Thida is wearing the typical attire for a Cambodian lady. She has two shirts, a sweater, gloves, pants, socks, and flip-flops. The only thing missing is a wool hat. It's 95 degrees, but they want to protect their skin and keep it "light." Thida always asks me, "Kerri, aren't you hot?" She is afraid my skin will get brown. I am constantly reprimanded by the women for not covering my arms. I shamelessly walk around and allow the sun to color the pigment of my skin. Oh, the horror.
One day I was looking for some skin lotion at the market, but all those were imports and three times the price of the local lotions. Khmer skin lotions are always "whitening creams." When I bought some of this lotion, the vendor laughed at me and pointed to my arms. Then, she leaned over and told the woman next to her, so they could both enjoy the amusing fact that a barang wanted whitening lotion. I'm seem to provide this kind of amusement so often.
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