There's an OLD Japanese man in the library speaking loud even though it says "Please Keep Silence"
I am safe and sound except for itchy ankles and the droning hum of the Mosquitobeast.
Yesterday I talked with Vinh Dao, a guy from California I knew a couple years ago about Khmer tattooing. He did some photography of some high-ranking government officials' and army generals' magic tattoos for a great story in the Cambodia Daily back in July. He wants to do some more film work and his friend (a writer for the Phnom Penh Post) wants to write more on the subject. So, sometime in February we are going to Sisophon near the Poipet-Aranyaprathet border to meet with the man who tattooed some of these officials. He is quite old, a life-long monk, and one of the few men left who can transfer magic (anyone can learn the designs and tattoo-technique, but this man can transfer magic from himself to the bearer of the tattoo). There is a Cambodian guy who lives down the street from me who wants to get a magic tattoo done so the four of us will go up there in February and learn about it.
In the mean time, I will go talk to some local tattoo artists (I don't know if I should call them artists...) about their thoughts and feelings on the rituals and magic behind it all.
Yesterday I talked with Vinh Dao, a guy from California I knew a couple years ago about Khmer tattooing. He did some photography of some high-ranking government officials' and army generals' magic tattoos for a great story in the Cambodia Daily back in July. He wants to do some more film work and his friend (a writer for the Phnom Penh Post) wants to write more on the subject. So, sometime in February we are going to Sisophon near the Poipet-Aranyaprathet border to meet with the man who tattooed some of these officials. He is quite old, a life-long monk, and one of the few men left who can transfer magic (anyone can learn the designs and tattoo-technique, but this man can transfer magic from himself to the bearer of the tattoo). There is a Cambodian guy who lives down the street from me who wants to get a magic tattoo done so the four of us will go up there in February and learn about it.
In the mean time, I will go talk to some local tattoo artists (I don't know if I should call them artists...) about their thoughts and feelings on the rituals and magic behind it all.