03.31.10
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, History at 9:18 pm by Administrator
While I was reading book reviews and looking up references to things I’ve been reading regarding nuclear energy, I came across some YouTube videos of Chernobyl. I know everyone knows Chernobyl from their nuclear power plant disaster back in 1986, but aside from that and a few tidbits of information, I realized that I really didn’t know much about the details of what happened in Chernobyl. So, I decided to watch some of the videos.
I came across a series called, Chernobyl Disaster Incident, which was very, very enlightening. While I knew that the accident was a horrible disaster, which risked so many lives, I found that there was still so much that I still didn’t know until after I watched the Chernobyl Disaster Incident series. I found that it was really much, much worse than I had ever known, and that millions of people are still suffering from that accident today, more than 20 years later. Many more thousands of people had died as a result that I didn’t realize as well. The accident was said to have released 10 times more energy than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Today a 30km/19 mi radius is still designated as the “exclusion zone” where no one is supposed to live due to radiation contamination.
The Chernobyl Disaster Incident is packed with information. It’s the best video I’ve seen so far regarding the details of what happened after the plant melted down. Once the reactor exploded, reinforcements were dispatched to try to help contain the reactor. Six hundred helicopter pilots were employed to drop lead over the open reactor to help cool it down and put out the fire. All the pilots were exposed to lethal doses of radiation, and “all” six hundred pilots died. Not only did the pilots die, but as the lead vaporized with the heat, many people, including children in the city, inhaled high doses of lead. Since there was concern that the meltdown would contaminate the water table below, 2,500 miners were dispatched to manually dig below the plant to make way to encase the reactor core. Half of those miners died, and many others became very ill with radiation sickness. In all, it was said that 500,000 people (other accounts claim 600,000 people) were dispatched to the Chernobyl plant to contain the reactor, half of whom have died since then as a result of radiation exposure and today about 200,000 are on permanent disability due to sicknesses from their radiation exposure. One in four births are said to be born with birth defects as a result of radiation exposure.
Part of the urgency to contain this reactor was due to the fact that a second explosion had the potential to render all of Europe uninhabitable. I had not realized that that one plant contained that much energy. But the more concerning part of this all is that the fuel in the reactor, the radioactive material, is still there and still has the potential to destroy Europe if not properly contained. The encasement of the plant was only designed to last about 30 years, of which more than 20 years have already passed. Updates to the enclosure is due very soon. It was said that the radiation emitted from the encasement continues to increase as the encasement ages.
To watch the eight part series click here for part one.
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Some claim that the Chernobyl accident was the worst nuclear accident in history. While that may be true, the sad fact is that it is not the worst case scenario. The power of nuclear energy can release much more destruction than what was unleashed in Chernobyl. Current nuclear warheads alone have the potential to release just as much devastation. The claim that we have enough energy to blow the world up 6 or 7 times apparently is not an exaggeration, but a sad truth.
Marlakins
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03.28.10
Posted in Historical Trivia, Playing the Tourist at 11:30 pm by Administrator
Just as the stop at the woodcarving factory was a surprise, we made “two” other surprise stops–one at a jewelry factory and another one at a leather factory. Well actually the tour we took the previous day did the same thing in that we stopped off at a jewelry factory and a Thai silk shop without knowing that we were going there. That jewelry factory specialized in sapphires and rubies set in gold. They did not allow any pictures inside, so I didn’t comment on it. However, the next tour we took brought us to another jewelry factory which specialized in Thai silver as well as gold and other stones. We were allowed to take some pictures here, but not in their showroom. Here’s a pic of the front of the factory.
So here are a few pictures of their jewelers at work. This guy appears to be faceting a stone.
These are a closer look at the mounted stones just before grinding.
Well, I suppose I should show some of the stones at the beginning of the process.
And some emeralds.
A guy working on a ring. I believe he was adding the stone mounting here.
Another guy working on a necklace.
Another person working on a bracelet.
A gal sorting through sapphires.
