A TED for your weekend

Another excellent TED talk by Capt Charles Moore, the man who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, twice the size of Texas.

Where is the action?

More reports coming from the International Whaling Commission meeting in Madeira, Portugal seem to indicate the countries at large are more keen to not upset each other rather than to solve the whaling problem on hand. This also include further studies of declining sharks and porpoises population at large where one research reveals that more than a third of the open ocean shark population are on the verge of extinction. Guardian website also has an interesting photo gallery highlighting the plight of these giants, where most of them ended up as "supposing delicacies" on Asia's dinning tables.

Iran has showed the world the immerse power welded by normal people like you and me, maybe it is about time we do the same?

Another great rail journey...oops, not quite!

It's been 3 weeks since I got back and have been spending some time sorting my life back to "normal", i.e. clearing out my boxes shipped from London, buying some new furniture, sorting out Internet, etc. Missing the European lifestyle meant that I have been scouring around the island for nice cafes serving a decent cup of coffee, which sadly, besides a handful, are pretty pathetic.

I suspect I am "suffering" from travel withdrawal symptoms as my restlessness is beginning to grow in me especially in the past week. Had been planning to post another entry to summarising my trip but been in procrastinating mode at many a time.

Anyway, my last post ended with one of the more eventful journeys and I basically ended up arriving later than expected in Bangkok to miss both the train and coach down south to Malaysia. As I had a friend who was arriving the following day, as well as the outbreak of H1N1 in Penang, I decided to chill out in the capital instead for 3 days, relax under a touch of luxury in a very nice service apartment (compared to my hostel stays) and tucking into the glorious thai food. Finally arrived into Singapore via Changi Airport on 21 May, just in time for my cousin's wedding the following day. It's amazing how much time you can save by taking a flight (2 hours compared to 2 days on train from Bangkok to SG) but given a choice, I will do the latter anytime, the option to interact with the locals, experience the local culture and just seeing the world pass you by in the cabin is just too great to miss, although I have to admit to some slight hangover from train rides from the tens of thousands of miles starting from Copenhagen to the Artic Circle, through Russia, Mongolia, China and South East Asia, 25 cities/towns in all and most importantly, fulfilling my dream of getting on the Trans Siberian rail journey, even though the trip was bundled with "interesting encounters".

Got a few mails from friends and strangers asking me on advice for their travels (do continue to send me your questions and I will be more than happy to help where I can), which was really nice and it gave the opportunity for me to relive the best days of my trip whilst jotting the email reply. If I were to choose the most memorable place(s), it will have to be Norway and Mongolia. China should probably be one of them as well but due to my time constraint, I will definitely spend some time in the country to explore it proper to give it the due credit.

Note:
The map trail is extracted from my dopplr updates in the various cities/countries on Mapme.at but there are some bugs with the application as it always screws up the order if you travel to more than one city in a day, which kinda explains why I was always traveling from Oslo in Norway.

Myths about sharks and fins

I attended my 2nd wedding invitation over the weekend, within 3 weeks of my arrival back home and was surprised to see that the infamous sharks fin soup was served on both occasions. Never in anywhere else in the world is the shark's fin consumed more than in our Chinese culture. As usual, I refused to eat it, and was doing my best to "educate" my friends and family sitting in my table on the reasons why I refrain from it. Since yesterday was World Ocean Day (it's actually 8 Jun), I figured it might be useful to share some of what I know with everybody who might come across this article.

1. Let's ask the question of taste - "why do we consume sharks fin?" Actually I should rephrase it, "why do Chinese like to eat shark's fin so much?" I posed this question to the folks sitting on my table on both occasions and they all said it tasted good. Maybe most of them do not know that it is actually the chicken stock that made the dish taste good, and not the shark's fin which are effectively cartilage, and mostly tasteless on its own, or worse, they actually taste chewy if they are of bad quality.


2. Pride or "face value" as what we Chinese like to call it. Shark's fin originated as an imperial dish for the Emperor hundreds of years ago, meaning that it is considered a delicacy for the upper class. This meant that people nowadays like want themselves to feel good by paying over the top prices for these endangered items. They like to think that they are equivalent to the Royal family, and that they are able to pay for shark's fin to be served to the guests who attend the wedding.


3. Sharks are the top of the underwater food chain. What do you think will happen when you start to take out the top predator from a food chain? The next predator down the chain will overtake the shark and become the dominant species and their numbers will no doubt flourish over time. Some may argue that this may not be a bad thing since nobody will exactly know how nature work it's magic to balance out the inequilibrium but do we have to play god and let our descendants live to see the consequences that we have caused?


4. Reproduction - many sharks are known to be lone creatures and spend majority of their life in solitude except for the mating season. Some species may live in schools but those are usually confined to the young pubs or if they are working together to prey on schools of fish. This meant that mating is not as straight forward as other animals, and that most sharks only give birth to a few pubs on each occasion meant that shark populations are impossible to catch up with the rate at which we are killing them for. Did you know that the Great White shark only gives birth to 1 pub on each birth? This also meant that more and more juvenile sharks are been finned as fishermen are finding it difficult to catch adult sharks these days.
   


5. Cruelty - It is very true that many fishermen literally skin the fins of the sharks that are caught and dump the bodies back into the ocean, leaving the sharks to drown if they had not died from the turmoil. But I decided to keep this as my last point because this is always a contentious argument. Homo Sapiens have always enjoyed the liberty to kill and eat any other animals because of our superior intelligence and communication over them. It is unfortunate that we live in a "Survival of the fittest" society.

