“Never Start A Land War in Asia…”

But only slightly less well-known is this: Never give a Cambodian barber free reign. The result could leave you lamenting the fact that you left your hair clippers back in the US.

I however had yet to hear this sage piece of advice. Furthermore, I started talking with a guy in the chair next to me. Before I knew it, I had a haircut that only a 17-year old Khmer guy could love: a full blown Mohawk that went all the way down to the back of my head, where, astonishingly, my hair had been shaved to come to a point. Oh, with a rat-tail intact.

That lasted about 2 seconds. I had him fix the back, but I was still left with the tightest Khmer tween haircut ever. So, I asked him to make the Mohawk a bit shorter. Reasonable request, no? Well, something was lost in translation and he proceeded to cut only the ridgeline of the Mohawk really short. This left me with…I dunno, a reverse Mohawk?

At this point, I gave up hope and just paid him $4 for the haircut, walked directly across the street to “7 Elephants” (the Khmer version of 7-11) and bought a pair of scissors. Tried to fix it, tried to make it somewhat presentable, but this was beyond repair.

My friend Randall spent last summer here. This year, he wisely brought his hair clippers with him. Someone had obviously told him about starting land wars in Asia…