There were quite a few other workers there, but I think this is a decent sampling of the working going on during our visit. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the showroom, which was a shame because that’s where the finished work is displayed and can be appreciated. Suffice it to say that that jewelry was lovely.
The next stop was at a leather factory. They didn’t allow any pictures at all inside their building. But I did want to share something I purchase there because I thought it was unusual. These little wallets are made from leather with a weave of horse hair and silk. They came in a few colors, but I liked the plain black.
I had never seen anything made from woven horse hair and silk, so I thought they were a little novel and bought a couple for my sisters. When we came back home, Andrew had to go to a museum for one of his history classes. I tagged along. The museum he chose was the Pacific Asian Museum where, to my surprise, they had on display some traditional Korean folk hats made from woven horse hair! I never knew! Fortunately, the Pacific Asian Museum allowed as many photos as we wished so long as we didn’t use flash. Here’s a pic of one of their horse hair hats.
And another. . .
And here I had never heard of woven horse hair and silk to make wallets, while the Koreans were wearing horse hair hats hundreds of years ago. . . Learning seems never-ending. I’m supposed to be teaching Aaron, but I keep learning things right along side him. Actually, the Pacific Asian Museum had a lot of interesting things on display. I took a lot of pics, so may share those later when I have more time.
Well, it’s late, so toodles for now!
Marlakins
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03.26.10
Posted in Anything goes, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, History, Uncategorized at 11:38 am by Administrator
Back in October and November of 2006 I was blogging about radiation, its discovery, and its subsequent development. I don’t remember why I never finished the series, but I did write five parts, the first of that series was posted here. And here are parts 2, 3, 4, and 5. Today I found the beginnings of my 6th part of the series in my drafts folder. Since recently I seem to be back studying radiation history, I thought my radiation post might be relevant, so am moving them back up. I find them particularly relevant in light of the fact that nuclear energy seems to be making it back to the forefront again with all the commotion of global warming and climate change. The least we could do is study and understand the issues at hand. These posts have been my attempts. Below is what was stuffed in my draft folder as the beginnings of my part 6 on radiation.
To continue with my radiation series, I thought it might be a good idea to step back for a moment to look at what else was happening in the world. So many events overlap in time, which are linked to the progression of discoveries and inventions. Various events can overshadow new discoveries to the point of oblivion such as is claimed with the emergence and subsequent disappearance of Coley’s Toxins discovered in 1893 for cancer treatment . William Coley’s promising research with the use of Erypselias to treat cancer was pushed into the background as the X-ray became the treatment of “choice” for cancers in 1896. In a similar vein, research on “radiation,” along with the idea of the possibility of harnessing its power to create energy was brought to the forefront. While scientists were learning the secrets of the atom nucleus in the 1930s, Adolph Hitler also began his rise to power in Germany. In fear of persecution, some Jews and those opposed to living under fascist or totalitarian governments were able to migrate to other countries such as England and the United States. Among them were physicsts Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, Edward Teller, Enrico Fermi, and Victor Weisskopf.
Scientists already knew that atoms contained electrons and protons, however, British physicst, Ernest Rutherford, believed that there must exist a “third” particle. In 1932, James Chadwick of Great Britain was able to tease out that third particle. Through his experiments, Chadwick was able to eject a previously unknown particle, which was neither an electron or proton, but was a “neutral” particle. This particle was soon called “neutron.” With the understanding that the “atom” housed the potential energy powerful enough to create an atom bomb, atomic research was catapulted to the forefront of science. In the summer of 1939, rumors began to circulate that Hitler’s Germany was actively engaging in atomic energy research. For fear of what that power would be used for under the authority of Hitler, the U.S. was determined that it would create the atomic bomb first. Massive amounts of money and man power was funneled into its research and development. The nuclear race was on.
WWI had been fought with chemical warfare. With continued global unrest, something was needed to ensure that the United States continued to be the leading world power. That something needed to be more powerful than chemical warfare, something that would wipe out whole facilities and infrastructures.
