aeroplanes stink.

everything that i checked in now smells vaguely of rotting something. ew!

nevertheless, US$100 in Cambodia got me

1. two silk embroidered shoulder bags. i bought two because i couldnt decide which colour to get, and because in Cambodia, i'm a rich ang mo who can do reckless things like that

2. five random gap/abercrombie shirts, and yes tzeqi, i finally got a moose shirt!

3. a laptop bag (because my attempt to knit one is just so, so sad.) which is made out of some kind of recycled fish-net thing, and so has this huge pictures of fish on it with fishing rules/death warnings written on the back in french

4. another bag! silk and stripey and pretty!

5. a framed photograph of a monk. yes that sounds very strange, but its not. my cambodian friend told me that the monk (i think she's a girl) is actually not cambodian but burmese or something because of the colour of her robes and the way they are set, and so after thinking carefully about whether buying a picture of a burmese monk in cambodia would significantly compromise my patriotic leanings (or lack thereof) i bought it anyway. also, the framing is so artfully done that i am seriously considering giving up any sense of ambition so i can stare at it for the rest of my life.

6. presents! whose identities i cannot reveal at this moment, because i respect their privacy and because they might be trying to hide from the law! oh, and also because they're presents, duh.

7. five pirated made-in-cambodia dvds: love actually, dances with wolves, secret-present-one, the red violin and stage beauty (because angela said it's good. or maybe she said it was bad. anyway, it was like two bucks, so who cares right?)

8. one embroidered silk headband that magically matches one of my bags. also, i bought it from an ngo shop that supports the hill tribe crafts and so i am totally justified in buying it even though i will probably never use it

9. second hand mng shirt with some kind of etched painting on it, which i didnt like that much but bought anyway because it was like 50 cents. yes, you can die at the cheapness now.

10. alot of other things that i cant find right now because my mum is this crazy neurotic super packer who insists on making me pack my bags FIVE HOURS before we actually have to leave the hotel, and then unceremoniously dumps everything out anyway and repacks it so i cant even find my dirty underwear when i get home. IS THERE NO SACRED THING????

will resume pretending im not a materialistic person who went to cambodia just to shop tomorrow, where you can read all about how much i love trees and elephants and cultural dances.