Cambodian Krama

I took advantage of the holiday last Monday (Ninoy Aquino day) and went pasalubong shopping at the Toul Tompong or the Russian Market. It’s much less crowded during weekdays so Philippine holidays (including Christmas) are the best time to go shopping. Naturally, among the gifts I bought were dozens of kramas, for isn’t this colorful checkered scarf a national symbol of Cambodia, along with the great Angkor Wat itself? Just check out these beauties I bought:


These handwoven cotton scarves are worn by the rural Khmers (Cambodian people) as well as those in cities. The Khmers use it for almost anything: scarves and shawls to protect from the sun, wind, and dust; slung around the waist like tapis (especially when they take a bath in the river, then they can also use the kramas as towels); as baby carriers; as headdresses; table runners; placed on chairs to dress them up during important occasions like weddings and birthdays; as pillow covers; as picnic blankets… I could go on and on.
It is also famous among tourists who use it to protect themselves from the hot Cambodian sun and from the dust. I’m not sure but I think I see the reporter Abner Mercado always sporting a krama whenever he’s on TV.
I remember we gave Sis Bride two kramas a few years ago and she would wear it in her office in Manhattan. She said that all her officemates loved it and thought that it came from Hermes in Paris. Hahaha! It just came from a cheap market in Phnom Penh! The price? I’m not telling or the recipients of my pasalubongs would find out that I’m kuripot.
Myself, I use it to cover my neck at night (I get sick when my neck gets cold), as a shawl (lighter than carrying a jacket), and at home cover my shoes in my shoe shelf:

So check out the wooden sculpture of a Cambodian diety and an antique wooden Cambodian box… also from Toul Tompong.
Besides the different colored kramas, I also bought twenty red kramas for my friend who said he wanted like the ones the Khmer Rouge soldiers wore. FYI Khmer Rouge, which literally means red Cambodians, are the communist Cambodians who were allegedly responsible for the genocide in the country in the 1970s. This is part of their uniform: