A few months ago, I was briefly mentioned in Stilgherrian’s podcast, the 9pm Bongbong in the Region with Erin Brook on the Trigger Word, “Souvenir” (around 0:34:45). That reminded me of the woven camel I got at the very start of 2025 in Morocco. I was going to untwine it and study the weaving pattern, physically. But instead, my own mindset was unwoven, intellectually. Allow me to untangle my head.
On the way to the Sahara, we stopped for a sightseeing at Monkey Fingers Viewpoint. As expected, local kids approached and offered us their toy camels made from date palm leaves. I didn’t engage with them. But a coy, short, and slightly chubby boy with thick glasses—an outcast in a way—caught my eye with his camel. It had a detachable woven saddle buttoned to it. I was sold on his creativity and gave him 10 Moroccan dirham (~1 Euro) for the camel.
Suddenly, I was swamped by Berber boys, begging me to get their (mediocre) camels too. I realised I’ve just dug a hole. Not an immediate annoyance with those persistent young hagglers or restraint from an inappropriate reaction to their pleading tricks. It was a rabbit hole of questions about self-values.
To me, the boy deserved the money because of the saddle he put on his camel. At the same time, other boys might see the purchase as a charitable act and expect a ten-dirham coin from me. You could say my generosity was transactional, in this instance, for the uniqueness. If NONE or ALL of the camels had a saddle, I wouldn’t get any of them. This saddled camel reflected that in noisy competitions such as Berber boys trying to sell handicrafts, you could stand out with your skills, experience, creativity, morality, ect. Whether he knew it or not, the boy did business with me because he added value to the camel.
Before leaving Marrakech, I took some photos of the camel, intending to leave it there, but took it with me to Tangier anyway. It stayed in the bag until I unpacked in Málaga. Eventually, it came along with me back to Bangkok.
Dades Gorge, Morocco,
January 2025
Málaga, Spain,
February 2025
Bangkok, Thailand,
August 2025
As Stilgherrian points out about souvenirs, you won’t see any magnets from around the world on my fridge either. Stuff I got was usually functional. To name a few: reusable beer cups from Sónar and Pride in Barcelona, reusable tea bags from Istanbul, a jacket from H&M in Tbilisi, a belt and gym shorts from Bogotá, a keychain from the landlady in DC, cloth pegs from Casablanca, and a towel from Viva Gym in Málaga. But now, this simple woven camel from Morocco is hanging on the fridge door. This one reminds me of self-values that get me through this life journey.