Bangkok New Year

Royal Palace Bangkok

Silence is golden........

Bangkok Traffic (near Pantip Plaza)

Chatuchak Market Bangkok

Chinatown Bangkok

National Museum Bangkok

Girl with 4 hands ! - Schoolkids going to the museum
Royal chariot - for cremations etc

Painting of Ayutthaya - the old capital of Siam before Bangkok - painted by
French artist Alain Malle' and published in 1683

Chain that used to stretch across Chao Phraya River - as a means of raising tax !!

Reminds me of the chain that used to stretch across mouth of Portsmouth harbour in England (home of the English and later British navies) - as a defensive measure. This was celebrated in the city's coat of arms - around the unicorn (one of the supporters of the arms) is wrapped a representation of "The Mighty Chain of Iron", a Tudor

defensive chain across Portsmouth Harbour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth

http://www.fortified-places.com/portsmouth/default.htm

http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/yourcouncil/1090.html

Painting - King Rama V and his son the future Rama VI

Airasia KL to Bangkok 23 Dec 2008

Approaching Bangkok

On my way to Bangkok

Chinese Temple - KL Chinatown

Peng Hwa - opens again Monday 15th Dec 2008

Yes - Peng Hwa is back -

opened today not far from original site and next to Pudu Market

It's a bit smaller than the old Peng Hwa - and much cleaner

(I didnt see any rats while I was there). I preferred the old one -

much more character !!! Soon everywhere will look the same !!

For OLD Peng Hwa see - http://jimmcanna.blogspot.com/2008/01/peng-hwa-end.html

and http://jimmcanna.blogspot.com/2007/12/peng-hwa-food-court-pudu-kl.html

Make my day !!!

"Make my day !!!"

Security guard - with shotgun - outside jewellery

shop Times Square KL

KL Monorail

Monorail train pulling away from IMBI station in direction

of Hang Tuah station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hang_Tuah)

Awas Nomor Merah ! - Beware Red Number !

There's an urban myth going about in Malaysia and Indonesia which started only a few days ago. It's about people mysteriously dying immediately when they get a call (or SMS) on their mobile from a number prefixed 0866 or 0666 - with the calling number showing RED on the victims phone !! Some have speculated these numbers have been coded to generate a sudden powerful burst of microwave radiation which kills the victim - other claim it has something to do with Indonesian magic (like some kind of vodoo). Some reports have even mentioned several cases in Indonesia where those receiving those calls did actually die.

All complete non-sense of course

oh .....one minute.......must answer my phone....AAAARRRGH !!!!

For more info (in Indonesian) see:-

http://wordpress.com/tag/nomor-merah/

http://fantasticdreams5.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/nomor-merah-0866-dan-0666-vs-axis-gereja-setan/

http://www.indoforum.org/showthread.php?s=e2b237eeb11af7be932b28128875940e&p=758148#post758148

http://www.telukbone.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1966&Itemid=1

It was also reported in the Jawa Pos (Java Post):-

http://www.jawapos.com/index.php?act=detail_radar&id=213528&c=94

What are these dead caterpillars doing in my soup?

Customer: Waiter - Waiter - what are these dead caterpillars doing in my soup ?

Waiter: Sssshhhhhh - everyone will be wanting them now !!!

Dried Caterpillars killed by a fungus being displayed in supermarket.

2.20 Ringit per packet (100g).
Dried caterpillars in packets of traditional herbal soup mix (about 7 Ringit/packet)

One of the most un-usual ingredients I have

come across are dead caterpillars in my soup !!!!

The above photo is taken from a very interesting article http://herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/FunFacts/Caterpillar.htm) about a chinese medicinal food item derived from a fungus that attacks the caterpillars (larvae of moths). Cordyceps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps )is a fungus which infects the caterpillars when they bury themselves to pupate. It feeds on the body like a mushroom, and then puts up a fruiting body stalk (see above), which scatters spores. In the days before 'cultivated' cordyceps, peasants would go out and try to find these odd grass-like stalks, and dig up the "root."