Okay, so that’s what I had sitting in my draft folder for 3 1/2 years. Now that I’ve started reading about radiation again, and in light of the push for nuclear power plants, I’ve moved on a bit to learning about the history of nuclear weapons and subsequently nuclear power. Recently I commented on a couple books–A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness and Atomic America. I finished reading The Day We Lost the H-Bomb, so will eventually comment on that book as well. I just started reading Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, and wow, already an enlightening read. I also recently watched a DVD called, “The Atomic Bomb Movie,” which has live footage of nuclear detonations as well as a narrative of some nuclear weapons development history in the U.S. There’s also a good amount of info online regarding the Chernobyl meltdown back in 1986. I had realized that I never really knew much about the details of what happened there, so decided to watch it and man! what an eye-opener. Maybe I’ll comment more on that later regarding what I learned that I had not known after all these years after the accident. They are still dealing with the situation today more than 20 years later. When will we ever learn? Anyway, need to get out the door in about 15 minutes, so will stop here for now.
Marlakins
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03.24.10
Posted in hobbies, knitting and crocheting, quilting at 7:44 pm by Administrator
Since each year seems to be flying by faster and faster, I’ve been trying to train myself to just keep working on some project each day even if it’s just for a few minutes at a time. I figured that way I’d be able to chip away at my list of “things to learn” while at the same time using up my craft supplies and making something either useful and/or decorative. While in Thailand, I picked up a few plain cotton shirts for my boys. I really wanted the ones with embroidery on them, but I didn’t find any. So I bought these plain ones thinking that I might try to put some embroidery on them myself. Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done any hand sewing, but since I do like to hand sew as well as cross stitch, I decided why not try practicing some embroidery by making little crazy quilts?
Okay, so here’s a picture of a couple of the plain shirts I bought. I’m thinking of embroidering around the collar and down along the slit in the front.
Well, I haven’t done it yet because I haven’t decided on what design to make, yet. But I did get my feet wet a little by jumping back into embroidery by trying my first attempts at a few crazy quilt patches. I figured I have so much scrap cloth from my patchwork days that it should be a good way to practice while also finally trying crazy quilting. So here are a few of the scraps I picked out, including cutting one red piece in the shape of a heart.
I stitched all these scraps together, then practiced some hand embroidery on it. I ended up making three squares. Here’s what they looked like when they were “somewhat” done.
I actually ended up stitching a bit more on these including some buttons and seed beads as well. The heart on the bottom square was still not sewed on in this pic, either. At first I didn’t know what I was going to do with these, but then I decided that my storage boxes looked a bit like they needed some decoration. Here’s what my storage boxes looked like before I put on the squares.
And this is what they look like after the squares.
Yeah, it’s a bit funky, I know, but I guess that’s why they call them crazy quilts? Anyhoo, I’m happy with the results because I feel like I’ve killed a few birds with one stone–using up my scraps, getting a feel for what crazy quilt making is like, decorating my storage boxes, and getting some embroidery practice in. 
Other projects I’ve finished is this hat for Brian. He wanted a double layered knit hat, so I decided to try my hand at making a reversible hat. I figured if I just knit from the top to the brim, then back again I could just flip the hat inside out to make it reversible. I decided to make it plain on one side and striped on the other to test it out. Here’s what it looked like after I cast off.
If I tuck in one side it looks like this:
And if I flip it inside out, it looks like this:
This was my first attempt at making a double layered hat, and at the same time I figured out how to make it reversible, too. Another check mark on my list of things to try and learn.
I also finished my multidirectional scarf, which is also a new technique for me.
I used Iris Schreier’s pattern from her Modular Knits book. I love her technique because there’s no picking up stitches, they’re all live, so no hand sewing any pieces together. It’s all just knit along the way. Now that I’ve learned that, I want to try other modular knit patterns.
Then Matty was moving things around in his room and we were talking about wall hangings. He remembered that he liked one of my old patchwork tops I was working on “years” ago. I happened to still have it stored, but not finished. I pulled it out, and he still liked it, so I’m gonna try to finish it up this year as well. Here’s what it looks like so far.
