San Diego juxtaposition

In the few days I am in San Diego, I had already visited the tidal pools, Balboa Park, and a Pacific Coast beach.  Today I went on a walking tour of the city. 

I quickly found one of my favourites, an old-books store where I was able to immerse myself up to my eyeballs in books for a while.  There were some very nice photo books, with moving pictures of people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet, many tribes of Africa, etc.  An illustrated English  translation of Dao De Jing, ...  I can spend much tine here. 

Soon enough I encounter my first surprise.  A mantuoluo/mandala flower tree, on the side walk.  If I am not mistaken, this flower is poisonous.  It is heavily associated with some form of Buddhism (some say mistakenly).  It is also a prominent medicine/drug in  one of Jin Rong’s heroic Chinese Kung Fu novel/romances.  It is said to induce hallucinations and more. 

Talking about things that affect the mind, there are a number of places where one can buy all kinds of smokes, including CBD/hemp.  

Then there are psychics.  

Coming close to the water front.  Suddenly, a civilian plane descends over a military base to land at the San Diego airport. 

A minute later, a fighter plane roars to take off from the military base.  

On the water front itself, there is an old USS submarine (Dolphin) that we might had visited several years ago.  I remember seeing old USSR/CCCP torpedoes inside a submarine there several years ago.  But it was an old USSR submarine, not a USS one.  That USSR submarine is gone.  

Then there is that gigantic aircraft carrier, Midway.  A symbol of the killing power of a war machine. 

Such a juxtaposition of disparate things on one single walk in the city. It is tiring but enjoyable.