Psar Char (Old Market)
Siem Reap, nearest town to Angkor ruins, Cambodia
The sight is located within Angkor. To prepare for your visit, read the AsiaExplorers Angkor Travel Guide for useful information. Visitors to Angkor stay at the town of Siem Reap. If you are looking for budget accommodation in Siem Reap, use the Cambodia Budget Accommodation Guide to find a place to stay.
Psar Char, also written Psar Chaa, meaning Old Market, is located south of the Old French Quarter in Siem Reap. Psar Char is a local market that houses both dry and wet sections, and is frequented by the local population of Siem Reap for their daily needs. Nevertheless, Psar Char also caters to the needs of the tourists that converge on Siem Reap to visit the ruins of Angkor. Here you can find stores selling souvenirs such as the clay busts of Jayavarman VII, textile, illustrative guides, maps and coffee table books on Angkor, and pirated copies of Lonely Planet.
Psar Char in full swing.
The architecture around Psar Char is distinctly colonial with a touch of French influences. Many of the townhouses have been lovingly restored into establishments catering to foreign tourists. However, the road infrastructure is still in the midst of being upgraded (at the time of writing, June 2006), when Siem Reap is a very dusty place due to the unfinished roadworks.
An increasingly commercialized town, Psar Char (Old Market) is seeing a development boom in recent years, as new and ultra luxurious accommodation mushroom all over town to serve the needs of an international clientele coming for the Angkor experience. At Psar Char (Old Market), in addition to Angkor ruins, one can enjoy Apsara dance performances, visit craft shops, silk farms, rice-paddy countryside, fishing villages, a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake, go to the spa, and even ride the hot air balloon and helicopter.
Mostly of the smaller budget hotels are concentrated around the Old Market area, while the more expensive hotels are located between Angkor International Airport and the town along National Road 6. There are a variety of mid-range hotels and restaurants along Sivatha, and budget to mid-range hotels in the Phsar Leu area.
Siem Reap Travel Guide
If you are visiting Angkor, it's almost definite that you will be staying in a hotel or guesthouse in Siem Reap. You will probably also need to hire a tuk tuk to take you around. Click the thumbnail on the left to view vital details to make your stay in Siem Reap more pleasant.
Angkor, Unesco World Heritage Site
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