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Guide to the 21st Century Capital: David Lida’s Mexico City. Mexico City, Mexico. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Guide to the 21st Century Capital: David Lida’s Mexico City

As a travel writer, I love reading quality writing about travel and places. Sadly, I’m disappointed by much of what I read today. I finish most stories wanting more. Not more words – the length of an article is unimportant if the writing is engaging – and not necessarily more of the same. What I want more of is insight, context, texture, and depth.

Yet frustratingly editors seem to increasingly value the ‘fresh’ eyes of a writer visiting a city for the first time, sending authors off on adventures to destinations they’ve never visited, places they know nothing about.

I’m rarely left satisfied by these stories, these tales of wide-eyed innocents, astonished at seeing things they didn’t know existed, things they could have known about had they have done a little reading on the plane.

What I want from travel writers are stories that are somewhere between an evocative travelogue and a quality piece of journalism, stories about places that are not simply observations, but are written by people who already know things about those destinations, stories that enquire and attempt to understand the places and the people that inhabit them.

The world is complex. I want to read the writings of authors who appreciate that, are intrigued by those complexities, and who attempt to make sense of them.

Sure I could find that kind of intelligent writing in academic texts, but what I’d be missing then would be personal accounts of everyday experiences, subjectivity, multiple perspectives, emotion and feeling, elements that fine travel writing can provide.

David Lida’s book First Stop in the New World: Mexico, the Capital of the 21st Century had been recommended to us by a number of people who knew we were heading to Mexico. We’d only been in our Mexico City apartment for an hour when Petra, the owner, sent a friend over with a copy.

When I did a masters degree on Latin America, I read widely on Mexico, everything from Oscar Lewis’ anthropological study Children of Sanchez to Nestor Garcia Canclini’s Popular Culture in Mexico. But that was 15 years ago. That was before NAFTA had time to have any real impact, before Mexico City Americanized, and before fear took hold of Mexicans.

I wanted to read a book about Mexico City that looked at those changes and their effect on the people and the place, a book by someone who had done research, was well-read, and yet remained curious; someone who could provide the insight, context, texture, and depth that every travel article I’d read recently about Mexico City had failed to do.

David Lida’s book did just that, so much so that I had to talk to the guy.

GT: Your book is sub-titled “capital of the 21st century”, which makes me think of audacious can-do cities like Dubai and Shanghai; postmodern, connected cities; global transport and trading hubs… I don’t think of Mexico City.
DL: More than half of the people in the world live in cities. Most of us do not live in neat orderly cities like Paris or Toronto, Sydney or New York. Most of us live in sprawling, chaotic megacities that have grown monstrously over the last few decades with next to nothing we would identify as urban planning. I’m talking about places like Shanghai, Mumbai, Sao Paolo, Istanbul, Cairo, etc. I am not saying that Mexico City is the most emblematic of these places. Each is different and each deserves its own books and chroniclers. But I believe that if you begin to understand how Mexico City works – how so many of its citizens survive in the underground economy, making up their lives as they go along – you can begin to understand how millions and millions of people around the world struggle to survive.

What do you most love about Mexico City?
The people. They inspire me with their grace under pressure; their ingeniousness at survival, improvisation and perseverance despite incredible obstacles; their perverse sense of humor.
The food. The raw material in Mexico City is incredibly fresh. And I love that so many people eat on the sidewalk.
This is hard to explain but there is a dynamic energy on the street that you feel in few cities. Some of it is just people working hard, getting from one place to another, but there is a sexy, libertine undercurrent that fascinates me.

Anything you loathe?
The traffic. Getting from one place to another is nearly always a challenge and sometimes a nightmare.
The bureaucracy. There is a certain kind of person in Mexico City, most frequently found behind a desk in a government office, who feels his only job duty is to say “no”.
The fear. Tt stresses and saddens me. You can feel that fear emanating from certain people. Still, I don’t think there is all that much to be afraid of in Mexico City, especially if you compare it these days with the border cities.

I love that you tell the stories of Mexico City through its people.
When I got to Mexico City I knew I had this quixotic idea that I wanted to get to know it. How do you get to know a city with five thousand neighborhoods, eighty-five thousand streets and twenty million people?
I began to get to know it – or what I know of it – by talking to people. There were people I saw on the streets every day or once in a while – street kids and shoeshine boys and dance-hall hostesses and crackhead taxi drivers. I wanted to know how they survive this monster of a city, which is so often identified only by its negative elements. One by one I asked them to tell me their stories, and many of them complied. This was especially gratifying for me, because they are mostly marginalized people whose stories aren’t told very often.
I couldn’t have put this into words until my two Mexico City books – First Stop in the New World and Las llaves de la ciudad – were done. But what I was trying to do all the time was write the books that I would have liked to read, the books that didn’t exist about Mexico City.

I admire the resourcefulness of Mexicans. I love that a tailor has set up a counter selling cigarettes, softdrinks and sweets at the front of his store.
Necessity is the mother of invention. Most people in Mexico City are up against it economically. They have no choice but to be resourceful about their survival. Creative initiative? How about a taxi driver who began to sing in his cab and then offered CDs that he had recorded? A pregnant topless dancer? A guy who sold DVDs, supposedly of hardcore porn, that turned out to be the latest Adam Sandler movie?

Tips for visitors who want to meet locals?
My first entry into Mexico City was the cantinas. I can guarantee that if a foreigner parks him or herself into a cantina he or she will find friends. A woman alone will get hassled, though. I’m not so sure I am great at offering practical tips but I would suggest that a traveler in Mexico should remember that he is a guest and behave with the inherent respect that status implies.