In Chinese the fungus is known as Dong Chong Xia Cao - 冬虫夏草 - literally

"winter worm summer grass"

I have come across packets in super-markets labelled 'Kangxi Cordyceps' and 'Dong Chong Xia Cao' which contain dried caterpillars, killed by the fungus (see above). They are often added to soups and have a rather nutty flavour, not unpleasant at all. I have noticed one of my local restaurants add them to their soup - I often wondered if they were some kind of root vegetable. There seems to be a significant difference in price between the different parts of Dong Chong Xia Cao (and also their origin). Today in a supermarket I saw 100g of the dried caterpillars being sold at 2.20 Ringit. This is extremely cheap - I can only assume these are the dead caterpillars produced from 'cultivated' Dong Chong Xia Cao. On the other hand in the Chinese Medicine part of same supermarket I was shown a 26 gram box of cordyceps being sold for 600 Ringit (one hundred pounds sterling). They looked like the dried grass-like part that comes above ground. At that price I assume they were picked in some remote mountainous region of China (possibly Tibet). Certainly that was the case for cordyceps I saw the next day if the label on their jar was accurate. I visited a Chinese Herb Shop in Sungei Wang Shopping centre. They had several large jars of Tibetan Cordyceps on display. The prices on the jars were 3879 Ringit for 37.5 grams and 10344 Ringit for 100 grams. That works out at about 103 Ringit for 1 gram of Tibetan Cordyceps - roughly 17 British Pounds per gram. For comparison I checked the price of GOLD today - 14.84 British Pounds/ gram! Perhaps that's why the sales-woman wasn't exactly very helpful when I was asking questions about cordyceps - after making it clear I didn't want to buy. She still didn't explain why the supermarket one were so cheap - "they're not really cordyceps" she said. "You mean your government allow people to sell dis-honestly labelled products ?" I inquired. I still think the cheap dried caterpillars are the products of 'cultivated' cordyceps. Despite the high price of Tibetan Cordyceps in that shop , a Chinese woman came into the shop to buy some while I was there. Unfortunately I was moved along the counter a bit by another sales-woam so I couldn't see how much the woman bought or how much she spend. She certainly had a least 10 cordyceps on the scale when I was looking. That must have cost quite a bit. Needless to say I was not given permission to take any photos in that shop. Pity. It is quite common in KL to see an armed security guard - with shotgun - outside gold shops in shopping malls (I kid you not - reminds me of 'The Westerns' where you always had someone 'riding shotgun' sitting on top of the Wells Fargo stagecoach!!). I am suprised they don't have one outside that Chinese Herbal Shop !!!!

The following day I visited a Chinese Herbal shop in Petaling Street, Chinatown, for further price comparisons. The boss there was very helpfull answering my questions on cordyceps. He had Tibetan cordyceps at 3188 Malaysian Ringit (RM) for 37.5 grams (ie. 85 RM/gram). For those people on a tight budget he also had cultivated Tibetan cordyceps at 50RM for 37.5 grams. To get an idea how much one wild tibetan cordycep would cost I asked him to weight one - it was 0.4 grams and cost 34 RM (ie. 5.6 British Pounds). I think one Tibetan cordycep in your soup would not impress anyone very much - but at over a fiver for ONE - surely no-one would expect many in their soup !!! I think his cultivated Tibetan Cordyceps are probably the best option from his shop for those wishing to try out the effects of cordyceps in their diet (I should mention cultivated cordyceps look differnt from wild ones. Photos of them can be seen at the links I give for manufactured/cultivated cordyceps). The following day I bought 25 Ringit worth of the cultivated Tibetan cordyceps. I will add some to soups or stews I make when I go back home - and see if they have any beneficial effects !?!?!?!

