Imagine..... Cambodia

We flew to Siem Reap , Cambodia rather than take a 12 hour bus - and boy were we glad of our decision! Siem Reap is the home of Angkor Wat -and about 99 other temples of the Angkor period 10th through 15th century.. The town itself is great - we walked to the old market area and had to wade through a sea of motos like above carrying 1-5 people, with just a suggestion of traffic signals and control.





On our first full day, we hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day. Here is a boy filling our gastank on the side of the road - very typical to see stands of liter pop bottles that are filled with gas for the motos. Most people think of Angkor Wat as a single temple to see - we found out that the Khmer Ankgor kings built around 100 temples in the area.... and they are magnificant.

One of our first temples was the vast Angkor Thomm - a walled complex 12 km around - with many temples in the middle. Check out the face (probably of a king building the temple) in the gate.

The pic below is the approach to Bayan... my fave temple - its up several steep flights of stairs - and has 200 faces in it. We were watchng the Discovery channel here in Vietnam last night and they had a special on Bayan - all of the faces are of the king building it - in a close eyed meditative pose.

The women carvings are typically of cuort dancing girls. When the Thai overran the Angkor people in the 15th century, they took many of the dancing aspects back to Thailand with them.

There is a strong Hindu influence on these buddhist temples. And keep in mind that 1,000,000 people built and lived in these temple areas when London was only 30,000 people. Enjoy!

Sorry for the sideways shot - many of the temples have deteriorated - and trees have sprung up within the walls - very atmospheric. One temple was used in the Tomb Raider movie - its as if Angelina was with us there.

We totally scored our second night there. There was a festival going on... Angkor Nights - and we got tickets to see the Fine Arts Dept of Cambodia perform Khmer dances on a stage right in front of a lit-up Ankor Wat. This led to the first use of "Imagine" that I use in my title. When Aileen and I were in the Amazon rainforest, our friend Kirsten sat at breakfast watching a huge blue butterfly float by. She turned to us and said, "Can you imagine, sitting at breakfast watching a big blue butterfly fly by?". Since we had just witnessed it, and didn't need to imagine it, we cracked up. So when Aileen and I have a magic, unimagined moment on this trip, liked watching dance in front of a spotlit 800 year old Wonder of the World, we say, "Imagine?!"

One day we went farther afield... to a river about 35 km out of town that had 1000 year old carvings in the riverbed - which was not only great, but really special since my friend Clifton had been there also - and I didn't realize it was the same place until about halfway through our walk.

Many of the images are of a reclining Vishnu. And there were many symbols of fertility - especially penises - everywhere! Below - a pic of a three headed figure. And later - reclining Vishnu in the water.

Khmer ladies on the side of the road on the way back from the riverbed - it was a remote site on a dirt road.

We stopped on the road to see how a local family boiled down palmtree fruit to a sugary thick liquid. Here are some of the kids in the family I love how the little baby is looking at George.

Oh my god - we saw this several times - a guy on a moto with three LIVE pigs trussed on their back - with their faces pure confusion on their dilemma.

I love this little lady- she is holding a bird in her hand. We learned that all of these carved women were unique - and there were hundreds per temple.

A huge temple complex - was a buddhist university.

Cambodian kids learn English in the following order.

1. One dollar !( strangely enough the US dollar is used in Cambodia, even at the ATMs)

2. Oh madam, I can't discount to that - no profit!

3. You remember me (when we come back down from the temples - they would hang around the temples and pester pester - here is Aileen getting a deal on some Khmer scarves

4. Beautiful ladies.... well, Aileen and I decided that was spontaneous and not with an agenda when directed our way.

On our last day, we headed to Tonle Sap Lake to see the floating villages - they were very interesting - people live on floating rafts with houses, or in boats. They have floating churches and floating pig pens and floating schools. And it was very depressing - very very poor. Here are some houses on the way to the port to catch our boat.

Aileen is a big softie - she is giving our leftover food to the 10 or so kids who hung on the side of our floating restarant and begged. Its very sad how poor it is that kids and their mothers have few options.

These kids also hung around - but not in a boat - in a tin bowl that they paddled in. The boy had one arm.

Caught this girl washing her hair on her back porch.

Rice fields - this area is under water half the year during teh rainy season when the lake expands - and used for rice farming the other half. Some of the temples used to have water access to them for the same reason.

Snake anyone?????


















After three days in Siem Reap, we took a boat to Phnom Penh, the capital. It was a 6 hour boat ride over the lake and up the Tonle Sap river. Our bus pickup was really late and I was stressing out.... and then our van showed up. It was a regular van PACKED with people, including, we were guessing the drivers family in the front seat, and a bunch of dumbfounded tourists in the back- really had to schwoosh in. We didn't know how lucky we were until we passed an open wagon being pulled by a motorcyle - and filled with even more dumbfounded tourists. I believe one woman yelled at our van "this could be you!". The amazing thing is everyone made it on the boat - it took off an hour after the announced time. The ride was mellow - we sat inside on seats for most of the lake section. There were 50 people lying and sitting on the roof - not comfy. I sat outside on the river portion and watched villages and boats drift by. The picture below is of the wooden plank ramp we had to walk up to get on the boat. When our van stopped, it was thronged by guys who carried your bag up that ramp for a dollar - glad to have them since I would have fallen in with my bag.

Here are the folks on the roof.

When we discovered that the Cambodian king was single and 50, we decided that Aileen would make a splendid queen - and that became the joke with our driver in Siem Reap. He had arranged for a driver to meet us at the dock in Phnom Penh - and here he is - can you read the sign?

Here is Aileen infront of her future home, the royal palace of Cambodia. I asked her to work on several things when she became queen,including getting the Cambodians to stop picking their noses blatantly in public.

Also got to watch Super Tuesday returns on CNN in PP - Aileen is gonna think she is American soon from what she is learning about the American political process and parties. GO BARACK!!

Our first day in Phnom Penh, we walked around and decided to check out the central buddhist temple of Camobdia- it was right at the end of our street. We started talking to a monk who offered to give us a tour, including sitting inside a small temple with one of the oldest buddhas in Cambodia. He then asked if we wanted to see his home - so we walked to his dorm . Each major region of Cambodia has a house on campus for the monks studying there and visitors from the region. We ended up sitting in their common room for 30 minutes chatting with several monks, including the head monk of this house,who was sipping a Coke. They were really open and liked talking English - more approachable than monks in Thailand. And when we were leaving, they asked for our email addresses - so we will keep in touch. It was a highlight for me for Phnom Penh. Here are our charming monk friends below.

After chatting with them, we headed over a great restaurant called Friends - its a non-profit raising money to get street kids off the street and trained for restaurant jobs. So , again, being givers, we ate for charity sakes... and it was good.

Phnom Penh was a tough city - not the least of which was our visits to the genocide sites. We first went to S21 - its the prison in PP used by the Khmer Rouge to house and torture prisoners before they were sent to the killing fields outside of town. It was a former high school used as a prison. Its in its original state. Some rooms were bricked up into individual cells - small and crampled. Some rooms were large and housed hundreds of people shackled at the ankle to a common bar. There were rooms that housed only a bare bed, no mattress, with the shackles still attached - and a picture of a prisoner from that room . The exhibits were great and very moving. Stories of people talking about their lost family members. Stories from former guards or fighters in the field, who talked about how they worked in the Khmer Rouge to survive. Some quotes"I was afraid of suffering, I wasn't afraid of dying." "To save our lives, we had to do what we were told to do. I didn't believe what they taught me. There was nothing I could do." What struck me is how the KR went out of their way to keep people in the prison for months torturing them before they confessed to fake things like giving secrets to the enemies like the Vietnamese. I was at Aushwitz last year and this so reminded me of this. I just didn't understand the need to perpetuate their politics on people they considered against the state . An evil group. They were forced out by the Vietnamese in 1979 after 4 years. We then went out to the Killing Fields. Its out on the edge of town and is a fairly small area. There were pits that had been excavated - about 8000 bodies were taken out. There is another area as big that remains unexcavated. They suspect as many bodies. There is a large white stupa as you enter the area - its filled with shelves of skulls like these. Of the 20,000 people at S21, only 7 survived the Killing Fields. We found out in Siem Reap that our driver, Chu, lost his dad to the Khmer Rouge.

This is the second use of "Imagine" for me - I thought of the movie the Killing Fields and that amazing scene when the two men are reunited at the end with John Lennon's Imagine playing in the background... always makes me cry.

Back in town - needed a break. At lunch, our waiting tuk-tuk driver totally crashed in the back of our tuktuk.

We walked back from our massage done by blind people (again, what we won't do for charity). Walked through this market as it was closing up.This wasn't a market full of tourist chochkies - it was a real market for local people. And it was full of trash that people had thrown into the street. Kinda nasty. There was a guy walking in front of us, big guy, and I cracked up when at one point he bacame so overwhelmed by the mass of people and smells and garbage that he just said "Jesus Christ!!!"

We were in Cambodia for Chinese Lunar New Year - and in PP for the day itself. We collected fun facts about what that meant for tourists.

* The Russian Market is closed - Chinese New Year.

* No French Toast - Chinese New Year (no bread)

* Hotel rooms - 50-100% more

* Buses - 20% more

The only people in SEA not affected by Chinese new year are the chinese! Not alot of fun stuff like fireworks - alot of decorations up. Here are some folks burning pots on the sidewalk - I suspect something about new years.

Took a bus to Saigon - about 6 hours - not bad. We had a stop as we waited for a ferry to come - and were attacked by vendors pitching their wares - including this lady selling yummy friend bugs. We loved them!

Have I Mentioned I Went to Thailand.... AGAIN!

Some of you gentle readers teased me a bit about my constant jabbering about my perfect trip to Thailand and Burma in 2005....well, I'M BACK!!!



I have to admit.... after a comfy 4 months at home on the couch with Atty, I was a bit hesitant about this trip.....the half life on my travel confidence is about 1 month - meaning all that confidence I got in Europe has been eroding. I sat on the couch smooching Atty madly at 7:30 as the SuperShuttle guy was waiting outside. I am thinking " I wish I knew how to quit you"(in an ode to Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, who had just died) and Atty is thinking "They've come to kill us all - and that guy already stole your suitcase. I'll be right behind you".



But - all was good as I glided west and reread Lonely Planet's Southeast Asia. In fact, one day in Cambodia when Aileen was expressing some lingering concern about the safety of riding in a tuk-tuk with the crazy moto traffic- I realized I was perfectly relaxed.....

First stop Bangkok - landed at midnight after 21 hours in flight. I went to the guest house that I had reserved.... to have the receptionist tell me at 1:30am,"oh Nancy, my friend gave away your room. " I ended up convincing them to put me in a triple room for the cost of a single since I had 6 nights booked later in the week - night bargaining power.

I went to Ayatthaya first - before Aileen and her son John, and his galpal Preiya arrived. Ayatthaya was the royal capital of Thailand for centuries until the Burmese eventually ran it over around 1800 (maybe???). Getting there was half the fun.... I took a cab to the Train station (60 Baht), paid 15 baht for a ticket 3rd class for a 90 minute ride, paid an astounding 4 baht to have a ferry take me across the river.... and walked a block to a great guest house on the river. 79 baht..... that is about 3 bucks! I LOVE Southeast Asia - its so cheap compared to Europe last year.

I met some lovely ladies the first night - Karin and Jen - they were in their third month of a 3 month trip to NZ, Australia and Thailand. They liked George very much.

Here is a shot of the ferry that I took for 4 baht (about 10 cents) - I am sitting on the porch of my guesthouse. My room was on the river and I heard this boat start running around 6am. Note the three boys "skitching" off the back of the boat.

Lovely, isn't she? I mean the Buddha, of course, though technically he is a guy. This famous image is at one of the temples. I rented a bike for the day and biked to 5 temples - a nicer way to explore than a cab or tuk-tuk. Was bloody hot, as you can tell by my "glow". There were guards watching to make sure you kept your head down low in respect to the Buddha so it was a challenge to slide in without showing George - I didn't want them to think I was being disrespectful. Note what George is looking at with a grin!

Many of the buddhas were headless - the Burmese stole many of the heads... as well as subsequent looters.

A BIG reclining buddha - this represents the moment when Buddha reaches Nirvana. This bad boy was 35 meters long and dressed to kill. Note the person in black at the face area - gives you perspective. His head was reasting on a big lotus flower.

Aileen and team arrived after a few days. I met her in Peru on the Inca trail and we have kept in touch since. Her son John was going to backpack SEA so she wanted to join me and hook into his trip. Our first night in Bangkok we went to a restaurant named Condoms and Cabbages - its a non-profit that raised money for Aids awareness. Thus begun our ongong "eating and shopping for charity". Here we are with Captain Condom... a superhero. George is jealous. Oh, the whole restaurant was decorated with condoms and birthcontrol pills - very festive.

We were having a drink on the street when this girl tried to con John out of some baht with thumb-wrestling - it was a non-starter but she was pretty tenacious. Problem in Thailand - people are out to get your dollar at the more touristy spots. Its irritating - just gotta walk on.

AHHHHH a Thai massage. For those that haven't had one, its a very physical massage where these little 90 pound ladies use their bodies and twist you in all different ways. Its like one on one wrestling - and they always win. Here is Preiya in the foreground and Aileen in the back, just before the ladies climbed on our backs! Lots of bone cracking but it feels great afterwards.

Spent the afternoon at the royal palace and grand temple complex - here we spotted our first monk/umbrella combo admiring the three wat (temple) roofs). The next wat was Wat Arun - its a simpler complex covered with ceramics - most from Chinese sailors a hundred years ago.
These kids sat in front of me on the train from Ayatthaya - very cute. The little boy would not look at me - very shy.

Back to Ayatthaya - here is sunset at one of the more impressive temple ruins. There are two buddhas sitting on the left in golden robes - see 'em?

Same temple complex from the other side - there was a wedding reception being set up in front of it - nice digs! I took a boat tour to visit 3 temples at sunset which made for a unique experience - got to approach the temples from the water. Also got to see some of the stilt houses lining the canals around the city (three rivers converge here). And spotted a lizard that was at least 3 feet long in the canal - still haven't figured out what that was!

This shot cracks me up. At one of the temples, people were paying to buy a golden robe nicely folded up on a tray. I think the point was to "buy" Buddha a robe as a donation to the temple. After they prayed over the robe, this guy on the bottom would take your tray and whip it over his shoulder, without looking, so that the robe was flung to the guys catching on the second level - they would then drape the huge buddha statue. You can see one of the yellow-orange robes in flight.

A view from Way Arun in Bangkok on the main river - you can see boats on the river - TONS OF THEM - and the royal temple/palace complex across the river. It was less than a month since the death of the sister of the king - very revered - so there were lots of Thais in black mourning clothes visiting the temples.

We stayed just off the backpacker area (Khao San road) - STAY AWAY ITS NASTY - but our hood was nice. We had dinner at a street cafe for about $2 each for drink and noodles.

One day we took a bus (public!) to a floating market 100 KM out of town... it was about 10 % locals shopping, 40% tourists and 50% people selling to the tourists. As your boat came down the canals, ladies manning the stalls would grab your boat! We also had to negotiate the price - started at 700 baht and we ended up paying 300 baht - kinda fun to negotiate but also reminds you how often they start high and people just pay it not knowing the price for non-tourists. This lady below was cooking in her boat.

More shots from the market.

We spent a few days as a foursome - then John and Preiya headed south. John will join Aileen and I in Vietnam in a week or so. I was ready to go - like Bangkok for a few days but its big and noisy - and I am soooo tired of seeing older white men with young Thai women...yuck! On to Cambodia next!

Finish, Pause, Restart

Hello Friends -



It has come to my attention (from the constant bitching and mumbling) that people want me to update my blog after a deadstop in Italy. I was just happy to know that you guys care..... and actually read the blog! So here you go - a quick update of the last stage of my trip last summer, and a headsup of my current trip.



I am writing from a fan-cooled cafe on a rivers' edge in Ayuttaya, Thailand. Its the old royal capital of Thailand, filled with ruins and temples. I am killing a few days waiting for my friend Aileen to get here for our one month tour of Cambodia and Vietnam, followed by me going solo in Laos and Thailand. I have 8 weeks in Southeast Asia -I found that the 19 weeks I was gone last year was WAYYYYY too long - and I love my dog too much to do that again. Here is as summary of the end of my trip last year - stay tuned for blogs from Southeast Asia in the next few days.

I had intented to spend a whole month in Italy - and did enjoy the northern cities - but I hit the wall as I was approaching Rome. None of my rendezvous's worked out and I was tired of travelling alone - and tired of travelling in Italy, where I wasn't meeting local folks like I had in Eastern Europe since they were too busy taking care of the loud Americans. So, when my friend Sharon sent an email saying she was in Grenoble getting her EU citizenship papers and did I want to meet up, I jumped! I do want to go back to Italy to see Rome and the south - but I need to travel with someone so we can enjoy the amazing food and wine together. Any takers?? I think that at the same time I hit the wall on travelling, I also hit the wall on blogging - for the same reasons. I needed to drain all the experiences and memories in my head before I could move on. Which I did by lying on the couch for 4 months at home when I wasn't boring the living hell out of people with my stories and pictures.




I left you in Florence. From there , I moved to Siena to explore Tuscany some more. An amazing landscape - those pictures of hilltop towns surrounded by grapes and cypress are spot on. Here is a picture from inside the cathedral in Siena. I was surprised that you could take pictures inside the church - that is rare. You can see the bands of white and black marble. The floors were covered with stone pictures and images - most were covered to protect them but some were on display. It was a beautiful church.




Walking back to my hotel one night, I found the street crowded with old men. No women -just old white Italian men solving the world's problems. Caught these gents in action.

I did a day trip to a nearby hilltop town, San Gigmiano (spelling is so wrong). Its famous for its towers - there used to be 50 or so in the Renaissance times -used to outdo other families in the town (let's be honest, only the men would care how tall their towers were) and to hide in during periodic peasant revolts. There are about a dozen now. I got off the main tourist beat and hid out at a cafe on the edge of town that had 49 different kinds of bruschetta -I was in heaven!!! I was quite the bruschetta slut after my time in Tuscany. A little slice of heaven is shown in this pic - a tomato,pepper and egglant bruschetta, jug of wine and water and writing postcards on a hot afternoon.

Back in Siena. Remember your 64 pack Crayolas? Burnt Siena was indeed named for the town of Siena in Italy. Its predominately reddish/orange brick buildings. Here is a shot from on top the cathedral looking out to the countryside over the roofline. I love this shot because these distinctive towers are way up high and not visible from the street - so somebody built them out of architectural love, I think.
From Siena, I went for 2 nights in Orvieto, Umbria. Its right next door to Tuscany and about an hour north of Rome. What made this town unique from other hilltowns is that the hill itself was soft stone that was full of tunnels. These were used for things like olive oil pressing (good cool temp) and hiding out during WWII bombing raids. Here is a shot underground that shows a dovecote - where birds lived as a source of food. Had a nice time in Orvieto - met a lady from southern California that was finishing a month-long course in Italian - and ended up going to dinner with her and her whole language class.

Next stop - France !! I bailed from Orvieto in search of my friend Sharon in Grenoble . I wanted to leave Italy desparately - but Italy didn't want me to leave. I took a train to Milan hoping to get a train to Grenoble but it was full. Spent the night in Turin and caught the same train the next morning - only to have the train have mechanical problems. After a few hours of hanging around the train platform taking pictures of really big wrenches, we were finally put on buses to France. I felt like Al Pacino in Godfather III - everytime I tried to leave Italy, it pulled me back in.

When I finally arrived at the Grenoble train station, this lovely stranger greeted me with a copy of the movie "Solarus" and a question - "Did I know where George Clooney was?" - to which I replied, "Here he is!" and whipped out my flat friend George. This is Sharon's friend Severine -who was a terrifically fun host for the next week. Sharon and I hung out with her friends and bonded over rose and lingerie and and George (see below). In the interest of keeping my G rating, I won't include the picture of George watching the butt shot of himself in the movie Solarus - priceless !!

Sharon had arranged for an overnight hike into the Alps. We hiked up to a refuge that was in accessible by car - you get dinner, breakfast and a dorm bed for the night. It was terrific. First pic is of Sharon and her friend Jerzy - he had bought a honking piece of local cheese so we were enjoying it with peach beer on the deck of the refuge. Eventually pairs of hikers started straggling in - they were part of a larger party that was hiking the Mount Blanc route over 6 days. We hung out with them all night. Here is Sharon flirting in French with them. We played French Monopoly that night. It was a travel version so everything was miniaturized - we ended up getting out our headlamps so our 40-something eyes could read the teeny tiny cards.