How can people get under the skin of Mexico City? What should they do, where should they go?
1. A cantina in the centro historic. They are as idiosyncratic as London pubs, New York City bars, or Paris cafes. I recommend La Mascota, at the corner of Bolivar and Mesones, if you are going at Mexican lunch hour (between 2 and 5 pm, more or less). Excellent food is free with the price of the drinks. For the twilight hour and later, my favorite is Tio Pepe at the corner of Independencia and Dolores.
2. An antro de ficheras. This is a place where you can pay a girl to dance with you, often with a live orchestra accompanying. The most well appointed is the Bar San Luis on Calle San Luis Potosi #124 in the Colonia Roma. You walk into this place and you feel as if it is still more or less 1969. I also like the Kit Kat on Calle Independencia, almost at the corner of Lopez, and the Villa Rica on Calle Lopez. My advice is to treat the ficheras with the utmost respect and buy them as many drinks as you can afford. That is how they make their living.
3. A Mexican market. I guess markets are similar throughout the world but the quality of the fruits and vegetables, meats and fish, are incredible here. You can also eat very well inside the markets at marisquerías, which sell fish and seafood. Go to La Lagunilla on Sundays. It’s Mexico City’s most important flea market.
4. The Hysteria discotheque. It’s ear the airport, on V Oceania and Norte 25, Colonia Moctezuma. See my blog entry about it. This place will give you an important clue about the fluidity of Mexican sexuality.

Is Mexico a safe city?
How do you measure safety? Like in any big city, people get robbed here, and once in a while murdered or kidnapped. I feel safe here. My advice is obvious: be aware of your surroundings, don’t wear flashy jewelry, be subtle about your camera. If you want to put a finer point on it, leave credit cards at home and only go out with the cash you think you will spend that day.

You have a chapter on “la penultima copa”. Do you have a favourite spot for a second last drink?
If I had to choose one it would be the Tio Pepe cantina at the corner of Independencia and Dolores. You can drink tequila, whiskey, beer, or whatever you like, really. You won’t find a decent glass of wine there.

Anything else?
I have never felt as much at home anywhere in the world as I do in Mexico City. What has most made me feel that way is the people here. I hope my work reads like a love letter to them.

Visit David Lida’s website and blog for more on Mexico City, buy his book First Stop in the New World: Mexico, the Capital of the 21st Century on Amazon, or, if you’re already in Mexico City, phone El Pendulo to see which of their five fantastic stores has copies in stock.

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About Lara Dunston

A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

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Comments

  1. Julie says

    September 11, 2010 at 5:12 pm

    I read David’s book when I lived in Mexico City and I felt that he really captured Mexico City in all of its glorious, frustrating, endlessly fascinating complexity. As you said, he’s a wonderful, insightful writer, and it’s clear that he loves the city. Like Lida, I feel most at home in Mexico City and am so grateful to him for this book. I really enjoyed learning more about him through this interview.

  2. lara dunston says

    September 11, 2010 at 5:35 pm

    Hi Julie – couldn’t agree with you more – you summed it up so well in that one first sentence.

    Like you both, it’s a city that I feel very ‘at home’ in. I only felt on edge the first few days, but it wasn’t anything to do with the city, but more to do with what I’d read and the expectations I’d built up. After a few days I relaxed and to me it felt like the city I knew 15, 16 and 17 years ago. The scariest thing for me is not the danger of the city but the fear that people feel and is written about.

    I’m glad you got something new out of this, even knowing David’s work as you do. Ah, if only there were more writers like him!

    Thanks for dropping by! :)

  3. Gina Roitman says

    September 12, 2010 at 10:33 am

    David Lida writes about Mexico City from a man’s perspective. The first two suggestions he proposed for getting to knwo the city only woek if you’re a man so I can’t see how he can proclain Mexico City a 21st Centry Capital?

  4. lara dunston says

    September 12, 2010 at 11:19 am

    Hi Gina – yes, cantinas can be fun if you go with a male or a group, but you’re right, not many women would be comfortable going alone to one, nor to an antro de ficheras, although I did go with my husband and a gay friend – we actually thought we were entering a cantina! – and it was fun to experience for a while. I’ll see if David will respond and what alternate suggestions he might have.

    I spent a long time in Mexico City by myself around 15 years ago when I was there doing some masters research on Mexican cinema, and I didn’t have trouble meeting Mexicans at all, mainly through filmmaker friends. I also met Mexicans at bars and clubs, and wasn’t hassled at all, but a cantina is a different kind of space altogether, you’re right.

  5. David Lida says

    September 13, 2010 at 7:45 am

    Thank you, Lara and Julie, for your kind words.

    I would suggest to Gina that, while I certainly write from a man’s perspective (I more or less cannot help that, being a man), cantinas and antros de ficheras are most definitely enjoyed by women as well. I just would not recommend that women go to them unaccompanied or they will be relentlessly approached by drunken males. I don’t know where Gina lives but sexism is a sad reality in much of the world.

    I am not sure where Gina is going with her question about why I consider Mexico City a 21st-century capital, but my explanation is there in the answer to the interview question.

  6. Terence Carter says

    September 13, 2010 at 8:15 am

    Thanks for stopping by David, I enjoyed your book immensely.

  7. Peter says

    September 27, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    I liked David’s book. As far as I know it’s the most actual and up-to-date book on what’s going on in Mexico City. And theres is a lot going on, daily. I recommend it to all those who plan to visit the city. A very helpful guide to the city and, far more important, to it’s people.

  8. Lara Dunston says

    March 24, 2013 at 7:52 pm

    Thanks, Peter. So glad you agree. Thanks for stopping by.

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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
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This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

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I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

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Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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