We as humans have single handedly eat the world's fish stock to the brink of a complete collapse in the last hundred years. The sharks are no exception, we have hunted thousands and millions of them to the point that many of the species are close to extinction. I will very much like to see another shark on my next dive, and I hope my kids will be able to do the same likewise.

Note:
Many years back, I used to be sit in one of those weddings and enjoyed a great deal from eating the 2nd dish of the event. After I started to dive more than a decade ago, and with more information and knowledge, I have learnt about the impact that this is causing to the eco-system and have always been trying to share what I know with others, in which I have never want to offend in anyway. In Singapore, there are certainly many positive signs that the younger generation are beginning to understand this problem and help by simply removing the dish from their menu on the big day. But I strongly believe we can do more, and as a Chinese myself, I really hope we do not end up as the race which drove the sharks to extinction. Please RT or share this with your friends where possible.

From Siem Reap to Siam

The journey to the Cambodia/Thailand border has been notoriously infamous. Ask any independent traveler who made this trip and 9 out of 10 will probably have a story to tell. Our bus left at 7am with almost 30 of us rounded up from various parts of Siem Reap before heading towards Poipet, the nearest and most commonly used crossing between the 2 countries. Sitting beside me was a Geordie gal who only just managed to get onto the bus after a all night party. She has been a volunteer in the city for the past 6 months and has been making this trip every month to renew her visa. In the midst of her falling asleep, we did manage to have a really lovely chat about her work, her "really wild" party as well as her scary story of how she was driven to "no man's land" and extorted hundreds of dollars for a visa to enter Cambodia from the Thai end.

By noon, everything was smooth sailing as we crossed into Thailand without further troubles and the representation of the transport company gathered the group by a roadside stall to wait for the connecting mini-vans to bring us into the Thai capital, and other parts for other travelers. An hour and an half passed before the van finally arrived before 10 of us were hurried in together with all our huge backpacks and off we go towards Bangkok. Unfortunately it wasn't long before trouble struck - the van overheated and the driver tried for the next half hour trying to get a replacement van and cool the van in the meantime. In the end, he figured that it was best for us to make our way back to the border again to wait for a coach instead as there wasn't any vans available to pick us up. So off we headed back, and again, the van overheated after driving for another 10 minutes and we stopped again to "feed the radiator with water". Just as the rest of the traveling group was starting to grumble, a lady boss speaking minimal English arrived with a car and suggested that that the group be fetched back in batches to the border in the car instead. By then, the group of Chileans + Argentinians and a Swiss couple started to raise their voices towards the lady in charge, who, to her credit, was trying her best to resolve the situation in the best possible way. This continued on even after we got back to the border and during the next hour of waiting, the poor lady was bombarded with all kinds of abuse from the few. It was a scene so ugly that I describe as bringing out the worst behaviour of a human being, until a point where an American pal and I decided to defend her from the group's demeaning abuse.

To be honest, what would you expect to get out if you were to pay $8 to get from Siem Reap to Bangkok? For me, it means no frills travel on a bus/coach and arrive at the destination in one piece. Unfortunately for some, it also meant that they assumed they have the right to put people down, even when they are only visitors to their wonderful countries. I was really disgusted by their behaviour and really hope they are just minorities of the population of their otherwise fabulous countries that I have perceived them to be in my mind.

Another delay halfway into the capital from a punctured tyre meant that we did not get into Bangkok till 9pm (a full 14 hours journey from start), but I was only too pleased that it was a retribution to the unacceptable behaviour from the group to our host of this country...

Divine inspiration from Angkor

The coach left for Bavet, border between Vietnam and Cambodia half an hour late than the planned 7am departure. 3 hours after leaving the busy streets of Saigon, we arrived at the border, which was surprisingly quick and straightforward. 2 quick stops, passport checks and we are off again heading towards Phnom Penh. The bus boarded onto a barge as we crossed the mighty Mekong river, a meeting point of many hawkers as they try to sell everything from maize to lotus stalk to fried locusts, all carried on the heads of men, women and kids alike. Couple of hours later, we arrived in the capital and waited for another hour for another connecting coach to Siem Reap.

An Australian couple was the only one aboard the 5 hour journey from Phnom Penh and was dark again by the time we arrived in the town. The locals at the stop were quick to play down the guesthouses that you have in mind, and suggesting others. If you are to go on their motorbikes to the accom, make sure you are happy with the rooms before you agree to stay, or pay for the transport. I managed to negotiate a free ride to one of the nearby guesthouse and paid $8 for a non-air con room. Siem Reap is a food paradise, especially if you do not mind sitting by the road to enjoy a local dish under the sweltering heat will only set you back by a couple of dollars.

I rented a bike for the day and headed straight for Angkor, spending an amazing day visiting many of the temples. The 25km around the main Angkor area can be intimidating for many, which you can hire a tuk tuk for the day instead, although I will definitely encourage all to try out the more adventurous route. To really soak in the atmosphere of all the temples, one probably need to spend a couple of days, so if you have limited time like me, be selective on which temples to visit and never try to overdo it. For me, Ta Prohm and Bayon were probably the most interesting ones, especially when one snakes through the crumbling narrow corridors of the former which seem to be devoured by the giant trees climbing all over the walls. I struggled to cycle back into Siem Reap by sunset and even had cramps towards the end!

Spent the night feasting on more cheap and excellent local food, and stocking up again for another long journey into Bangkok the following day.