After a girly-girl week in France and a quick rest at Karin's in London, I met up with my Scottish friends from Peru (met on the Inca trail -love being able to say that!) Aileen and Kirsten. Stayed with Aileen in her haunted house (used to be a monestary and bar and she hears noises and has seen shadows - which she recreated with hysterics and a napkin for Kirsten and I - no pictures though!).

This gent was on the trail in the west Highlands -Aileen and I spent a few moist but gorgeous days hiking. Black slug - never seen that before.

Here is a shot of the Western Highlands from our trail - full of waterfalls and heather and beautiful red and purple stone. This valley was used for several films so that gave me the excuse to watch Rob Roy and Braveheart again - any excuse to see men in skirts. Speaking of which - Aileen invited me to a wedding - here I am being shy with the groom and some other gents in kilts.

The last leg in Europe was two weeks in Ireland with Karin and her dog Kai. We took the ferry so that Karin could drive her own car. It was a beautiful GREEN two weeks in Dublin and counties Cork and Kerry. Kerry was the best - we rented a cottage on the water, cooked for ourselves (which I really missed after 3 months of travell)ing, and did puzzles after a day of local sightseeing. My fave thing in Ireland was taking a boat out to the remote Skellig islands. One island is a huge bird sanctuary and the other housed an abandoned monestary. The monks lived there from the 6th to the 11th century in morterless beehive stone huts with 2 feet thick walls - cold!!! Here is a shot of their settlement looking back towards the land.

But enough about Europe already!!!! Let's talk about NEW YORK CITY! I've been to New York before but this trip was the best ever and a terrific way to re-enter the US after 4 months in Europe. My friend Clif offered up his apartment in Brooklyn - 11th floor with a view of southern Manhattan. I met up with high school friends Carin, Deb and Jean for a mini reunion. Did some touristy things and some non touristy things - like ride a duck after dinner on the upper west side with Carin. The duck(a kids ride that you pop a quarter into) was so overloaded its started bucking - so hard that we feared for our lives (or at least feared breaking an ankle if we attempted getting off) so we rode it out. Our stomachs hurt from laughing. A guy seated at the restaurant next door offered another 50 cents to ride again since we were so entertaining. It was fun. Here our group in the great field in Central Park.
I was in town for the 6th anniversary of 9/11. We had gone to the WTC site a few days before. On the anniversary itself, they have two huge blue beams of light to represent the twin towers. I took this shot from Clif's balcony - it was amazing.
There were many firsts and life dreams fulfilled on this trip and one was to see David Letterman - yippeeeee!!! I saw the taping on 9/11 itself and expected Dave to have firemen read the top ten but it turns out he never even mentioned it. Interesting to see it taped - during the 3 minute breaks that commercials are later edited into, the band keeps playing and Dave is swarmed at his desk by his producer, writers.... and they change or add stuff on the fly. Before the show, he came out for some Q&A and found out that a newly married couple from Oklahoma City was in the audience. He changed the Top Ten Surprises Heard at the General Petraus hearings (that day , before the House committee about Iraq) to include a plea to not allow people from Oklahoma to honeymoon in New York City. I was walking down 53rd before the show - its the street where they do stunts on the show -and out of a door popped stage manager and occasional street interviewer, Biff Henderson. He let me take a picture with George after we chatted, and he said "what has that guy got that I don't have - get him back out, I am going to take a picture giving him the finger" - so here it is.
My final stop before home was heading to Denver to see my sister and family and to pick up my Dad for a week trip to the big national parks. We drove 3000 miles in 8 days, went to Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Teddy Roosevelt, Custer State Park in South Dakota, Devils Tower and the four presidents, Rushmore. Dad turned 84 on the trip and picked up his 50th state. He is just pea green with envy that I will be lapping him on countries by the time I hit Laos. Here we are at Glacier in a pretty little box canyon, and Dad sitting next to a cool pool ringed by rainbow colors in Yellowstone. The lower shots are of me at Roosevelt park, which include banded colored formations like the Badlands, and a snow shot in September in Eastern Glacier.

My dad came back with me after Christmas and retiled my kitchen - no more 50 year old tan and rust tiles! Here is the finished product - George approves. Also -a fun parting shot - we were driving north on Highway 1 and I noticed a large animal to the side on a hill. At first I thought it was a mountain lion - turns out it was a HUGE bobcat. He is faraway but if you compare him to the fencepost in the foreground, I am guessing he was about 70 pounds.