underneath it. If you think that's sickening, you should see all the meat that's still alive! This part of the market is super challenging to walk through without plugging your nose from the smell of raw perhaps even rotten meat, gagging from being overwhelmed by the disgustingness and uncleanliness of it all, or turning away from the sight of a poor chicken, fish, pig, or other animal getting its head chopped clean off with a good whack of a butcher knife! 😨 Thankfully we went during the quiet hours and lots of the stalls were closed. I didn't get as good of pictures as I had hoped for, so these will have to do.

Who wants to do their family grocery shopping here now? 😂

Besides the hundreds of little shops, there are always a lot of beggars slowly strolling through and outside the market. Some physically disabled with crutches or makeshift wheelchairs, others with babies or small children just trying to get enough money for a bite to eat, and yet others whose faces are filled with sorrow and pain. Their eyes pierce through my heart as they beg for a little money one after the other. So many beggars! It is impossible to even enter the market without encountering at least one beggar. Not all of them are beggars though. Some of them are obviously having a hard time in life, but are barely making it by selling magazines or books in their ever present basket swung around their shoulders. Here is a picture of one such person. 

One last thing I will mention is that there are no fixed prices! So get ready to make a smashing deal! The usual phrases you will hear from the seller as you bargain for a good price would be: "No profit, madam!"(my personal favorite) or "I'm sorry, I cannot sell this one for cheap". Basically everyone has what everyone else has, so if a certain seller is being stubborn about a price, just keep going down the aisle of stalls and you are certain to find the exact same product for a better price. :) It also helps if you can speak the language, because then it's harder for them to rip you off. One time I was purchasing some souvenirs for relatives and the lady was really friendly, but she just wasn't quite coming down to my price. I knew I had her the minute I started speaking Khmer though. 😉 She finally gave in saying, "Ok, my dear, because you are so lively and because you know Khmer I will sell to you. Also because I know you will come back to my shop." Nailed it!! 😊 That is almost word for word what she said. She even threw in an extra item to my purchase free of charge! Definitely nailed it! 😏 So, yes, I will be going back to her shop. :)

Thank you for allowing me to show you around the Russian Market! I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. :) Leave a comment below if you'd like. Have a great day!