I Love India

What has happened to quality programming in the US? Make sure you give yourself at least 30 seconds of viewing to ensure hysterical laughter starts.
Also, for more Asian goodness, we laugh at the gamers but the Chinese make money off of them.

Fire's a burnin'

Well. Thailand. September 20th. Somehow, yesterday in the wee hours of the morning, the military decided to take over the country.
This doesn't mean the place is in chaos. Yesterday was calm, people were working in the market like regular. Watched it on TV. Not even really discussed much.
Downtown Chiang Mai, near the Night Bazaar, had some soldiers with M16s walking around. Besides that, the only evidence of the coup was the TV. I saw it on Thai TV and then on CNN. Seemed as far away as Iraq.
For those who don't know, the Prime Minister had been elected in what many people say were fraudulent elections (the opposition also boycotted the election), and there were irregularities all over the place, and big money being tossed around all over the place. Well, he kept power as a "caretaker" Prime Minister, the most ridiculous title I have ever heard of. Basically he is a guy with a ton of cash who controlled the media, got a hold of the country, and uses it for his personal gain. Recently he went and had a meeting in Burma. People speculated as to why he went, but it is pretty unanimously agreed that he was securing some contracts with the junta members. Well, this guy is obviously running the country into a hole, and should be out of there.
Supposedly, the kind has made some grunts of some sort that reflect his consent of the coup. This will certainly help it become accepted, because in Thailand, if the king is doing it, it must be cool. More on that tomorrow. Wear yellow and be good.

Driver friends in Phnom Penh

Here is a good pic of my motorbike driver friends in Phnom Penh. These guys are out every day looking for work. Busses show up and they are there trying to get a rider. Most of the time the busses empty and they don't get a fare.
Doesn't stop them, though. They stick around and wait for the next bus.
The guy in the fatigues is a police officer. He was cool and was one of the people who helped me mangle my way through a bit of Cambodian. Too bad you can't see his machine gun--although I was never sure if it was loaded or not.

2Pac and kids

Above, or left, depending o the whims of blogger and your browser, playing a game.... run!!!!!
I am so angry at this blog site for its messy layout tools that I am rejecting formatting completely and just letting this post evolve as it may.

These are the kids at the dumpsite. Pretty cool little guys. Work picking up trash day and night, and when they have some cash or rice, they go to school. The NGO next door serves 480 families, I believe, trying to get them trained to do other things and get them to school.

Notice the kid with the 2Pac hat. I have another one where he is smiling, but I won't post it out of spite.

Also, you can see the smoke a burnin'. I assume this is stuff they cannot sell, so they are making room for the next loads. More soon. Too lazy for more today.

Angkor Wat

Well, here are a few more pics of the temples. I mostly took them because I thought I was supposed to, haha, or that I would regret it later. Here they are: Above, a Buddha in the mist and halways of a fairly deserted temple (for Angkor Wat). Below, one of the marshy near-canals that seem to be near many of the main entrances. Later they fill up with more water, apparently.
Here, on the top, is the so-called Lady Temple, but I think that is a misnomer by the locals (sop I heard). Will have to check on the facts for that one. Regardless, it is beautiful and has much better carvings than the other temples. On the bottom, of course, the main temple at Angkor. So there you have it, I lined up and took my photos with the thousands of others there.


Ok, then, here we have a redified area at the main coplex which was cool. I took it right behind a Naga (snake head depiction) which I think makes it looks cool, but I am sure a true photographer would slaughter me for my composition. To finish off, a sunset that actually hurts your eyes if you look into the photo for a few minutes. More to come.

The Animals Bite Back

As I am sure Hoops knows, I will shed no tears for Steve Irwin. The world loves this guy, apparently, as he tortures animals for his own profit and fame. Ok, he ran some museums and /or organizations. Great. I don't hate him. As far as I know his father started them. Whatever. The point is, a human being maimed by an animal bothers me far less than the crap he walked around doing. Sorry for the family. I guess a sting ray got him in the heart. Experts say this is highly unusual, and makes me wonder if this particular sting ray was getting Mr. Irwin back for all the crap he had done to other creatures.
I think South Park struck closest to the essence of Mr. Irwin in this clip.

South Park - Crocodile Hunter

When the natives are restless, give them photos

Following my regular protocol, I managed to take 4 rolls of film without appearing in a single picture, haha. Here, my absolute favorite photo I got from the dumpsite out of Phnom Penh. The kids were great, even if their lives are very difficult. Later I will try to put up some more that show the conditions better.


These two: top, Bayon, one of the complexes at Angkor Wat that I liked the most. Bottom, a really blurry one of Nok (she is on the right).

Tweaking consumerism

Short post about something I don't feel has much to do with my life anymore, but is interesting.
Some basketball player, Stephon Marbury, who must be extremely famous, has created a line of basketball shoes that people can actually afford, and he says he is going to wear them as well. Interesting. Maybe this is the end of inner city kids killing each other or mugging to pay for their $175 Nike Jordan's? Status and its workings being what they are, I doubt it, but at least it is hopeful. I mean, sure, the guy will make money out of it, but, it seems a little more reasonable. Here is his page.