Meet Cheech

Most English surfers I’ve met in Krui were from Cornwall, and so was this guy. Though his name is a bit strange, though it doesn’t sound like a common English name, but his very origin is English. The first time I heard him say his name I was taken aback. It sound like 'cheat' to me. I asked how he spells his name and he wrote it in the sand.  “It’s a South American name. I was born when my father was on duty in South America. He was in a navy service and he sent the name by phone to my mother,” he said.

I met Cheech the first time last week. He was surfing The Peak with his friend. It was the first time he came to Krui, but the third for his friend. And when I met him again this morning, he wasn’t surfing. He was taking pictures of his friend in the water instead. He was taking videos and still pictures alternately. He got two cameras in his hand.

It was a beautiful morning at The Peak. And in front of us, there were two body boarders surfing. The surf was beautiful although it’s small. And the two body boarders in the water seemed to be having a lot of fun. We sat together in the sand, both of us busy with our own gadget, shooting the people riding the waves on their boards.

Cheech turned to his still picture camera when his video camera was out of battery. “I forgot to recharge it last night,” he said, rummaging his bag for his compact camera. He told me that he studied photography in college, but he never takes a job in photography. “I wish I could get a job in photography, but now I am doing photography as a hobby,” he said.  

"I'm planning to buy a Canon 7D, the most advanced one" he said, taking a peep through the view finder of his video cam.

"Isn't Canon 5D more advanced?" I asked. I read it many times that Canon 5D is much more advanced than a 7D. 

"Oh, yes. You're right. I mix 5D with 7D," he replied.

We then busy ourselves taking more and more pictures. Cheech move here and there for a better a angle. He stepped back under a tree and stood by the bush. "Look," he said. "The surf looks better with the trees in the foreground."   

Meanwhile, earlier in the morning before I met this guy, I heard that the local police was holding a traffic ticket operation on the street. Surfers who hit the road to the surf everyday by their bike must have met some of them somewhere down the street. And I wondered whether this guy met one of them the other day. “Yes, we met some police operation on the street the other day, but we just ignored them and sped away,” he said.

See you next year Cheech.