Art and Antiques

The remains of the past are spread worldwide.

Art and antiques are on sale in Bangkok's River City complex, Singapore's Tanglin mall and around London's auction houses. It is necessary to mention that it is not possible to get smuggled items into the country and even in the shops without the authorities just close the eyes to this unlawful practice. 

The Singaporean government fine you when you have a chewing gum or wont flush the toilet, but they don't care when a neighboring country is looted and the bounty is sold in the shopping mall, who makes the money?

In the national museum >

There are even persistent rumors of the existence of a catalog containing detailed photographs of Angkor Cambodia statues and bas-relief, allowing wealthy Westerners to order specific items still in-situ. And three countries in the world still allow antiquities to be purchased without documentation: Australia, Japan and Switzerland. On the black market, a life-sized "Buddha from Angkor", can fetch around $250,000 and this the reason why the looting continues. 

The exorbitant prices that Khmer art fetches on the international market. 

"The country remains very poor. The army is very poor," and when everyone is extremely poor its rather normal to try to get some money in the pocket, that's human nature.

But the overwhelming sentiment is one of sadness at the irreparable damage by tomb raider and other Cambodians have been driven by poverty and the greed of foreigners to inflict on their own heritage.

Visiting the museum in Phnom Penh