Grocery Shopping at Boeung Tumpun Market

Last week, I read a Times magazine article which shared that 25% of all dollars spent on groceries in the US are spent at Walmart. This made me realize that it’s been awhile since I last posted about shopping at our local market – two years – and I thought I’d share some more about…

Article: In Memory of American Grandpa

I recently shared a news article from Dhaka about Art Defehr’s early work with MCC Bangladesh and thought that I’d share another one. I don’t plan to do this too often so don’t worry that this will become an article blog. Currently, MCC Asia and MCC Europe are launching initiatives to strengthen our connection with…

Flowers of Bangkok 2023

This week we had to make a ‘visa run’ to the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand to get Caleb’s visa. The bright side of having to wait for three days for the Embassy to issue the visa is that we had time to explore the city and visit a few of it’s many wonderful gardens…

បោះអង្គុញ | Throw Seeds (Angkunh)

Throw Seeds is a traditional Khmer New Year game that’s played with the large, glossy seeds of what Cambodians call ‘Forest Tamarind’. These large seeds are called Angkunh. Angkunh seeds have the same lacquered feel as domestic Tamarind seeds but are magnitudes larger and have a flattened shape. The game is played played between two…

ល្បែងវាយក្អម | Smash the Pot

One of the most popular traditional Khmer New Year games is – quite simply – called Smash the Pot. It involves hanging thin clay pots filled with flour (or, in the city, baby powder) and a prize of some sort (usually tamarind candy) on a rope. The aim of the game is to smash one…

Visiting Bokor Mountain during Rainy Season

Last month we were in Kampot for a teambuilding retreat and, afterwards, our family decided to drive up into Preah Monivong Bokor National Park to see how things had changed since I was last there (in 2007, I think?). Bokor is a mountain near the coast and marks the southeastern end of the Cardamom mountain…