FIRE!

Poverty, on a good day, is difficult enough. No plumbing, no electricity - just wood, bamboo and tin shacks with small charcoal fires for cooking. When flames from cooking go wrong, entire sections of a community often are engulfed.

Yes there are modest fire brigades posted, but if roofs are made of tinder-dry palm leaves, nobody can arrive fast enough - when even a small fire takes hold.

In this instance, several neighbors identified the home where this fire started. The entire family of that home have permanently fled for their lives and will be never seen again. If they were to hang-around, the community would likely kill the entire family for their recklessness. The law would likely look at the circumstance and say, 'well there you go'.

Jimmy Carter Pays a Visit to Cambodia.

Former United States President, Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) is my favorite ex-president of all time. While in office, I found his domestic and international policies to be weak, meek and uninspiring.

Once out of office, Carter really bloomed and began a tireless effort in world peace and the fight against world poverty. In the fight against poverty, Carter has been a primary driver in, "Habitat for Humanity", a non-profit that builds homes for the truly needy around the world.

I love Habitat and over the years have donated my heavy equipment and operators in Washington State to demolish derelict buildings, dig foundations and provide aggregate materials.

Here in Cambodia, my support for Habitat has continued with their first large project in this small war-torn country now complete.

Jimmy and Roslyn Carter came for the ceremony. They are becoming quite old, but both are spry, warm and gracious. Here's how the event went down.

The band warms up in preparation for the Carter's arrival.

In the background the former capital of Cambodia in the 11th and 12th century.

Phany, my friend and Country Director of, "Cambodia Living Arts" along with Oren, it's founder. Oren did undergrad work with Amy Carter. Amy was so impressed with Oren, she was successful in having her Dad lobby for Oren to do his postgrad work at Brown.

The Man of the Hour Arrives.

Third from left (sunglasses) Sok An, Second Prime Minister, Cambodia (kind of like the US Vice President), Jimmy Carter and Roslyn Carter. Can you pick-out who is Secret Service in the background?

Jimmy Carter has taken his presidential experience and maybe done more good after leaving office than in office. In either case, I respect the man as a great American and believe history will treat him fondly as a great humanitarian of his day.

A Primitive Vacation on the Island of Rung Samloem

Some Cambodian-American friends and I just returned from several days enjoying an island in the Gulf of Thailand, 18-kilometers off the Southern coast of Cambodia. In the planning stage of this trip, I set sights on some up-market island resorts my friends felt were wildly expensive and well outside the budget they had in mind. My friends determined the small "Lazy Beach" resort on the island of Rung Samloam was perfect for their budget and a good choice. I was well outnumbered. Lazy Beach it was. I was concerned.

No reliable cell service, no hot water, no air conditioning, no power most of the time, no viable dock (mainland or island) to embark or disembark any size boat and only thatch and wood huts on stilts with the most rudimentary of plumbing. Oh boy.

Well, now I'm back home in Phnom Penh and sold on Lazy Beach and plan to return. This kind of adventure travel is not for everybody. Boarding boats often require swimming and carrying luggage above ones head and climbing ladders to board. As is all around Cambodia, there are friendly folks ready and able to help with heavy and tricky lifting for a reasonable fee. Once on the island and in my hut, I was comfortable. Nothing even approaching modern, but very clean. And I felt safe and relaxed.

Great food was a wonderful part of our experience. Staff seemed to outnumber guests. All from the same family and worked seamlessly, attentive but not intrusive. At today's rates, a couple can enjoy three nights lodging and food for about USD$200. That's not per-day -- thats total!

If you are ever in the neighborhood, Lazy Beach is an wonderful option to consider on a hefty or modest budget. Here are some images from our trip. The pictures are provided by Chean Long and myself. As you come across some exceptional photography in this series... it will likely be Long's work.

We had a good time. Enjoy some of our experience.

Phnom Penh to the coast is three-hours. This was shot at our 'half-way' break. I grabbed an ice saw to be Ninja Man. Long was tuned into form and shadow.

A prawn monger brings in a fresh batch to the kitchen for the evenings dinner. It just doesn't get fresher.

Here Phany (pron. Pony) enters the boat by ladder. A common way on and off the boat.

Amy.
Bathroom? Sure. Back of the boat on the Left. You can't miss it.

Boat crew member reading while on our two-hour journey to the island. No snappy white uniforms here.
Yours truly reading. While the waters of the Gulf of Thailand can get particularly nasty, more often than not the swells are long in length and shallow in height. Often calmer than the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.
My good friend Long and his wonderful, no-nonsense girlfriend, Phany.

One and a half-hours off the mainland, part of our destined island starts to come into focus.

Everybody on-board except Long behind the camera.

Our first sighting of where we will be making our home for the next several days. Exhilarating. Sizing things up at this distance got me pumped. We are about to find out what things will be like in this very small primitive environment. As we got closer, I said to myself, 'we are not approaching a small resort, we are approaching a small village.' As we got closer and closer I knew we would have fun.

Our first greeting upon arrival. The guy in the black dog outfit is a undercover Customs Agent.

Help with the luggage.

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This is really interesting. What's happening in this series, Long has set his exposure for an extended time. in near total darkness, Long had me dart and hold in various positions. That's why you see two or three images of the same person in one photograph. Interesting.