It's Saturday in Honolulu, and I'm spending the day cleaning my house before I go to work. I'm reminiscing about what I would do on Saturday in Phnom Penh.

First, I would definitely ride my bike to Maharajah, my favorite South Asian restaurant right near the Independence Monument. See Cambodia was a French possession until 1953. When the Cambodians finally declared their independence they built a monument at the intersection of Norodom (the Family name of the King) and Sihanouk (the king from 1960 something through the early 21st centuray.) The monument is in the middle of a roundabout, probably one of the bigger obstacles in the city. I dreaded having to find my way around it. In fact, I would rather drive the wrong way on a one way street one block north of the monument rather than brave the roundabout. But every day I would brave it anyways on my way to work. And on SAturday I would brave it for a dish of green south Asian curry.

Every Saturday I would try to find a new merchant plying his or her trade. This man works at a shop near my house on the arts and crafts street. He is carving a naga, the image of a boddhisatva surrounded by cobra heads famous in Cambodia. In fact, if you double click the picture of the Independence Monument, you will find the entire monument is made up of naga heads. The naga is supposed to be wise and skillful as well as to be the protector of deity.










Saturday afternoons are perfect time for relaxing and playing with Tevi, my housemate Tashi's kitty. Tevi showed her love for anyone in her life by licking them even when that person had just upset her by petting her stomach (something that scares kittie's to no end.) Tevi paid special attention to the raw flesh left by the heat rash and would lick endlessly as if to clean up the yucky stuff. I'm so glad I got to know the kitty.

I hope she comes back to Kampuchea so I can live with her again. She was cool cuz she learned to pee in the toilet, though pooping was a totaly different story. She chased wads of paper thrown around the apartment just like alittle dog would do. I never quite got why she did that but it was fun throwing the paper.



Tevi's favorite perch was on top of the refigerator where she would wait for Tashi every day after work. To get there she would have to jump on top of the cover of this water filter. This is one of the best inventions in Cambodia. Produced by a group of women in Kampong Chhang this filtering system saves thousands of lives by simply preventing yucky stuff from flowing into people's glasses every day. It's simply a ceremic pot fired in a kiln and left unpainted. Then inserted into this plastic bucket with a faucet. Fill the pot with waterand it will trickle clean water into the bucket. A gallon takes about an hour to filter. Some people boil the water and cool it before filtering. Retrieve the water in a bottle and cool it and you have a nice cool glass of refreshment. Tashi and I drank at least four or five gallons every two days. Tevi even got regular doses of filtered water. Every few weeks I would brush the ceramic pot to clean it. And boy did it need it. Even without using the vegetable soap that we got at the supermarket I would brush out two or three gallons of brown dirt and stuff before the water ran clear. Wow. But such a simple solution to such a huge problem. Thousands of people in Cambodia suffer dysentary every day because they don't have filtered water.

I'm back in Honolulu having taken four days to get back here and then a couple of days flat on my back trying to recover from jet lag. I'm down to my last $20 and so I'm not doing much other than eating ramen and reminiscing about Cambodia.

My favorite souvenir this time has been the Cambodian krama. I've been giving them away by the dozens. They are the work-a-day all purpose bandana, head covering, carry all woven clot h that every Cambodian has at least one of (most have more than four or five of them actually.)

In this picture the bird vendor has one on her head to help her balance the cage. (Click on the picture to see a full size version and check out the cloth on her head as well as the swallows she's selling.


Krama are so quitessentially Khmer that Cambodians going abroad take them as souvenir gifts to their hosts. If you have read anything about the Khmer Rouge (the ruthless totalitarian proletarians who ruled the country from 1975-1979) you have seen pictures of field workers wearing black pants and shirts with krama as their only decoration. They were and are the symbol of all that is proletarian about Cambodia. Here this charcoal vendor wears krama as her hide-a-bad-hair-day ornament. Folks from the provinces who work all day outside wear krama to protect their heads from the hot, hot sun.

Others use the two foot by three foots checkered cloths as slings as others would use purses or bookbags. When office workers get home from the office they use krama as a swimsuit/bathing suit substitute as they shower outdoors. Often you will find fifty-something men wearing krama aroudn their waists as sarongs.


This vendor wears her krama not only as a head protection, but also to identify where her wares come from. The checkered patterns of kramas are specific to the provinces where they are woven. Families who weave kramas even have patterns unique to their own families. Most kramas are made of cotton and have a fringe. These days with so many people living in Phnom Penh needing a quick and easy head covering, many krama are woven in some kind of polyester. Come over to my place in Manoa to see how krama can be used as window decorations or even window curtains.

When I went to Siem Reap to visit my friend Kong I used krama as a faux bandage to cover up the raw parts of my heat rash inflicted arms so that people would n't get too concerned.



One of the best uses for krama is as a dish cloth. They are so sturdy that they can endure just about anything. There are certain patterns of krama that are four foot by five foot and are perfect for lava-lava or sarongs for both men and women. Plus they serve as perfect table coverings for picnics and outings.