Rottweiler Scared of the Wild Boar!

The only conclusion I could make when I saw this:

Young banana tree dug out - completely uprooted!

Whole trunk crushed and mutilated!

Bite marks!

This is the culprit!!

Happier days....the way it used to be
Tissue-cultured Jelai Berangan - something like the Del Monte
variety from the Philippines
It was growing so well....sigh... this photo taken about two months
ago - so the actual size before she was ravaged
 is bigger than this - a foot or two taller

I left The Farm for a few days. After all it is off-season. I have a bit of time on my hands to run some errands and catch up with family and friends. When I got back to the farm this is what happened!

I am angry!
I am disappointed!

with these two:

I depended on them and they let me down!

I thought Rottweilers are fierce dogs. How come  she can't even chase away a wild boar - or, better still eat the damn thing up??!!

Rottweiler owners, and breeders, can you shed some light on this?

Hunters - come and shoot them (the wild boars, not the dogs). You don't have to pay me, I'll pay you. 50 ringgit per dead WB. And you can have them and eat them too. Interested? Leave your contacts on the comment form, or e-mail me.

Boy, Do We Like to Eat

Let's go back to the business of Eating. 

Some readers of this blog couldn't quite believe in our daily routine when come to Eating.  That is before they find out that eating is the Asians' pastime. Yes, we eat ALL the time. Following the tradition of our ancestors for thousands of years, we go by the saying "We live to eat!"




We are basically very nice people, except on two occasions: when we are hungry, and when we are driving.

When we stop eating for a couple of hours, or when we are at the steering wheel competing with the motorbikes and other drivers to see who's better at weaving through the crawling traffic, we get very angry. My theory is there's some kind of chemical secretions (in the stomach and in the brain) during these times. We then undergo a transformation - from the smiling, good-natured Asian into a monster with a rage nearing that of the Incredible Hulk. Few Asians are left brain. Most are right brain. But when we are driving we are no brain.

The saying The way to your husband's heart is through his tummy is so very true here, as many a housewife would soon find out after getting a husband.

Most of the Blogs I follow have one thing in common: they belong to fine ladies (God bless them) who turned their houses into homes, enjoy simple and frugal living, and cook delicious wholesome meals for the family. They grow what they eat, can them, pickle them, saving some for the rainy (or winter) days.

I am digressing...

Yes, we (meaning husband, wife, children, the in-laws, uncles, aunties) Asians just love to eat.

Breakfast is not limited to a couple of eggs and toast - yes we take them too, but it won't be complete without rice boiled in coconut milk, or with yellow or green curry topped with beef rendang, hard-boiled egg and some fried anchovies. Either that or a bowl of fish ball soup with noodles, or a bigger bowl of curry mee. Or a bowl of fish or chicken porridge. If you are not too hungry (which is a rarity) a piece or two pieces of Roti Canai would do. These are normally accompanied by coffee or tea with sugar and condensed milk added.

[Hotel managements in the region are very sensitive to and are well aware of this special need. That is why their breakfast buffet spread for "Asians" is commonly ten to twelve feet long, compared to just the sausage and toast, and orange juice at the little "Western" corner. So hoteliers in the West would do good to take note and remember to allocate a big section for Asian breakfast if they want to attract tourists or travellers from Asia].

That's just breakfast.

Then we are off - to our workplace, or the shopping malls or the hairdressing saloon for those who don't work. After a couple of hours at either of these places we feel hungry again. Not to worry, where ever you are there is always food. So 10 o'clock in the morning is our traditional coffee break. The govt department service counters will have the sign Keluar Minum (gone for a drink) displayed very prominently at the window. All commercial and govt office buildings have built-in canteens to cater for this.

But you can bet they don't just go for a drink - they eat too! This time we keep it simple - nothing fancy - just a plate of fried mee or a bowl of noodle will do, with tea, coffee or bottled drink. Oh, yes, this is also the time for chit chat - to catch up on what happens to Ms Ellie after JR left home, or the latest Kung Fu movie, or which politician is after which actress for his second or third or fourth wife - that sort of thing.

Because these are quite intricate and complex issues the coffee break can last up to an hour or two.

Then back to work. But before you know it it's lunch time. Yay! This time for most people it must be RICE , accompanied by the very popular fish head curry, or mutton curry, or Briyani rice , with assortments of side dishes to help you finish at least one if not two plates of rice.

The rice, etc for some reason don't seem to last for very long. The 3 o'clock afternoon coffee break takes care of this. The purpose here is to replenish our depleting sugar level which for some reason is in the habit of getting lower speedily. But that's ok, because just as the withdrawal symptoms hit you, and your hands begin to shiver, it's time for a top up. So up goes the sign, and off to the canteen or food stalls again, this time for various kinds of  kuihs (sweets made from rice (see? rice again) or tapioca flour), with coffe or tea with sugar and/or condensed milk.

Dinner (which can be as early as 6.30 pm for some) is very much like lunch. Except there's more variety and fanfare, with friends and families. It can be at the food stalls, or a seven or eight course dinner at a Chinese restaurant, especially if it's your mother-in-law's birthday. This is also when the seafood and the occasional steaks are devoured.

We are not quite done yet.

Supper can be anything from 10 pm to 5 in the morning (not later than this, remember, breakfast is coming). There are numerous stalls open to cater for those who are either back from somewhere, or are hungry enough to get out of the house for a bite (which in our case means another plate of chicken rice or bowl of noodle).

Ten Ways to Eat Well and Stay Healthy

These tips are based on our experience in Krabi, Thailand , but I guess it can work anywhere.

It doesn't take a doctor or a home economist or a nutrionist to tell us that to stay healthy we need to eat and drink (yes, our body needs that!), stay physically active, and get plenty of fresh air and sunshine.