I actually found that I still have quite a few patchwork tops that I haven’t finished and are still just stored. . . So, I guess that’s another thing on my list to do–finish my old projects! But I think I’m gonna work on the small ones first. Here’s another small one that I’ll try to get to this year as well.
If I eventually do finished these, I’ll try to post them.
Okay, so back to being productive! Oh, I also just finished reading The Day We Lost the H-Bomb by Barbara Moran today. My! Another captivating story! Will try to post my comments on it another time.
Toodles for now!
Marlakins
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03.20.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 5:05 pm by Administrator
Since I seem to be following a pattern of alternating travelogue pics with miscellaneous posts, I guess it’s time for some travelogue pics. . .
So continuing on with our tour in Thailand, after the elephant ride and woodcarving factory we headed out to the elephant show, which turned out to be at a zoo. Before we watched the show they fed us a buffet lunch, which was actually pretty good for being at a zoo.
They also had a fruit and dessert bar as well as this soup bar.
Um, yum!
After stuffing ourselves we headed over to the place where the elephant show was to be held. We got there a little early and found that they were having a magic show first.
For this trick they started out with an empty tank. Then they filled it up with water from a hose. After tossing this sheet around a bit, they covered the tank like so. . .
I don’t know how they did it, but they then pulled off the sheet, and the tank was full of these fish! Ack! Hmmmm.
Hmmm. . . tricky, tricky! I have no idea how they did that! These two were actually pretty good and have several other tricks that I found pretty entertaining. Anyway, after their act, it was finally time for the elephant show. It was actually longer than I had thought it would be. They showed off the elephants displaying their ability to do various tricks, and then also explaining how elephants were once used during their battles. So part of the show was a battle recreation of old.
Apparently, they actually fought battles while on the backs of elephants. So I learned a little bit about elephants on this trip such as how agile they are. I never knew they were so agile. They showed elephants kicking soccer balls into goals, banging on drums, swinging hula hoops around their trucks, as doing all sorts of poses and even dancing. . . hmmmm. Apparently, elephants are a big deal in Thailand and are also a symbol of good luck to them.
Here’s a recreation of how they fought on the backs of the elephants.
After the elephant show, we hustled out to the crocodile pit. It turned out that the other big attraction at this zoo was the crocodile show. At the pit the crocodiles are swimming around in the water along the perimeter of the stage. As the show starts, the guys walk into the water and rustle up the crocodiles like so. . .
Then they kinda work with them tapping on their mouths with sticks. This seems to get the crocodiles to open their mouths. It took a while for them to rustle up the crocodiles. While they did that we got a good idea of how fast and powerful crocodile jaws are. These guys would try to put their hands in their mouths and with a lightening crack, the crocodile’s jaws would snap shut in a flash. Was kind of nerve-racking, actually. But if that wasn’t bad enough then the finale came and this guy decided to stick his “head” in the crocodile’s mouth. . .
Ack! Turns out I wasn’t the only one that felt stressed out at this event. My dad and uncle actually felt stressed at this show as well, so they had to unwind afterward with a little snack. They looked so cute, I had to take this picture, heheheh. Here are the two kids. . .
Hee, hee! I guess no matter how old we get, the kids we once were are always still there deep inside, huh?
Okay, that’s it for now. I’m starting to wind down with my travelogue pictures, so might only have about three or four more posts on our travels, then back to all normal things again. I did pick up The Day We Lost The H-Bomb yesterday as well as Dark Sun, the Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. I only barely started reading the first book, so will take a while before I post my comments on it. So far it’s interesting! And that’s it for now. Better go and work on dinner. . .
Toodles!
Marlakins
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03.15.10
Posted in Book Reviews, History at 4:04 pm by Administrator
After reading A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness, I did what I usually do after reading what I consider to be a good book–check out Amazon to see what other books other people read who also read the same book I did. From that handy service, I came across Atomic America by Todd Tucker.
