After much deliberation, I made the leap. My starter kit is a Cannon Rebel XT (350D) with the 17-85 USM IS lens, a Sandisk 2 GB II card, and a UV filter for protection. I wanted to buy at a local shop, but at a price difference of 15% on the body and almost 20% on the lens (+taxes), I simply couldn’t justify it. I guess they will be my accessory shops.

I should receive my shiny new toys the middle of next week. I will have a week or two to play before making a decision to keep them or not. I’ll need to figure out a way to pack them around as well. It looks like something like the Lowepro Rezo TLZ 20 will be my best bet. Protected and relatively discrete (once de-labeled), I think I can even rig it up to fit attached to, or inside, my messenger bag.

Spending money always gets my mind wandering. Reading this post from Philip really hit close to home. If I’ve got money to make my pictures better, I’ve got money to make someone’s sight better. I made a donation to Sight Savers. I value my sight above all other senses, so it feels right in a number of ways.

On a side note, I had one of my poster sized prints mounted at Giant Photo a couple days back. I can’t recommend them enough. They aren’t going to be as cheap as other spots, but the quality and service are second to none.

Anna and I snuck a burrito in and watched Dave Chappelle’s Block Party last night at the decotastic Pacific Gaslamp. Unless you reaaaally hate rap, I can’t recommend the movie enough. It is not really a concert film, but more of a documentary of the making of Dave’s dream concert. There are great performances, but most of the film is Dave interacting with locals (NYC and Dayton), the talent, and the crew. There are some fantastic characters in the film, and Dave’s natural comedy is a perfect fit.

(Until I have the RSS feed fixed for gallery2, I’ll post links on the front page)

Photos of San Onofre beach and sunset.

A few weekends back Anna and I drove up to San Onofre beach to hike under the freeway and watch the sunset. Luckily we brought rain gear, as it stormed for a bit and cleared off the beach. Just us and the surfers. The sun came out and we were treated to double rainbows, dolphins, and great sunset. Worth sticking it out.

Photos of Tecate, Mexico.

The next day, Anna and I drove down to Tecate to wander around. It was my first time there, and Anna’s first in 5 years or so. I really enjoyed the town. It’s a great spot to drive down for lunch. As it is not really a tourist town, it was was nice to walk around and be ignored. Just be prepared for the border back over – the signs are not well marked to the start of the line, and the border closes at night.

After a few hours hiking around Mission Trails Park, Anna and I were famished. Since we were already in La Mesa, we decided to check out a recommendation from a coworker. We arrived at Fix Me A Plate Cafe at 5:15pm. They were supposed to open at 5pm. The cook finally rolled around at 5:30 to let the waiting patrons and the servers inside. Not a great start.

Everything else from that point was fantastic. Fix Me A Plate Cafe specializes in authentic southern food, and they do it well. Anna had the fried chicken, okra, and red beans. I had the ribs, hushpuppies, and cajun egg rolls. Everything was brought out fresh, and delicious.

The entrees are mostly $10-14. But what we didn’t know was that they are gigantic. My leftover ribs were about as much food as I would get on a large order anywhere else. Come here prepared to bring a doggie bag home.

We will definitely be back. I can’t think of any other place in San Diego that offers this much home style southern food, let alone this good, or this cheap.

Fix Me A Plate Cafe
11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
9168 Fletcher Parkway
La Mesa, CA 91942-3424

Following the meme of my previous post, we can probably add another spot to the ‘dramatically changed by tourism’ list. New Qinghai-Tibet railway:

“Traveling overland through snow-capped mountains and high-land meadows to visit mysterious Tibetan Buddhist shrines on the world’s highest plateau will soon no longer require the grit and resolve of an adventurous backpacker. This July the first train of the new Qinghai-Tibet railway will whisk passengers from Beijing to Lhasa in 48 scenery-filled hours. Tourists venturing to the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region from China’s national capital can now get there by land in the lap of luxury. Special tourist trains will feature hotel-like services and special viewing cars for the journey to the ‘roof of the world’.”

Taking a trail through those peaks would be amazing. But, I find it hard to believe that the shrines will be “mysterious” when surrounded by people.

It looks like Anna and I will be visiting Siem Reap (Angkor, Cambodia) and Vietnam in early May. Initially we were going to do a tour to Angkor, then just travel on our own through Vietnam. However the cost of the tour + flights to Saigon, Hanoi, and back to Siem Reap were about $400 more than flights going from LAX->Siem Reap->Saigon->Hanoi->LAX. The relatively low travel cost in these countries made that extra money seem like a lot to spend. Doing it from the tour would have also meant more travel time overall. So.. Flight package it is.

It looks like our itinerary will be something like this: 4 days in Siem Reap (Angkor), 4 days in Saigon, 3 days in Hanoi, 2 in Halong Bay. Anyone who has traveled in these countries is probably screaming “not enough time!” I know, but there never is. I have two weeks to spend. I’d like to spend them here. There are many other places in the world to visit, but I feel a sense of urgency about these countries.

Much like Peru, I see Cambodia and Vietnam as very changed by tourism in the last decade, but posed for even greater infrastructure and cultural changes as they become tourist destinations. It is already too late in some respects – 4 star resorts and all that jazz. I know from my experience at Machu Picchu that my enjoyment of ruins in particular is directly related to how much free space I have to roam. Selfish? Of course. I hope we can avoid some of the rush by going in a lower season – its going to be hot, and it will be just before the summer break. Angkor is also a very large area, so I hope there will still be many opportunities to explore away from the crowds. Time will tell.