Kook Report

I went surfing yesterday after work at La Jolla Shores around 5:00. I hadn't checked the surf report beforehand and was a little suprised by how big it was, but I paddled out anyway. Once I got out in the lineup I noticed that there weren't too many people out and almost no longboarders. Then I noticed the lifeguard jetski. Then I noticed that the chest-high waves that I paddled out through happened to be part of one of the smaller sets. Almost everything else was head high. Eek! I caught a wave and rode it for a little while before falling. I was in the impact zone, waves were coming in, and the safest thing to do was to head back out to the lineup. I hung out for a while watching folks take off. I took what looked like a smaller wave and ended up falling again. This time the leash slipped off my foot and the board went to shore. I swam after it and decided that these conditions were really beyond my ability. I played in the white for quite a while, had fun, and practiced turning. The real waves would break further out and then the white would reform into peaks and break again close to shore. These were 2-3' high, were smooth, and were very rideable. When I got home I saw online that there was some freakish offshore storm that had caused unusually large surf starting Sunday. The swell was at its biggest today, so I'm glad I kooked out on Monday rather than today.

Hello Honda

For the second time now Akira has been stolen and recovered. The SDPD found my Accord somewhere in City Heights essentially intact. I think I'm going to just leave the keys in the ignition and put a Flexcar(tm) sign on it. Rufus will be pleased too. He he has spent many years shedding and drooling in the car and was upset at the prospect of having to start over again with a new vehicle.

Goodbye Honda

I needed to pick my friend Janet up at the airport tonight at 7:30, but decided to go for a run at 6:00 after I got off of work. I ran by where I parked the Accord on Saturday and noticed that... it wasn't there. So I proceeded to run around the neighborhood looking at all of the places where I've ever parked the car only to conclude that it was indeed gone. I rushed home only to find that I had forgotten to bring one of the three keys necessary to get me back into the church. I managed to get inside the gate, but couldn't get into the building. Of course Rufus heard me outside and started baying like the loveable hound he is. I pounded on doors and windows until one of my neighbors came out to rescue me (or quite possibly to see whos dog was barking). Holy crap, what an evening!

Floating Market

Floating Market
Originally uploaded by buckyreed.

The boats full of fruit were beautiful. It was really colorful despite the impending rainstorm. As soon as it started raining the vendors frantically covered their goods and our driver paddled us back to the dock. Oh well, at least I was able to grab a quick plate of noodles before we left for the gem factory.

Floating Market Traffic Jam

Floating Market Traffic Jam
Originally uploaded by buckyreed.

The floating market was really fun, but the prices for all of the touristy stuff were higher than any I had seen so far. I ordered a plate of noodles from one of the vendors from land, but purchased nothing else. The boat we are about to hit head-on here is the other half of the tour group. Banging into other boats was quite fun!

Driver of the Boat

Driver of the Boat
Originally uploaded by buckyreed.

I went to the floating market outside of Bangkok today. This is a picture of the lady who piloted the boat through the canals. She was talking to herself the whole time and seemed to enjoy paddling us into other boats. I felt like I was on a Roman war galleon.

Back in Bangkok

I'm now safely back in Bangkok, which seems very plush and western to me now. I'm going to do the touristy floating market tomorrow. Cambodia was a tremendously beautiful place and was such an intense experience for me. The horror, poverty, and pain that many of those people experienced was unbelieveable. But, the Cambodians were some of the nicest, most hospitable, and most sincere people I have ever encountered. There were people who resented foreigners or who looked at you as an ATM, but this was the exception and not the norm. I'm still puzzling over what I saw the last few days and am sure that it is going to take me a long time to make sense of it all.

Siem Reap Killing Field

Siem Reap Killing Field
Originally uploaded by buckyreed.

This is a modest monument at a Buddhist temple outside of Siem Reap. Siem Reap province now has a population of about 1 million people. Between 1975 and 1979 the Khmer Rouge killed one million people in this province alone by means of torture, execution, forced labor, and starvation. That was more than half of the population of this area at the time. Much of it occurred at this temple where it became a prison and an execution ground. The people who survived torture were taken to a well and beaten to death or shot. This place is now again a temple, a memorial, a school, and an orphanage. I really couldn't bring myself to take too many pictures here because I was completely overwhelmed. Some of the teachers at the school that I talked to were orphaned during the genocide. They were all about my age and had survived horrific childhoods. Many of the kids here were orphaned by landmines, the civil war, and the conflicts with Thailand and Vietnam. I still can't get over the fact that one million people died in and around this place in less than four years.

Danger!! Mines!!

Danger!! Mines!!
Originally uploaded by buckyreed.

I saw this sign for real a couple of times. This one was in the landmine museum in Siem Reap.

Four Way Linga

Four Way Linga
Originally uploaded by buckyreed.

Originally there was a linga where this post now stands. There are four channels with spouts at the end to distribute the linga water more efficiently. Water and agriculture was a very important part of these people's lives. The king was revered as a god and he controlled the water. There are enormous man-made moats around most of the temples that were used for defense, for agriculture, and as a symbol of the divine power of the king.