Caught Off Guard

There are always small bits and pieces of random days that catch you off guard. Mostly just small things that make you chuckle inside your head – but it’s enough for you to take note and remember that, “oh yea- this is Asia, and this is how it is here”.

BLACK SHINE. One day I wanted to buy a small packet/trial size of shampoo that they sell at every stand in the market. I wanted one because they are very small and easy to pack if you’re trying to pack light for an overnight trip. They do have many brands you can find in America here. I picked 2 different Sunsilk versions; one that said it’d keep your hair soft and another one was called ‘black shine’. I was intrigued. I have black hair. And who doesn’t want shiny hair? On the following Sunday of the trip I decided to break out the trial size of black shine. Sure enough – the shampoo was actually colored black. It just made me laugh for some reason; only in Asia.

SONY STORE. So we all were checking out Soria mall in Phnom Penh this last weekend when we were there. It’s the only true mall in Cambodia; it’s got clothing stores, electronic stores, food courts and a kid’s carnival arcade AND 6 or so levels with an escalator going to each one. I walked into the sleek new Sony store with its huge flat screened TVs, loud music, plentiful cameras & cell phones and then found myself caught off guard when I spotted a monk in his true bright orange garb bellied up to the counter talking to the sales assistant about cell phones. I really wanted to grab a picture of it because that image just totally for some reason seemed out of place. I guess it shouldn’t – as I guess you see priests at stores of the like, but the whole mix of monks (which in my head prior to travelling to Cambodia, seems like they should be stuck back at the temple meditating and then actually seeing them out in public looking at cell phones) Not a bad thing by any means– just once again caught me off guard. (I decided not to take the photo – because 1. I thought it’d be inappropriate and 2. I didn’t want them to think that I stole a camera from their store.) Oh well – the mental picture will always be in my mind.

MONKS. Speaking of monks & technology; at our very first day at our training village we were welcomed by a ceremony at the Wat in which the monks chanted and blessed us. During the middle of one of the chants one of the monks cell phones rang. Again. Caught off guard. I thought that, that type of thing was only happening in America. Nope. At a peaceful wat in the middle of a rice field; the monk’s cell phone goes off in the middle of a ceremony. How rude, right? Ha. Oh well.

Small images go off in my head – such as instead of using a sun-dial or something like that to tell what time it is for the monk to bang the drums at 5 o’clock so everyone knows when to come in from the rice fields to get ready for dinner; I envision a monk who has set his cell-phone to go off with an alarm at 4:59pm to remind himself to bang the drum at the appropriate time. I mean – what are under those orange robe thingy’s? Do they come with cell-phone pockets now-a-days? Ha. I don’t mean to sound too cynical but these are the kinds of mental images and ideas that my head thinks about when I observe such things.

I guess, what I do need to do is just remember where I am. I’m in Asia, which has some amazingly, complicated but beautiful ancient history; BUT I am also in Asia – which is one of the world’s leaders in many of the technological devices that much of the world is addicted to.

Anyhoo- those are the small things that I’ve thought of tonight. I know there are more and perhaps I’ll add to this post when I think of more OR when more happen. Hope all is well back home – we miss you.