So what's happening with our animals??? What is Red Gurnard and summer flooding...

Once again the country is at risk from another serious outbreak of foot and mouth disease. Currently confined to small pockets of the country, that are increasing at a worrying speed, the general line is that it's all in hand and being taken care of. PM Brown is on the case and he's gunning for the cattle and the farmers on this one, or so he wants people to believe anyway.

But now we have something new. Now the animals are being hit with bluetongue disease, being spread by midges. Bluetongue isn't a new disease for southern Europe and Africa but this is the first time it's emerged in the UK. General feeling is that this is the result of global warming.

Ever heard of Red Gurnard? No, me neither. Well this little known fish has been happily plodding along secure in the knowledge that its only use to mankind has been to be thrown back when caught by accident, or used as bait. However, thanks to the likes of Rick Stein, it's the new sought after fish by all the trendiest restaurants. It's good news for fishermen on the south coast as the price has rocketed from £0.25p GBP per kilo to £4.00!! And to top that, there's no annoying quotas like there are for other fish. Great news for fish fans, even better news for fishermen, but a real bugger if you happen to be a Red Gurnard.

During an afternoon of feeding ducks and swans and generally just sightseeing with the daughter I took her into Worcester cathedral. It's been a favourite of mine since childhood, for architectural reasons rather than theological ones, and I've been promising to show her a cathedral in England since we visited Hagia Sofia in Istanbul earlier in the year. It had to be today because she was insisting that it wasn't a cathedral but, in fact, Cinderella's castle. It took a tour of the crypt and twenty minutes watching the voluntary choir before she was convinced.

Here is a picture I took earlier in the summer when most of the country was freakishly underwater. When we should have been greasing up with sun lotion most were donning waders and bidding for dingies on ebay. This is a Tesco lorry determined to get supplies across the Severn, picture taken about three miles from the Severn so you can imagine what it was like closer.


So what's happening with our animals??? What is Red Gurnard and summer flooding...

New blog for a good cause and full moon party on Koh Phangan...

Found a new blog here in Thailand, worth a look and a very worthy cause. Ally is a retired English woman who has made Chiang Mai her home and devotes her time to caring for street dogs. As volunteers Ally and helpers work to improve the welfare for dogs on the streets in Chiang Mai, Thailand. There motto is: "Saving one dog won't change the world, but surely the world will change for that one dog" I've added this blog to my "Daily Read".

Many people have sent me emails asking about the famous full moon parties on Koh Phangan. I've never actually been but it's not possible to live here and not know anything about them. As far as I know the schedule for the coming months is as follows.

Full moon party, Koh Phangan:

April 2nd - May 1st - June 1st - June 29th - July 31st - August 28th - September 26th - October 26th - November 24th - December 24th.

That's the rest of the full moon parties on Koh Phangan for this year, as I understand it. Probably worth checking when you arrive too.

There are several ways to get there which involve bus, train, boat and plane, or a mix of all. Air Asia flies to Surat Thani and Bangkok Air flies to Samui. Boat/bus transfers are available from both locations. Trains run regularly from Bangkok to Surat Thani and there are coach companies that offer coach/boat package. Try any of the agents on Khao San Road.

New blog for a good cause and full moon party on Koh Phangan...

Diet needed, book about Taksin and Diane Hannon, cat killer...

I knew I'd put on weight in the UK but only this morning did I find out how much. One stone!! That's 14lb or 6.35kg!! And in about one month! Being back home was nice and foraging on all the old delights was enjoyable but added to the fact I wasn't doing my daily session in the gym the pounds just stacked on. Hell I feel disgusted with myself, no wonder yesterday's return to the gym was painful. I'm quite tall and have a heavy structure so the weight, fortunately, doesn't look too bad but I feel uncomfortable with it. So, having put it on in a month I'll see if I can get it off before the end of Feb, or the end of the first week in March. Currently 103kg. Watch this space.