For recipes using this ingredient see:-

http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2006/05/chicken-huai-shan-cordyceps-soup.html

http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2006/06/green-carrot-cordyceps-soup.html

http://herbal.recipes.googlepages.com/recipes_9.html

More info on cordyceps see:-

http://www.yarchive.net/med/cordyceps.html

Health trial of cordyceps:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3638543.stm

Cordyceps in Northern Ireland:-

http://www.nifg.org.uk/cordyceps.htm

Potential of fungi used in Chinese traditional remedies:-

http://www.world-of-fungi.org/Mostly_Medical/James_Howard/James_HowardSSM.htm

Video about Cordycep capsules (contains nice animation about Cordyceps)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XNVQ4yrs0dg

For an article about damage to environment caused by diging for cordyceps in the wild:-

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-08/30/content_370124.htm

Article about a Malaysian company that cultivates cordyceps:-

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/Industries/SMEs/cordy.xml/Article/

Nice picture of Tibetan cordyceps , also known as Aweto:-

http://en.tibet.cn/en_index/uab/t20070831_277981.htm

Website of a company that cultivates cordyceps (2nd link is

nice slide show of manufacture process):-

http://www.eunet2u.com/index.html

http://www.eunet2u.com/photo_gallery.html

Other Links on this subject:-

http://www.my-immunity.com/eng/cordyceps_eng.html

http://www.pharma.unibas.ch/bio/img/Research/Cordyceps.jpg

http://www.junyibao.com/webmode/12_14/defaultEn.asp

http://www.junyibao.com/webmode/12_14/indexEn.asp?MenuId=2&seriesname=Cordyceps&loginname=kangyangshengwu

http://curryegg.blogspot.com/2007/12/secret-behind-cordyceps-special.html

http://www.danielwinkler.com/cordyceps_expedition.htm

http://www.danielwinkler.com/caterpillar_fungus_in_tibet.htm

Rainy Pudu

Street Stalls - Bangkok

For some strange reason it's not that easy to come across real Thai Coffe (which incidentally tastes very good). Real coffee is made by passing it through a filter that looks like an old sock - it probably is an old sock (it was the same in Malaysia). Nevertheless it beats the coffee tourist pay two or three times the price in more 'up-market' places.

I buy a nice cup of Thai coffee (15 Baht) from this stall. Condensed milk is normally added if you like it white - but remember there is sweetened and unsweetened version of the milk - and it's 50/50 chance you will point to the correct can of milk !!

Lady (or more accurately lady-boy) selling something

that sounds like Mak-Kampey. I think it's a flower you eat.

I tried it - though colourful - tasted rather bland to me. She

sells it in 20baht and 50 baht bags.

Smoking Ban - Thai Style

I came across this article about the smoking ban in the reception of a hotel - where they serve food and drink and where they have 'NO Smoking' signs. Customers ignore the ban - as they seem to do everywhere I have been !!!!

Bhuddist Amulets

A lot of interest in Bhuddist and Royal imagery -

this stall selling books on the subjects
Remember this image - it will appear again later

It's obviously attracted his attention.......

Looks similar ? This one was on sale for 150 Bhat.
A copy of the one shown previously?

A typical stall - literally on pavement - selling Bhuddist images.

Another stall giving a more 'up-market' presentation.....

Bangkok seems to be Bling city as far as I can see - many people walk about with some Bhuddist Amulet hanging from a chain around their neck. Many are several inches big. Some people wear several. On pavements you see many people selling bhuddist items which are already encased in some glass/gold cover or you buy them 'as is' and encase them later. People spend an amazing amount of time with 'eye-pieces' looking at the finner detail of these items. Magazines are on sale which point out the main points you should be looking for to establish authenticity (as far as I understand famous 'holy men' can be identified as the maker of a piece simply by these identifying features). For more on this subject see:-

http://www.dajenhyl.com/index2.html

+

http://www.rarethaiamulet.com/

The above photo is an enlargement - probably from a magazine -

showing a particularly prized item.

This amulet was only a couple of inches high.

I was told by the seller it was 2,000 years old and on sale at 1,000 Bhat (maybe I have the word 'mug' written on my head in Thai ?!?!? Maybe it was true ? Who knows ?)

A mixture of Bhuddist, Royal and Animist symbols for sale

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6976705.stm