One thing I like to keep in mind when I read books or articles dealing with controversial topics is what bent does the author have? Many times authors will have a specific agenda, but so long as the information they impart is valid and pertinent, I’m okay with reading their material. I just try to keep in mind that they may have a particular bias. From reading the inside leaf of the dust jacket of Atomic America I found that Todd Tucker served as an officer with the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine force. Since my particular bias has been against using nuclear energy, I thought Tucker’s insight as an officer working in the nuclear field would give me an interesting perspective of the other side. I also felt that since he specifically worked with the military’s nuclear force, he would have a more educated view of nuclear energy.
Tucker’s book did not disappoint. Not only did I learn many things about nuclear energy, particularly some history of how it evolved in the U.S. through the military branches and the public sector, but also learned of the first fatal nuclear reactor incident in American history–the SL-1 explosion in Idaho Falls on January 3, 1961.
Until I read Atomic America, I had never heard of SL-1, nor known of the three men who died from that nuclear accident. Their story, though true and aside from the rumors of two to the men’s uncontrolled passions, is stuff of science fiction novels and movies. To think that the bodies of these three men were so radioactive after the explosion that they had to be buried in lead caskets sounds like a story straight out of a sci-fi movie or a Marvel comic book. The shocking reality is that it was not from a fictional movie, but an event that happened in real life. These men have real graves of which can be visited today. Each cemetery for their grave sites has a special agreement with the military that since there is radioactive remains (parts of the victims’ bodies contaminated with long-life radioactive isotopes) interred at the cemetery, “under no circumstances will the body be moved from this location without prior approval of the Atomic Energy Commission in consultation with this headquarters.” Oh. My. Other parts of their bodies were too radioactive and were thus “severed” and buried separately in a radioactive waste site in Idaho Falls.
It could be easily tempting to run with such a sensational story as the SL-1 explosion, but Tucker did a nice job of retelling the story while at the same time trying to look levelly at the various angles of what was thought to have really happened and also chronicling the history and uses of nuclear energy to help put the SL-1 reactor in historical perspective. Tucker shares the history of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, aka the father of the nuclear Navy, and how Rickover was very instrumental in allowing the public sector in on the uses and development of nuclear power. I appreciate from Tucker’s writing how he respects the hazards of nuclear energy. He does highlight many of it’s positive uses, but also examines the idea that a nuclear power plant can be inherently safe. Tucker quotes Rickover’s testimony before Congress regarding the Three Mile Island investigation wherein he stated:
“Admiral Rickover: I do not believe that nuclear power is worth it, if it creates radiation. Then you might ask me, why do I have nuclear powered ships? That’s a necessary evil. I would sink them all. Have I given you an answer to your question?
“Senator Proxmire: Youve certainly given me a surprising answer. I didn’t expect it and it’s very logical.
“Admiral Rickover: Why wouldn’t you expect it?
“Senator Proxmire: Well, I hadn’t felt that somebody who’s been as close to nuclear power as you have and who’s been so expert in it and advanced it so greatly would point out that, as you say, its destroys life.
“Admiral Rickover: I’m not proud. . .
“Senator Proxmire: Without eliminating it or reducing it many, mnay years ago, we couldn’t have had life on earth. It’s fascinating.
“Admiral Rickover: I’m not proud of the part I’ve played in it. I did it because it was necessary for the safety of this country. That’s why I’m such a great exponent of stopping this whole nonsense of war.”
I give Todd Tucker’s Atomic America two thumbs up. Definitely a good read for anyone interested in nuclear issues. I can see how nuclear proponents have used global warming to help them push their agendas, but personally I still think the risk is too high. It’s one thing to pollute the environment, but a totally different level to create wastelands that would remain dangerously radioactive for centuries.
I’ve already checked out Amazon for more related books, and have picked out my next book–The Day We Lost the H Bomb: Cold War, Hot Nukes, and the Worst Nuclear Weapons Disaster in History by Barbara Moran. Let’s see where that one leads.
Marlakins
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03.13.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 6:54 pm by Administrator
After our elephant ride our next tour destination was to watch an elephant show. However, on the way we stopped off at a woodcarving factory. This was a surprise to me because they didn’t highlight a woodcarving factory as a part of the tour. Apparently, one of the specialties in the area we were in is woodcarvings. I really liked how they allowed us to take as many pictures as we wanted. The woodcarvers were outdoors under a shed. Here’s what part of the work area looked like.