Usual nonsense in the papers this morning. A senior police johnny has been moved and replaced by the military lot. More about the crap at the new airport etc etc. Opposition politicians have published a book detailing Taksins crimes against Thailand, to be distributed internationally. I think the idea is try and make people wise to the true nature of this guy.

The report in the paper mentioned the main areas of concern like corruption and cronyism but, once again, no mention of the thousands of innocent people who died under his "rule". Honestly, if they want international support I don't think they would do better than playing up the "crimes against humanity" aspect of his time in power. And maybe the families of the deceased can get some justice too.

Some Welsh woman was sentenced to four months suspended sentence and a miserly £300 GBP fine yesterday in the UK for an act of callous cruelty. Pissed off with her boyfriend she threw his 6 year old deaf cat in the washing machine and turned it on. The cat was scolded, lost its fur, broke bones and had a heart attack and died. She told him about it on the phone and had a good laugh and said she hated him. Her defence was the usual crap about being depressed and regretting her actions and so she didn't get jailed. I saw this on the BBC news site here. Just felt moved by it. Can't understand some people. Surely she must be a danger to the public, mentally disturbed without a doubt. Her name is Diane Hannon.

A ghastly specimen of humanity, Diane Hannon - Cat Killer

Sorry about this, couldn't help it.

Diet needed, book about Taksin and Diane Hannon, cat killer...

Childhood friendship, winter and foie gras..

Wales for a few days. Winter is here in true form. It's bloody cold!! Up in the Welsh mountains there was a light dusting of snow which didn't seem to be in a hurry to melt even during the bright winter sun.

The daughter got to be with her oldest chum. He's three months older than her and they've been mates since she was a week or two old. I've known his dad since I was about eight years old. Even with the distance between them and only being able to meet a few times a year they seem to have a bond. They say childhood friends are the best, I wonder if this is a friendship that will last to adulthood. I think seeing him again has made the daughter want to come back here to live. Two against one now so wifey is in a minority.

India is set to become the fifth biggest economy in the world shortly, and second biggest by the middle of the century. Good for Indians sure but not so good for the environment. Just imagine if everyone in China and India wants a car and the fuel to go with it. How does the song go? There may be trouble ahead..

York is in the news for two reasons today. First off, scientists have discovered that many Yorkshire men have DNA that comes from West Africans. Secondly, a York councillor (Labour, I'm sad to say) has started a motion to get foie gras banned in York. Gold bless the man - Paul Blanchard is his name. It's banned in Chicago, Israel and Argentina apparently. Torturing an animal to "make it taste nicer" is surely nothing short of barbaric and sick.

Both geese and ducks are literally force-fed in order to swell the liver which then gives the smooth foie gras pate. In order to get the price down this is now done mechanically, even more in-humane. How can this be right?

Trying to settle on a logo design for the new venture. Never thought it could be this hard. It's proving to be a real stumbling block. To top that I'm getting second thoughts about the name I've registered. Arghhh!

Childhood friendship, winter and foie gras..

Storms in the south, elephants and cold in Thailand....

Mahoot in Ayutthaya with the dreaded hook used to "control" it. We witnessed one poor sod getting a beating with one of these because it wouldn't walk backwards quick enough.

For the last few days the southern coast of Thailand has been battered by storms and waves reaching up to 4m in height. 1500 fishing boats have been grounded, hundreds of families have been affected and something like 15 houses have simply been washed away. For some reason the papers have been a bit reticent about reporting this. In today's Bangkok Post is was given a small space on the inside pages whilst JK Rowling and the latest edition of the Harry Potter series of books took the front page. Playing down a disaster so as not to have any impact on tourism perhaps?

OK, indulge me, I'm going to moan here. Also in the Bangkok Post there was a big photo of a five year old elephant entertaining school kids in Ayutthaya. The poor thing was dressed as Santa and sitting down spinning a hula-hoop on its trunk. I just don't see that promoting such a magnificent beast as purely a source of entertainment is a good thing. What message does this send to kids? How can the next generation be expected to have a serious attitude to towards conservation if this is the image of an endangered animal that is promoted.

