festivus clothing

From Christmas in Cambodia

Christmas clothes for kids on sale along Sisowath. I asked a Khmer lady I know what she thought about Christmas. She said she hadn't really considered it until she started working with Westerners. "It's mostly for the teenagers, the kids," she said. "Me...I'm old." (She isn't).

This may be case-in-point. Give this 5 or 10 more years and Christmas will be thoroughly entrenched in the hearts and souls of Cambodia's youth.

Either that, or there are going to be more then a few kids in Cambodia forced into these outfits for humiliating photo ops this year.

From Christmas in Cambodia

I would like to add that, for the record, I own the Santa hat on top. And verily, did I go out drinking in it, and more verily, did every moto guy I walked by scream MERRY CHRISTMAS at me, and verily, did a British guy almost steal it but (in the sight and knowledge of the Lord), I did get it back. And it smells sort of like whiskey now.

man with tree

From Christmas in Cambodia

He looked up at me a second later. He gave me a, "Why the hell are you taking a photo of me why I am eating?" sort of look, an inquiring sort of look.

The only logical response was, "Well, I'm this weird girl who takes pictures of random European men eating dinner in front of a particularly sparkly Christmas tree in Phnom Penh and I'm not judging your lifestyle at all, and I mean, you made the tableux just about perfect, so thanks, you're a mensch, and..."

I in fact just made a weird face and scurried away. But the thought was there.