A notebook that started in Bangkok twenty years ago and continues, now from Cambodia. Travel notes, conversations, readings that stay, and whatever else fits in a notebook.Since August 2006 · Continues
Every April, from the 13th to the 16th, Cambodia celebrates the Khmer New Year, known in the local language as "Chaul Cham Thmey." The holiday marks the end of the planting season and the beginning of the new solar year. Traditionally, it's the time for families to come together before the rains arrive. The celebration bears a strong resemblance to the Thai festival of…
Read on →There's a story they tell here in the city of Phnom Penh that is equal parts charming, spiritual, and strange. The city of Phnom Penh traces its origins to the fourteenth century. A wealthy woman named Daun Penh, the story goes, was…
I've been living in Cambodia for two years now, and I love it. I came because my son and his family invited me to try life out here, and that was motivation enough for me. I live in Phnom Penh, and what I enjoy most is watching people, far…
I close my eyes and what comes to me is Volver, sung by my mother when I was a child, her guitar in hand on one of those evenings when family or friends would gather. In what felt like the blink of an eye, my mother and father decided to…
Here I go again, because life keeps bringing me back to Thailand, this deeply beloved Asian country where my husband and I lived from 2006 to 2008 and where, without a doubt, we left a piece of our hearts. The reason I'm returning (this…
Permaculture will be the next topic on this blog. Before getting into it, I want to write out an analysis of what is happening on this planet of ours so that the subject I'll be addressing afterward is a little clearer. This blog keeps…
I was in Los Angeles when a group of actor friends invited me to a production being staged at a small theater. I was completely captivated by the performance, surprised by the acting of several of the players, and especially by a girl I…
Mexican · Bangkok 2006 · Phnom Penh now
She sang protest songs in the seventies and still remembers the lyrics to nearly all of them. She likes mismatched earrings, hand-woven textiles, and slightly crooked pearls. She has lived with luxury and with very little; both seem fine to her, depending on the day.
She goes against the current on principle and out of habit, and when she happens to agree with the majority she becomes suspicious of herself.
She reads philosophy, psychology, literature, and poetry, not necessarily in that order. She is sociable, loud, and small. She is sometimes absent-minded. She is always curious. She lives now in a small apartment in Phnom Penh.