The Giant with a Shopping Addiction

Imagine living in a land where you are twice as large as everyone else, twice as tall, twice as wide, even your own sister is half your height. Then imagine that you have a shopping addiction, or even just a job that you need specific clothes for that you do not yet have (aka. a suit), and everywhere you look for these items, the little people see you coming and just shake their heads and tell you to go away because they do not have anything that would fit you. Then one magical day, a friend tells you about a secret place, a place that has all the clothes you need in exactly your size… and its free!

The selection of Asian clothing is interesting, these are supposed to be full length pants!

Well that happened to me today when I visited a garment factory that makes clothes for European shops. Unlike my midget sister who is the perfect size for the Asian clothes, it turns out that I can be a normal sized person too, but I have to go to Europe (or find European shops)… luckily I do not yet  need the plus size stores of America!

A friend that I met here works at one of these garment factories that are becoming more and more popular here in Cambodia. He had offered a visit before but not realizing it would entail a free shopping spree, I didn’t make it a priority. I was too busy visiting every market in town trying to squeeze into the one-size fits all Chinese clothing that are covered in bows and screwed up English sayings during the sweltering heat of the day. So  when I walked into his air conditioned office and saw the racks of clothing that looked long enough to fit my legs, I was getting pretty excited. He gave us a tour first, where I asked him all the questions about wages and working conditions and even inspected the building for collapse before looking at the clothes….. I didn’t want to be supporting a sweat shop. So after all that lined up, he asked if there was anything I wanted since I couldn’t help but mention my fruitless shopping efforts.

I ended up taking anything he had in my size, which for once was A LOT, and got home to my Asian closet and replaced the odd things I had picked up for a few bucks with my new European wardrobe!