We are in Los Angeles now with our younger daughter and her husband and their baby, Strachan, who is nine months old and makes lots of noises. He is named after my mother and me. Strachan is his first name, my middle name, my mother's maiden name, and of course my grandfather's family name back to the misty origins of the Scottish clans. Strachan is not yet aware that he carries such a storied name. Because his accomplishments will be legendary, we are teaching him to be humble and generous with praise.
We drove 6,150 miles from Arlington to Los Angeles. We did not take the direct route. That does not count additional miles since arriving at our daughter's house in LA, but it does include wrong turns in San Francisco. I twice paid $3.00 and crossed the Bay Bridge to San Francisco when I did not want to. Once you commit on these highways, you can't take it back. Driving in LA is worse. The freeways form a tighter web, and Los Angelenos drive faster and closer together. Tailgating is a municipal sport here. The freeways are often jammed too. To move faster we move into the express lanes.
The express lanes here, for those of you who don't know, are the far left lanes next to the concrete barrier. They occupy the former shoulder and part of the highway, so the right tires are on the concrete roadway and the left tires are on a bumpy, potholed macadamized former shoulder. They are separated from the rest of traffic by a pair of double yellow lines. You can enter and leave the express lanes only where the yellow lines are replaced occasionally by dotted white lines. Fines for express lane violations (which include crossing the yellow lines as well as entering the lanes with only one person) start at $271. When the traffic really gets going, you find yourself speeding at 80 mph with the concrete barrier on your left and just inches between cars in front and in back. When you see your exit coming up, you have to wait for a break in the double yellow lines, but the break is short at 80 mph and the spaces in the adjacent lane are scarce, so you can't move out of the express lane and you overshoot your exit. That's OK if you know Los Angeles. We just got here.
Nevertheless, we have seen Santa Barbara, the mission at San Juan Capistrano, The Getty Museum, the Reagan Library, and the Nixon library, among other places. We also saw the Truman library in Independence, Missouri. Presidential libraries are clearly the product of the presidents who establish them. Truman's, to my mind, is challenging. It presents the key issues he faced as president, offers the views of critics and historians, and invites you to think about them for yourself. Reagan's focuses primarily on two issues--the decision to fire the air traffic controllers and the struggle to end the cold war--and presents Reagan the man as an extremely affable and inspirational figure. Nixon's fights the battle of Watergate and impeachment all over again, arguing that his critics at every stage of his career never gave him a fair chance and finally hounded him out of office with no justification. I found it sad.
I have some new pictures for you, first this one of San Francisco:
And second, this one of a public park at Monterey:
While this blog has described our trip across the US and some of our doings in California, that is not its purpose. That was just to get started, to give me some practice writing a blog, and to begin to attract readers. It's purpose is to bring alive to you the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap and the wonders of life in Cambodia. I want you to see what I see, experience what I experience, and, if possible, feel the joy and pain of real people whose lives and opportunities are so different from our own.
I got a fortune cookie today and the fortune reads: "You will continue to take chances and be glad you did." Let's hope that proves true.
I will not post another addition to the blog until after we arrive in Cambodia on August 28. We will spend ten days or so in Bangkok prior to that, but at a hotel that has not offered any internet connection in the past. We like the hotel, though, because we can get a room for only $29 per night and they have a great breakfast. We also like it because it is on the bank of the Chao Praya River on the Thonburi side next to a landing for the river ferry, which we take to cross the river to various points in Bangkok. The fare for the ferry is something like five cents. So long as I am nimble enough to jump on and off a boat on the choppy waters of the Chao Phraya River, I am willing to pay that fare.
Finally, I want to include an article from Allheadlinenews.com:
Magic Elephant Believed To Cure The Sick In Cambodia
August 1, 2006 2:57 p.m. EST
Ankit Gupta - All Headline News Staff Writer
Kompong Cham, Cambodia (AHN) - In rural Cambodia where doctors and hospitals are scarce, poor villagers are turning to a magic elephant which is believed to cure illnesses ranging from typhoid to high blood pressure.
A few times a month, Yey Proheu, a 70-year-old female elephant goes around to villages to offer relief to the sick with mahout, Pang Hy, and his assistants.
Blowing a tune from a flute made of a water buffalo horn, Pang Hy, rides the magic elephant through the dusty, unpaved roads to houses of faithful customers.
At many of the houses, the elephant lays her trunk on the stairs or inside the room of the house which are built on stilts, to bless the building and its occupants.
For those with health problems, the elephant puts her trunk into a bucket of water or water tank, and those seeking to be cured, bathe themselves using the water or they walk under the elephant a couple of times as it blows the water onto them.
The mahout's assistant lights incense during the "treatment" and sells herbal infusions.
"I believe in the medicine, because all the pain is gone after I take it. I sleep well, my appetite is better and so now I am buying more," said 40-year-old Se Vorn, who has a pain in her stomach.
"Now I see the elephant, I believe in her magic. I hope my daughter will be cured. She looks happy after bathing in the water," said 48-year-old Man Morn, who has a sick child.
Man Morn's daughter had a mysterious fever which went away after an injection by doctors but left her unable to walk. She recovered slightly after bathing in water the elephant had touched and taking the herbal infusions.
The elephant was inherited by 52-year-old Pang Hy, from his father, who was also a mahout of magic elephants.
During the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970's when nearly 1.7 million Cambodians were killed in a genocide, the ultra-Maoists had confiscated the elephant.
Pang Hy was able to get his elephant back eventually, and in 1985, started to sell medicine for a living, which earns him about $50 a trip and is a good supplement to his farm.
In addition to curing the sick, the elephant is also good at finding auspicious locations for building a house and her magic is believed to be effective in solving problems between husbands and wives.
A magic elephant that does house calls! What's not to like? Well, Jon Morgan, Executive Director of the Angkor Hospital for Children, said (if I remember correctly), "The two biggest obstacles to improving public health in Cambodia are poverty and ignorance."
All the best until next time.
Viriyane and Jim
