Olympic Market, Phnom Penh

Having finally recovered from the tiring yet enjoyable weekend trip to Ho Chi Minh City last week, I was ready to continue discovering more of what Phnom Penh had to offer. After reading through a few travel websites, it seemed the like the next place to check out was Olympic Market.

Mind you, the exterior of the market may be quite rundown, but don't let that cloud your judgment of what the market can offer you.

Olympic Market was built in 1994, and is a large three-story complex housing numerous stalls selling hair accessories, shoes, a few home appliances and souvenirs. It's aptly named due to its proximity to the Olympic Stadium, only a few blocks away. You can find imports from Thailand, Vietnam and Korea here too. But this market is mainly known for the piles and piles of fabric - of all types and colours - that you can get here for really great prices, especially if bought in bulk.

According to my mom, the market used to mainly be a 'fabric haven' in the past, with most stalls selling mounds of fabric, but now those stalls have been pushed to one side of the market. Albeit a sizeable area, a larger portion of the market does mainly sell beauty products, clothes and accessories. And with the size of the place and depending on which side you enter from, it may be a bit of a challenge figuring out where those fabric stalls are. It certainly was for us.

St. 286, Olympic Commune, Chamkar Mon District

Olympic Market does make me think of it as a MBK(in Bangkok, Thailand) and Russian Market hybrid. (Hmm, I just had the funniest image in my head...don't mind me!)

Look at those ginourmous eggs!!! Ostrich eggs?

Stall after stall selling all kinds of hair accessories - ones with bling, ribbons, lace, etc. If you're into hair-styling, you'll definitely want to pay a visit here.

They also do sell quite a lot of handbags, shoes and accessories.

Alas, we stumbled across the area with all the fabric stalls!

My mom bought two Batik dresses from Indonesia for $7 each here - good price for the quality I must say! And my mom absolutely loves them.

I wasn't kidding about them offering all sorts of fabrics here - printed, plain, silk, cotton, lace... the list goes on! It's a fashion designer/tailor's heaven!

Clean, wide spaces to walk through, and quite organized if I must say.

Aha, 'genie pants' galore!

Hats for everyone!

The outside of the market serves as an eating area, with a large number of counters that you can sit by and order some local cuisine. As we were there at around nine in the morning, most of the seats were occupied by locals grabbing some coffee and breakfast. You can also buy a few vegetables and fruits along here.

I'd definitely recommend you check out Olympic Market if you're interested in buying all sorts of fabric to bring home and make into fancy dresses or suits. I know I had fun just taking photos of them and walking through those stalls. But to be honest, having already visited Russian Market and Central Market, Olympic was a bit a of a let-down for me. That may be why I wasn't as thrilled here, having already seen what those other markets had to offer. Or perhaps I was having an off-day, or the heat was getting to me, I don't know.

This may call for another visit to see if that changes my mind.

Happy discovering!