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Reality Check No. 1: Gem Shopping

After looking at stone temples and stone carvings for several days, I decided to look at other stones. That is, gem stones.

While waiting for Padma’s plane to arrive, Toe took me to the Russian Market. According to Toe, tourists and foreigners living in Phnom Penh shop at the Russian Market because the vendors speak English. Other than gem stones, export overruns clothing, silverworks, wood carvings and other Khmer products are also sold in the Russian Market.

I did not know much about gems but I wanted to get some for my mom. Toe was not also an expert in gems but she took me to a reputable gem store in the Russian Market frequented by the wives of diplomats. While haggling with the storeowner, I realized that all gems mined in Cambodia such as topaz were being sold very cheap, i.e. from $ 1.00 to $ 5.00 a carat. Gems that are imported to Cambodia like rubies, emeralds and sapphires were more expensive, i.e., from $ 10.00 a carat. Also, some of the gems being sold were huge (even bigger than my eyes). So, while I was in the gem store, the constant question in my mind was – are these gems real?

   

This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 12:08 am and is filed under Phnom Penh, Cambodia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.