They let us walk all around and watch anyone working. Here’s as example of some of the woodcarvers at work.
It looked like they put a white film (gesso, maybe?) over the area they will carve and draw right on it, then carve right through the film.
They carved different types of things. I think this woman is carving a table. From looking at some of the work in the show room, I think this will end up with a glass top.
Here’s another guy working on elephant sculptures. This one is small, but there were completed ones that were bigger than people.
Here’s a pic of me standing next to some of the completed elephant sculptures to help give an idea of how big some of them were.
Here’s another example of how large their carvings can be.
Their craftsmanship was really lovely. I found it a treat to go through their showroom where their carvings were displayed for sale. Not only did they have statues and reliefs, but they also had all sorts of furniture.
The nice thing about this tour was that they encouraged lots of pictures, so they didn’t mind us sitting there and snapping shots. Here’s one with Aaron and me. My mom liked this bench with the relief behind it, so she made Aaron and me sit down to take this picture.
I liked this set.
I thought they had nice quality furniture, but it sure wasn’t cheap. For example here’s one of their completed reliefs with a price tag of $10,500 U.S.
Very nice, but mama mia, that’s a hefty price tag for me meager budget.
They had a variety of designs from delicate and serious to more whimsical like this cute little set.
They also had these types of carvings for decor.
Don’t ask me who that guy is behind there. He just sort of popped into the shot, ha!
Okay, so I’m running out of room for this post, but they did have many more pieces and styles that I took pictures of. So one last fun piece to share is of this rocking chair. There was actually a much larger one that everyone else was using taking turns taking pictures in, so I just hopped onto this one.
Isn’t that a wild looking rocking chair? Ha! In retrospect, I should have been more patient and waited to take a pic on the larger chair, but you know how they rush you through tours. . .
Sorry I don’t have the name of this place or even what type of wood they use. . . I’d love to go back sometime to get more info. Was fun. . . But anyway, I’m about out of room for more pictures and dinner is about ready, so toodles for now!
Marlakins
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03.11.10
Posted in food and restaurants at 10:41 pm by Administrator
Last week my baby boy turned 16. He and his brothers wanted pizza, so we headed off to Grandville in Burbank. Here’s the birthday boy with his dad.
The boys all had pizza and I had a chipotle chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries and chamomile tea.
Ordinarily I could only finish half the sandwich and fries in one sitting and would pack the rest to eat later. However, after a month of “training” in the Philippines, this is what my plate looked like in one sitting. . .
I guess that explains the extra weight I’ve gained. . . But if that wasn’t enough, Aaron’s auntie invited him for a birthday lunch, too, and naturally I had to tag along. . . We ate at Yuzu, a Japanese Restaurant in Torrance. They advertise authentic Japanese food. I ordered a smoked sardine plate the first time we went there, then the next time I ordered the yellow tail. This is how their smoked fish looks like.
Aaron ordered the spider roll.
It’s hard to see it, but these rolls have soft-shell crab in there. Very yummy. I recommend both restaurants–Grandville and Yuzu.
My friend’s birthday is next week, and my aunt’s birthday is a couple days after hers, so looks like we have more excuses to find yummy food to eat again. Aaron also learned how to make lumpia wrappers from scratch and wants to make them for his grandparents when they get back. Will share some pics of his culinary creations in another post.
Marlakins
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03.08.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 7:50 pm by Administrator
The second tour we took in Thailand took us to four provinces outside of Bangkok. I would list the names, but I can’t remember them. Actually, when the tour guide told them to us, I could barely understand them anyway! I found the Thai language very difficult to repeat. My ears are just not used to hearing their words and just to learn how to say “thank you” required that I had to ask the gal at one of the shops to say it several times very slowly, heheh. Then I wrote it down as she slowly repeated it several times. If my ears got it right, thank you in Thai is “kap kun ka.”