Elementary right? May be so, but this simple rule is quite easily forgotten, especially if :

• we are a blogger (blink), and blogs incessantly
• we are a workaholic
• we spend a lot of time in the car, truck, etc
• our idea of food is French fries (not sure if I should even put that in upper case - they are not from France, but the US, as you know) and drown jugs of Adnums (you may have to google that) in the neighbourhood pub
• our definition of a long walk is from the TV couch to the fridge
• we cannot think straight without alcohol in our brain, nicotine in our lungs and caffiene in our blood

In Thailand, and anywhere in South East Asia for that matter, sunshine and fresh air is FREE. All we have to do is go out and get them, as much as we like.

While in Krabi we find the following is not a bad routine to stay happy and healthy:

1. Go for a walk
2. Eat (and drink, of course)
3. Go shopping
4. Eat
5. Go for a swim
6. Eat
7. Go snorkeling
8. Eat
9. Go for a massage
10. Sleep

How to Survive for Ten days in Krabi, Thailand

As we arrive in Krabi and check into the hotel, the first thought that come to mind is where to eat?

When we travel in Australia or Europe or the US for holidays what we normally do is hire a car, drive around, and check into hotels/motels/apartments with cooking facilities. We remember fondly the time we drove from LA to San Francisco otw to Half Moon Bay where the Murphy's lived. We did that and even went fishing and brought back the fish to cook at the motel at places such as the lovely town of San Luis Obispo.  It was so much fun!

But in Krabi? No way! Besides we just wanted to really relax and not worry about cooking come meal time.

While breakfast is part of the package, so taken care of (the only thing we need to do is get up early enough to catch it!), there's lunch and dinner and supper to worry about.

Well, 'worry' is the wrong word. You can have any of these, all just next to the hotel:

But hey, we don't want to eat those (ok, may be the coffee). That would be like going to England to eat Chinese fried rice followed by iced longan (in winter), instead of a juicy 300g medium rare sirloin, or big slices of tender, smoking hot roast beef,  followed by Yorkshire pudding!

So let's go local. And I see just the place for that. Let's go!

Facing The Roadblog - A Reality Check

Let's face it - we blog to show off our prowess - how good we are at things we do: How well our trees grow; how big and healthy our vegies have become; how bountiful our harvests have been; how the chickens have grown, and our children somehow refuse to; how far and wide we have travelled; how we have mastered new strokes with our artwork, etc.

Or we simply enjoy telling a good story, real or fiction. And that's cool.

And we bloggers love to share. While it is not always possible to share our harvest with everybody across the globe, we can always share the joy, the trepidation, and the occasional heartaches of whatever we do.

Not all blogers (now, is that with one g or two?) will admit it, but the reality is we thrive on others in the blogsphere reading (every single word if possible) what we have written. It gives us so much pleasure, so much joy. So much so that it makes us stay up and do more posts.

I hit the ground running some six weeks ago starting this blog, and have not looked back and kept looking back. I read and reread every single post that I had painstakingly written, and wondered if you guys (feminine gender very much included here) really liked them. It is very sweet of some of you to have come out and said so.

So before continuing with my Krabi adventure I thought I pause for a while, 

and reflect on how I am doing in terms of getting you people's attention. Remember, I thrive on it, ok.

At first look, I am not doing too badly for a blog that is only as old as my banana.

A deeper analysis of my visitors reveals the following:

The US is fast catching up with, and will soon overtake the Malaysians, yes, people from my own country, with the most number of visitors to my blog. Hmmm... I wonder why. The only reason I can fathom is that Malaysians are busy reading socio-political blogs (Rocky, Harris Ibrahim, and Marina M come to mind) or writing one themselves! (Like Pisau dot net - for stabbing who, you know where...).

I can't say Malaysians do not like agriculture as we are supposed to be an agricultural country, and the govt is spending money like there's no to-morrow (or like water, some people might say) funding agriculture projects...tsk, tsk, tsk);

The only consolation is if we take into account the fact that the population of Malaysia is a tenth of that of the US.

Of course people might say that it is because I have friends and families in the US. But I have friends and families here too! Damn it! 

Ok guys, all together now...Malaysia Boleh!! (Meaning Malaysia can - yes, we can the pineapple, the longan, etc....kidding...)

Australians made up the second largest group. Yes, give yourself a pat on the back mate! I have always liked Australia. All our children are educated there. Number three may continue his studies there this summer (Australian summer, that is).

In terms of numbers there are not many visitors, but that is because there are far too few bloggers in Australia to start with, and from a population as small as ours. Too busy surfing, I guess.

I hope Great Britain, the country that we owe our administrative and language legacy to, will catch up. It is a great pity not to use such beautiful language, if you don't blog.

I may just give Martin, Bruce, John and a few others a call, just to speed things up a bit.

Canada is not doing too badly, very close behind the UK. And I really hope they will catch up too.

I am a little disappointed with our neighbours Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. Singapore I can understand, there are only a couple of million people there, and they are all busy making money. But Indonesia has a population of 200 million and Thailand 40 - so what gives??

I am encouraged by visitors from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Italy - and hope to receive and entertain many more.

My greatest disappointment is France - the country of fine wine and cheese - one that I enjoyed pilgrimage to once or twice a year for many years, to give an account of how the business was doing in the Pacific Rim. I remember fondly the long lunches we had with those calling the shots, in Chazay, Lyon.

It makes me wonder now - aren't there any blogger in France?


[With apologies to my Thai friends, somebody just called me up to say that the Thais are busy planning another coup de tat. Come to think of it the Thais do change their govt once or twice annually]