Temperatures in Bangkok are expected to drop to 15c today. Luuuvely! The sun still shines but it is comfortable. The wife is wrapped up in a thick jumper and complaining about the cold, saying her skin is drying and cracking. Hmm, a spot of exaggeration I feel. Up on the peaks of some of the highest hills/mountains in the north it is expected to fall to between 0-3c. The problem is that the natives of those areas are never prepared for the cold and have all sorts of problems and there's a last minute scramble in Bangkok to get foreigners and locals to donate warm clothes. Begs the question: why not prepare earlier in the year?

Moan and gripe over. Back to preparations for first of the weekend's guests.

Storms in the south, elephants and cold in Thailand....

Eating dogs in Thailand

Sadly it seems that the once frowned upon practice of eating dogs in Thailand is on the rise again. Chiang Mai is leading the way in the dog eating department with sales apparently soaring; black dogs and foreign breeds being the most popular. Maybe it is no coincidence that Chiang Mai is also a popular destination for Chinese tourists. A simple case of supply and demand. Street sellers have even admitted that they lie to customers who don't want dog, saying that the meat is either lamb or beef. Be warned, when eating in Chaing Mai you might not be getting what you ordered. What you think is lamb or beef could in fact be man's best friend.

Eating dogs in Thailand is not new. It has always been around, but generally in rural pockets in the north and the east. A general revulsion towards this archaic practice and growing acceptance that man's best friend is in fact man's best friend and not for the dinner plate led to it almost being wiped out. The traditional way to kill a dog for the plate in Thailand was to drop it in a bag, hang the bag from a tree and then beat the dog to death with sticks. The belief being that this would make for better tasting meat. Personally I think that is ridiculous and anyone who would do such a thing is seriously sick in the head. But that's just me.

About ten years ago there was a scare as it was discovered that some roadside noodle vendors were substituting dead street dog for more expensive meat in the meat balls (look-chin). The general revulsion towards dog eating aside this presented a health risk. Have you seen the average street dog? Scabby and mangy and riddled with god only knows what.

Once this trend gets a hold and increases in popularity, also fueled by "hardcore" travellers wanting to prove their no holds barred approach to travel (yawn), then surely another little abhorrent industry will spring up. Dog fur fashion. And then there'll be people selecting the prettiest pooch based on their fur and sittng comfortably whilst the fur is ripped from the back of said pooch and the meat prepared for the plate and fur cleaned for delivery to the customer. How civilised.

Eating dogs in Thailand

Heat in Bangkok, recycling in Thailand and Burberry...

We appear to be having hotter than usual weather for this time of year. Today is another scorcher. The Land Rover once again suffered a slight ailment this morning, and something worse than if it had not started at all. The air-con stopped working. This would have been tolerable on any normal day but today the road to my daughter's school was completely gridlocked. We were stuck in the mother of all traffic queues with no air-con and virtually no breeze at all, and an enormous amount of heat being generated by the engine. The inside of an oven springs to mind.

I stopped at our local garage on the way back and they fixed it for free as it turned out to be nothing more sinister than a loose wire. Problem solved. Quite refreshing having something done for free. We've put quite a bit of work their way in the past so I don't feel I'm taking advantage. Owning an old Land Rover you need to have a friendly garage on hand at all times.

Thailand is not somewhere that is normally associated with recycling. However, quite a lot of it quietly goes on. When the rubbish collecting lorry and it's team make their twice weekly visit they have a selection of bags and bins attached to the rear of the vehicle and seperate the plastic, metal and paper before trashing the rest. Because of this I have bought several bins and generally try to seperate the rubbish for them. Today I found a lady rummaging through our bins looking for things to recycle. I went out and offered her some things and she cycled off with a large bag of plastic bottles and paper. She explained that she was collecting it to make merit at a local temple, where they will presumably sell it and use the money for a good cause.

I had an email from PETA today with a link here. They have asked Burberry if they will stop using fur in their clothing. Burberry refused and continue to use fur so PETA are stepping up their campaign. They have launched the site BloodyBurberry as part of this campaign. Worth a look. You would have thought Burberry would have enough trouble already with their new found image as outfitters to the Chav without trying to get more negative pubicity.