The floating market was part of our tour, and that was at Damnoen Saduak just on the outskirts of Bangkok. First we took a long boat to get to the market. This is what they looked like.
We had to be careful to take turns boarding as well as being mindful of where on the benches we sat since these boats are a bit narrow and can easily tip. Here’s a pic of me and my parents on the bench in front of me.
From here we rode through waterways with houses on either side of us to get to the floating market. Here’s what it looked like.
And this was a view at one intersection.
I noticed that along the way they also had foot bridges so people could walk from house to house. Here’s what it looked like.
Once we got to the floating market we transferred onto the paddle boats for an additional fee because long boats aren’t allowed within the floating market because of their engines. Two people were allowed to sit on the front and the rear benches, but only one person on each bench in the middle. Aaron and I sat on the front bench, so I turned around and took a pic of my dad and my mom behind him. He’s wearing a hat my mom just bought for him there, heheheh.
Basically, what the floating market is are a bunch of vendors selling their wares or goods from paddle boats. We hire a boat that paddles us around the market and we stop at whatever vendor looks good, heheh. They sell all sorts of things like hats, carvings, stuffed animals, etc., including food. Here’s a pic of a vendor selling hats.
Here’s a pic of other vendors selling food.
They sell all sorts of foods from cooked foods, to raw fruits and veggies and even raw meats. We bought some fried bananas from this vendor, yummy! Here’s what it looked like.
Some vendors were on boats side by side. Here’s a shot of what I mean.
If you wanted to buy something from the vendor three boats in, she would put her stuff in a basket with a long handle and reach it over to you. You would then remove your purchase and place your money in the basket.
It was very crowded with tourist. This is one shot showing how crowded it was.
Once we got off the paddle boat, there were other shops along the way where you could still buy stuff just walking around. There was so much to look at that I wished we had more time and more money, heheheh. But alas, we had to go to our next destination, which was taking an elephant ride.
When we got to the place where they gave elephant rides, Aaron and I shared one elephant. We also bought a basket of bananas so we could feed the elephant along the way. I had no idea elephants ate bananas! And I learned that they not only eat bananas, but they eat the whole kit and kaboodle–skins and all! Or course, I suppose they don’t peel them out in the wild? So we were told that since elephants eat like that their poops are very fibrous, and it makes good paper! Ack! The things this city girl has never thought of. . . There was a small bench on top of the elephant where we sat, and a man straddled across the back of the elephant’s neck who lead the elephant for us. After we walked out into the jungle a ways, he turned around and motioned for my camera. I gave it to him, then to my surprise he slid down! Aaron and I were by ourselves on this elephant! Meanwhile the man ran ahead and called to the elephant to follow him while he took pictures of us. Here’s a shot of Aaron and me on an elephant.
And this was our elephant “driver” after he took our pictures and climbed back up. I don’t know what else to call him! Ha ha!
I think that’s all the pics I can add to this post, so will stop here and continue on another post later.
Marlakins
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03.05.10
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments at 1:20 pm by Administrator
As part of my interest in centenarians, I thought I’d take a moment to recognize a couple centenarians who recently made the news. The first one is Judge Wesley Brown.
One of the amazing things about this man is that at age 102, he’s still going to work every day! From watching his videos it’s obvious he’s still very lucid and mentally with it. Just another testimony to the fact the it is not automatic that with age comes mental decline.
The second centenarian that hit the news recently is a woman who passed away at 100. Her name was Grace Groner. An although the reason she hit the news wasn’t due to her centenarian status, but rather her large financial contribution to a school, my main interest was that she was a centenarian.
Here’s the link with Diane Sawyer telling Groner’s story. I wish they would have touched on some info regarding Groner’s age and health, but I guess that wasn’t the interest of their story.
So far what stands out to me from reading of the various centenarians is to continue to remain active, not only physically, but mentally as well. There really does seem to be something to using the brain as a form of brain exercise that helps preserve youth and/or vigor. This encourages me to continue hitting the books and learning, learning, learning, and exploring no matter how old I am.
Marlakins
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