Heat in Bangkok, recycling in Thailand and Burberry...

Cruelty in China, PETA and Heather Mills McCartney..

[Disturbing video, watch in full]

I recieve regular email updates from PETA [here]. I'm a vegetarian and also concerned about animal welfare. I didn't become a vegetarian because I think that it is not natural to eat animals, it is perfectly natural and man has been doing it since the dawn of time. My concern is the way we treat animals, all animals, and our attitude towards them, even the ones destined for our plates.

I come from a farming background, I grew up on a farm with animals and have been aware of the destiny of certain species of animal since I was a kid. I've always accepted that this is the case for the lowly cow or sheep and never felt comfortable with it. Since I was a kid farming techniques have changed and the demand for meat is greater than ever before, which has led to the introduction of more intensive and disgustingly cruel methods of "industrial" farming. I honestly believe that if most of the customers were to see how their KFC chicken was treated prior to landing on their plate they wouldn't eat it.

The fur trade is another contentious topic. I have never, even in my meat eating days, supported the fur trade and have nothing but utter contemp for the selfish, ignorant people who will pay highly for the privilege of wearing something torn from the back of an animal. I fully appreciate that leather is a natural by-product of the meat industry and having eaten the animal it only makes sense to use all of the carcass so there is no waste. But fur?

Thanks to the likes of dear Beyonce Knowles and idiots like Wayne Rooney's girlfriend the fur industry is alive and kicking. At what cost should we look good? Is the torture and skinning alive of an animal justified because it "looks good and feels great"? Heather Mills McCartney (regardless of personal opinions about her and her relationship with Sir Paul McCartney) has made a short film with PETA, highlighting the sickening and barbaric conditions of Chinese fur farms in a country that is now the biggest supplier of fur to the west. I warn you, this is disturbing and I challenge anyone not to moved by what it shows. Please watch it.

Cruelty happens everywhere and all countries share the responsibility but China seems to specialise in animal cruelty. In the name of entertainment, fashion and cuisine the Chinese torture, maim, humiliate, degrade and slaughter animals on a gigantic scale. Maybe there is something in the Chinese gene that makes them this way, maybe it is just culture that is yet to develop but whatever it is I certainly hope that it stops soon. If there are any Chinese readers then maybe you could share your view, and maybe explain why the Chinese seem to get so much pleasure from the torture of animals.

Further link link

Cruelty in China, PETA and Heather Mills McCartney..

The Only Place to See Elephants in
Thailand

Regular readers will remember that I visited The Elephant Nature Park in the north of Thailand recently where old and injured or maltreated elephants are given refuge. Well, for more info on the incredible woman running the place have a read of this.



Her name is Sangduen Chailert, or Lek for short. She really is a remarkable woman who has devoted so much of her life to the caring for elephants and fighting their cause. There will be another article coming soon, more focussed on the 'going there' aspect of the park at www.khaosanroad.com


If you want to see elephants being elephants in Thailand make the park a must see during your stay. There are no shows or glitzy touristy attractions, luxury accommodation, or any kind of elephant exploitation - it's just nature and elephants. It's a great setting and Lek and her team of volunteers will make sure you learn a lot about these wonderful beasts before you leave.

www.gretra.com/elephantwhisperer.htm
http://www.elephantnaturefoundationonline.com (The Elephant Nature Park)


The Only Place to See Elephants in
Thailand

Elephants in the North

Haven't had chance to post for a few days, been quite busy. As planned I went to the north at the weekend to meet Time's Asian Hero of 2005, Sangduen Chailert (Lek), in her Elephant Nature Park. A wonderful place to visit if you want to see elephants being elephants rather than being degraded in stupid shows. Lek is a true inspiration, a wonderful lady with a passion for what she believes in. There will be an article on the site shortly.

Goit to revamp the site and make some serious changes. Any comments and suggestions are welcome and feel free to offer articles or info for inclusion.

Later.

Elephants in the North